kjv Isaiah:36-40 SEEK
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Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah ,
that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah ,
and took them .
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And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army .
And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller '
s field .
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Then came forth unto him Eliakim ,
Hilkiah '
s son ,
which was over the house ,
and Shebna the scribe ,
and Joah ,
Asaph '
s son ,
the recorder .
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And Rabshakeh said unto them ,
Say ye now to Hezekiah ,
Thus saith the great king ,
the king of Assyria ,
What confidence is this wherein thou trustest ?
*
I say ,
sayest thou , (
but they are but vain words )
I have counsel and strength for war :
now on whom dost thou trust ,
that thou rebellest against me ?
*
Lo ,
thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed ,
on Egypt ;
whereon if a man lean ,
it will go into his hand ,
and pierce it :
so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him .
*
But if thou say to me ,
We trust in the LORD our God :
is it not he ,
whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away ,
and said to Judah and to Jerusalem ,
Ye shall worship before this altar ?
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Now therefore give pledges ,
I pray thee ,
to my master the king of Assyria ,
and I will give thee two thousand horses ,
if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them .
*
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master '
s servants ,
and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen ?
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And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it ?
the LORD said unto me ,
Go up against this land ,
and destroy it .
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Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh ,
Speak ,
I pray thee ,
unto thy servants in the Syrian language ;
for we understand it :
and speak not to us in the Jews '
language ,
in the ears of the people that are on the wall .
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But Rabshakeh said ,
Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words ?
hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall ,
that they may eat their own dung ,
and drink their own piss with you ?
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Then Rabshakeh stood ,
and cried with a loud voice in the Jews '
language ,
and said ,
Hear ye the words of the great king ,
the king of Assyria .
*
Thus saith the king ,
Let not Hezekiah deceive you :
for he shall not be able to deliver you .
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Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD ,
saying ,
The LORD will surely deliver us :
this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria .
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Hearken not to Hezekiah :
for thus saith the king of Assyria ,
Make an agreement with me by a present ,
and come out to me :
and eat ye every one of his vine ,
and every one of his fig tree ,
and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern ;
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Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land ,
a land of corn and wine ,
a land of bread and vineyards .
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Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you ,
saying ,
The LORD will deliver us .
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria ?
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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad ?
where are the gods of Sepharvaim ?
and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand ?
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Who are they among all the gods of these lands ,
that have delivered their land out of my hand ,
that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand ?
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But they held their peace ,
and answered him not a word :
for the king '
s commandment was ,
saying ,
Answer him not .
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Then came Eliakim ,
the son of Hilkiah ,
that was over the household ,
and Shebna the scribe ,
and Joah ,
the son of Asaph ,
the recorder ,
to Hezekiah with their clothes rent ,
and told him the words of Rabshakeh .
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And it came to pass ,
when king Hezekiah heard it ,
that he rent his clothes ,
and covered himself with sackcloth ,
and went into the house of the LORD .
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And he sent Eliakim ,
who was over the household ,
and Shebna the scribe ,
and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth ,
unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz .
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And they said unto him ,
Thus saith Hezekiah ,
This day is a day of trouble ,
and of rebuke ,
and of blasphemy :
for the children are come to the birth ,
and there is not strength to bring forth .
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It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh ,
whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God ,
and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard :
wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left .
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So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah .
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And Isaiah said unto them ,
Thus shall ye say unto your master ,
Thus saith the LORD ,
Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard ,
wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me .
*
Behold ,
I will send a blast upon him ,
and he shall hear a rumour ,
and return to his own land ;
and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land .
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So Rabshakeh returned ,
and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah :
for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish .
*
And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia ,
He is come forth to make war with thee .
And when he heard it ,
he sent messengers to Hezekiah ,
saying ,
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Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah ,
saying ,
Let not thy God ,
in whom thou trustest ,
deceive thee ,
saying ,
Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria .
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Behold ,
thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly ;
and shalt thou be delivered ?
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Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed ,
as Gozan ,
and Haran ,
and Rezeph ,
and the children of Eden which were in Telassar ?
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Where is the king of Hamath ,
and the king of Arphad ,
and the king of the city of Sepharvaim ,
Hena ,
and Ivah ?
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And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers ,
and read it :
and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD ,
and spread it before the LORD .
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And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD ,
saying ,
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O LORD of hosts ,
God of Israel ,
that dwellest between the cherubims ,
thou art the God ,
even thou alone ,
of all the kingdoms of the earth :
thou hast made heaven and earth .
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Incline thine ear ,
O LORD ,
and hear ;
open thine eyes ,
O LORD ,
and see :
and hear all the words of Sennacherib ,
which hath sent to reproach the living God .
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Of a truth ,
LORD ,
the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations ,
and their countries ,
*
And have cast their gods into the fire :
for they were no gods ,
but the work of men '
s hands ,
wood and stone :
therefore they have destroyed them .
*
Now therefore ,
O LORD our God ,
save us from his hand ,
that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD ,
even thou only .
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Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah ,
saying ,
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel ,
Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria :
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This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him ;
The virgin ,
the daughter of Zion ,
hath despised thee ,
and laughed thee to scorn ;
the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee .
*
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed ?
and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice ,
and lifted up thine eyes on high ?
even against the Holy One of Israel .
*
By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord ,
and hast said ,
By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains ,
to the sides of Lebanon ;
and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof ,
and the choice fir trees thereof :
and I will enter into the height of his border ,
and the forest of his Carmel .
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I have digged ,
and drunk water ;
and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places .
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Hast thou not heard long ago ,
how I have done it ;
and of ancient times ,
that I have formed it ?
now have I brought it to pass ,
that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps .
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Therefore their inhabitants were of small power ,
they were dismayed and confounded :
they were as the grass of the field ,
and as the green herb ,
as the grass on the housetops ,
and as corn blasted before it be grown up .
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But I know thy abode ,
and thy going out ,
and thy coming in ,
and thy rage against me .
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Because thy rage against me ,
and thy tumult ,
is come up into mine ears ,
therefore will I put my hook in thy nose ,
and my bridle in thy lips ,
and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest .
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And this shall be a sign unto thee ,
Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself ;
and the second year that which springeth of the same :
and in the third year sