New England Psalm Book
Isaiah
Isaiah 2
1 In latter days JEHOVAH's mount,
His sacred house shall rise
Above the mountains and the hills,
and strike the wond'ring eyes.
To this the joyful nations round,
all tribes and tongues shall flow:
3 'Up to JEHOVAH's mount, they'll say
'to Jacob's God we'll go.
'To us He'll point his ways of truth:
'his sacred path's we'll tread:
'From Salem and from Zion shall
'Jehovah's law proceed.'
4 Among the nations and the isles
as Judge supreme He'll sit;
And vested with unbounded pow'r,
will punish or acquit.
No strife shall rage, no angry feuds
disturb those peaceful years:
To plowshares then they'll beat their swords,
to pruning hooks their spears.
No nation against nation rise,
and slaughter'd hosts deplore:
They'll lay the martial trumpet by,
and study war no more.
5 O come ye then, of Jacob's house,
our hearts now let us join;
And walking in JEHOVAH'S light,
with holy beauties shine.
Isaiah 5
1 My most Belov'd a Vineyard owns,
Which on a fruitful hill is seen:
2 Around it a safe fence He made,
And clear'd of all the stones therein.
He planted there a beauteous vine,
And in the midst He built a tow'r,
A wine-press made, then look'd for grapes:
But grapes it yielded wild an sow'r.
3 And now, O ye inhabitants
Ev'n of Jerusalem, and ye
Of Judah, tho' ye parties are,
Between my vineyard judge and Me.
4 What for my vineyard could be done
Which I have not perform'd with care?
Why, when I look'd for pleasant grapes,
Did these degen'rate grapes appear?
5 And now I'll tell you what I'll do:
My vineyard's hedge remove will I
To be devour'd; and I'll throw down
It's wall; and it trod down shall lie.
5 I'll lay it waste and desolate;
Unprun'd, undig'd, with brambles spread,
And thorns; yea, to the clouds I'll say,
That on it they no rain should shed.
7 Because the house of Israel,
The LORD of hosts his vineyard is,
The men who dwell in Judah's tribe,
Are that most pleasant plant of his:
And when He judgment did expect,
Lo! there was an oppressing wound;
And when He look'd for righteousness,
Then lo! a bitter cry He found.
Isaiah 9
2 People that long in darkness walk'd
Now see a great and wondrous light;
On them who dwelt in shades of death
The light hath shin'd exceeding bright.
3 The nations thou hast multiply'd,
And now their joys increased are;
As in the harvest they rejoice,
Like conqu'rers when the spoil they share.
4 For Thou the burthen of their yoke,
The staff which on their shoulders lay,
And their oppressors rod hast broke,
As once they were in Midian's day.
5 For all the warriours battles were
Throughout the earth from times of old,
With noise confus'd of shouts and groans,
In reeking blood their garments roll'd.
But now this great, decisive blow,
Whereby thy people will be free,
Shall be by all devouring FIRE,
Wherein their foes shall fuel be.
6 For lo! the virgin's child is born,
To us thine only Son id giv'n;
Upon his shoulders shall be laid
The government of earth and heav'n.
His name is called Wonderful,
The Counselor, the mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace,
Peace over all the earth abroad.
7 Hos government shall ever grow,
And far and wide o'er all extend;
And universal peace, the fruit
Of his just reign, shall know no end.
O'er David's kingdom and his throne
To rule, and them establish sure,
With judgment right and justice clear,
His reign for ever shall endure.
Isaiah 12
1 O Lord, tho' with me Thou wast wroth
I'll praises give to Thee;
For now thy wrath is turn'd away,
and Thou dost comfort me.
2 Behold~ God my salvation is;
trust, and not fear, will I;
Because our JAH, JEHOVAH is
my strength and melody.
He is my full salvation too:
3 so waters plenteously
Out of salvation's living wells
shall ye draw forth with joy.
4 Praise ye the LORD, call on his name:
and to the people show
His doings: that his name's extoll'd,
declare abroad also.
5 O sing ye to the LORD, for He
things excellent has done;
Yea thro' the universal earth
the same is fully known.
6 Cry out and shout aloud O ye
who on mount Zion dwell;
For mighty is THE HOLY ONE,
in Thee, O Israel.
Isaiah 25
1 LORD, Thou my God! I'll Thee extol,
I will thy name confess;
Who wonders dost, thy counsels old
are truth and faithfulness.
2 For Thou a city mad'st an heap;
its wall in ruin lies;
The strangers palace hast eras'd;
nor ever shall it rise.
3 Therefore the mighty people shall
great glory to Thee bear;
The city of the terrible
of nations shall Thee fear.
4 Because Thou to the poor hast been
their strength, as they confess;
A happy strength to helpless ones,
in times of their distress.
Thou art a refuge from the storm,
a shadow from the heat;
When blasts of dreadful ones like storms
on walls in fury beat;
And like fierce heat in places dry;
5 but Thou shalt quell their noise,
And, as the heat by shady cloud,
suppress their dreadful voice.
6 The LORD of hosts moreover will
upon this mountain make
A sumptuous feast of fat things for
all people to partake:
A feast of wines presev'd on lees,
for them He will prepare;
Of fat and marrow-things, of wines
that most refined are.
7 And in this mountain He destroy
the face of cov'ring shall,
Cast o'er all people, and the vail
spread over nations all.
8 For ever He will swallow up
death into victory.
The Lord JEHOVAH tears shall wipe
from ev'ry face and eye.
His people's whole reproach from all
the earth He'll take away.
8 Lo this our God! who will us save;
for Him we waiting stay!
This is the LORD on whom we have
our expectation had;
In his salvation we'll rejoice,
and be exceeding glad.
Isaiah 26
1 A City of exceeding strength
Doth happily to us belong;
And the decreed salvation shall
Like walls and bulwarks keep it strong.
2 Set open then the city-gates,
That so the righteous nation, who
Immovably maintains the truth,
May gladly enter thereinto.
3 In perfect peace Thou such a one
wilt ever surely cause to be,
Whose mind on Thee securely stays;
Because he hopes alone on Thee.
4 Repose then ever in the LORD
The lively hope of all your mind!
Because in JAH, JEHOVAH, sure,
A rock eternal ye shall find.
5 He'll bring down those who dwell on high,
He'll lay the haughty city low,
He'll lay it level with the ground,
And down into the dust will throw.
6 The feet of the afflicted shall
In triumph tread it wholly down;
And it shall lie beneath the feet
Of him that was a helpless one.
Part 2
7 The way of ev'ry righteous man
Is universal righteousness;
And thou, O RIGHTEOUS ONE, dost weigh
In righteousness each path of his.
8 Moreover in thy judgments way,
LORD, Thee we longing look to see;
Our souls desire is to thy name,
And to the memory of Thee.
9 In the dark seasons of the night,
My soul Thee earnestly desires:
My wakeful spirit in my breast
For Thee at early dawn inquires,
For when thy judgments are display'd
On earth, the world's inhabitants
Should lay to heart thy righteous works,
And learn the righteousness of saints.
10 Tho' for a wicked man there should
Bowels of heav'nly pity yearn,
Yet he the way of righteousness
Will not perswaded be to learn:
He'll work perverse iniquity;
Nor will he ev'n so much as see
JEHOVAH's glorious majesty.
11 LORD, when thine hand is lifted up,
In thy most awful judgments, high;
yet lest they see thine hand therein,
Perversely they will shut their eye.
But with confusion they shall see
The zeal Thou for thy people hast,
And the consuming fire that shall
Thine adversaries wholly waste.
Part 3
12 JEHOVAH, certainly Thou wilt
Safety and peace for us ordain:
For our affairs Thou mange dost,
And for us, all our works maintain.
13 O LORD our God, tho' other Lords
Have reigned over us, we own;
Yet hence, thy name we mention will,
And by Thee none but thine alone.
14 They're dead, and shall not live again;
Deceas'd, and never shall arise;
Thy judgments have destroy'd them quite,
Yea caus'd that all their mem'ry dies.
15 The nation, LORD, increasest Thou,
Our nation greatly hast increas'd;
And Thou hast glorify'd thy self,
And thro' the earth dispers'd them hast.
16 O LORD, when they were in distress,
They Thee then visited with cries;
And pray'r in secret poured out,
When Thou didst sorely them chastize.
17 Like as a pregnant woman when
Approaching travail comes apace,
Is pain'd, and in her pangs cries out;
So were we, LORD, before thy face.
17 We trouble have conceiv'd, are pain'd,
But bring forth vanity, and wind;
Nor do the world's disturbers fall:
Nor we on earth deliverance find.
Part 4
19 Thy dead shall surely live again,
With thy dead body rise they must:
Awake out of the sleep of death,
And sing ye who dwell in the dust!
Because the dew that falls on thee,
Is like the dew that makes herbs grow;
But out abroad with violence,
The earth the wicked ones shall throw.
20 Come then my people enter in
To chambers that most secret are;
And after thee shut thou the doors,
And make them fast with utmost care.
There do thou hide thy self a while;
It shall but as a moment be,
And all the indignation shall
Be pass'd for ever over thee.
21 For lo, the LORD is coming forth,
Out of his dwelling place on high,
Upon the earth's inhabitants,
To punish their iniquity.
The earth shall then disclose and show
The bloods within her buried;
Her slain shall be brought forth to view,
And be no longer covered.
Isaiah 37
The Song of Hezekiah, after his Recovery from Sickness
10 My days I said are now cut off.
And going to the grave am I,
And of my hop'd for coming years
I am deprived utterly.
11 I said, that JAH I shall not see,
JAH in the land of life behold;
And man mine eyes shall see no more,
Nor any dwellers in the world.
12 My dwelling here is pass'd away,
Removed as a shepherd's tent;
My life as threads by weavers cut,
He cuts me off by languishment.
From day to night Thou dost me waste,
And end of me wilt quickly make,
13 I in the morn look; but by night
My bones He'll as a lion break.
14 Like cranes or swallows chatter'd I,
Like doves I mourn'd thro' pain and grief,
Mine eyes with looking upwards fail'd.
LORD, I'm oppress'd; O give relief.
15 What shall I say? but humbly own,
He well hath spoke and done to me,
And I in bitterness of soul
Will all my years repenting be.
16 As LORD, Thou art the life of men,
Life to my spirit Thou dost give;
Thou fully wilt recover me,
And thou wilt make me still to live.
17 Lo, I for peace great trouble found,
But to my soul in love Thou hast
From the corrupting pit me sav'd,
Mu sins behind thy back hast cast.
17 For graves cannot shew forth thy praise,
Neither can death Thee celebrate,
Such as go down into the pit
To see thy truth no more can wait,
19 The living does, the living will,
Thee praise, ev'n as I do this day;
The father to the children shall
Thy acts of faithfulness display.
20 Ready to save me was the LORD:
Therefore we will my songs of praise
Sing in JEHOVAH's house with joy,
Throughout our lives, ev'n all our days.
Isaiah 45
21 From ancient times I have declar'd,
I am JEHOVAH, GOD alone,
A righteous God, and Me besides
A saviour is, or can be none.
22 Then look to me ye fainting souls,
In ev'ry place, in ev'ry land;
And ye shall joyfully receive
Salvation at my mighty hand.
23 For I am God, and none besides,
I even by My self have sworn
In righteousness: and now the word
Gone from my mouth, shall not return:
It is, 'that every knee to Me
'Shall bow, and ev'ry tongue shall swear,
24 'And say, that in the LORD alone
'My strength and righteousnesses are:'
Yea all who feel their wretchedness
With humble joy shall come to Him:
But those who with Him are displeas'd,
Shall be distress'd with endless shame.
25 In Thee, JEHOVAH, Isr'els race,
All fully justify'd shall be;
In Thee shall triumph oe'r their foes,
And all be glorify'd in Thee.
Isaiah 53
1 O who has our report believ'd?
And who JEHOVAH's arm doth know?
2 For as a tender plant and root
Before Him, from dry ground He'll grow.
He has no form, nor comeliness;
And when his troubled face we see,
No beauty in Him we discern,
that by us He desir'd should be.
3 He slighted and rejected is
Ev'n of the men He came to save:
A man of constant sorrows full,
And intimate with heavy grief.
Yet we, while He was thus abus'd,
Our faces turn'd and hid from Him;
By others round He was despis'd,
Nor did we Him at all esteem.
4 Tho' sure they were our griefs He bore,
Our sinking sorrows bear did He;
Yet strook, and smote, and scourg'd by GOD,
We judg'd Him righteously to be.
5 But ah! 'twas only for our sins
That He did all his wounds receive:
For our iniquities was bruis'd,
That He might us from them relieve.
Our chastisement on Him was laid,
To purchase our eternal peace:
and by his stripes it is that we
Are heal'd with wondrous pow'r and grace.
6 We all like sheep astray have gone,
Each turn'd to his own sinful way:
And yet the trespass on us all
The LORD on Him alone did lay.
7 Oppress'd, abus'd, He silent was,
As the meek lamb to slaughter bro't;
Or sheep, before her shearers dumb,
His guiltless mouth He op'ned not
8 From judgment and from pris'n [the grave]
Soon rais'd and took away was He;
And of his generation who
Shall tell the wondrous history?
For from the land of living ones
In early age was He destroy'd;
And for my people's sins the stroke
Of vi'lent death was on Him laid.
8 With criminals He died; and yet
Among the rich He made his grave;
Because He did no injury,
Nor ever with his mouth deceive.
10 Yet it JEHOVAH pleas'd to bruise
And put Him to extreme distress,
When Thou shalt offer up his soul
Only for others trespasses:
When this is done, then He shall rise,
Live ever, and his offspring see;
JEHOVAH's pleasure in his hand
Shall prosper to eternity:
11 The mulitply'd and happy fruit,
Of the vast travel of his soul,
He shall survey, and with the view
He shall be pleased to the full:
By knowledge of the way of life,
My righteous servant shall appear
Vast multitudes to justify;
For He their sins will fully bear.
12 Therefore a portion with the great
To Him, as due, divide I will;
And with the mighty ones shall He
Divide and share the glorious spoil.
Because He pour'd his soul to death,
And with transgressors numbred was:
The sin of many bore; and He
For helpless sinners pleads the cause.
Isaiah 55
1 Ho! ev'ry thirsty, longing soul!
Come where the living waters flow;
Come, buy, eat, drink my wine and milk;
Tho' nothing ye, of worth, can show.
2 Why do ye spend your cost and toil,
For what cannot content the soul?
Hear Me, and feed on solid good,
Your souls with fatness shall be full.
3 Incline your ear and come to Me,
Hear, and your soul shall ever live;
I'll an eternal covenant
And DAVID's certain mercies give.
4 Lo! I have HIM a witness giv'n,
For all the people to observe;
A leader and commander made,
That ll the people should HIM serve.
5 The gentile nations Thou shalt call;
And they shall run to Thee with joy;
The LORD thy God, the HOLY ONE
Of Isr'el, Thee will glorify.
6 O seek ye for the LORD, while ye
To your great joy may find Him here;
And call upon Him earnestly,
While in his mercy He is near.
7 Let wicked men, forsake their ways,
Their tho'ts let the unrighteous leave;
And to the LORD let them return;
And mercy on them He will have.
Let them remember He's our God,
So wondrous for benignity;
O let them then return to Him,
And He'll forgive abundantly.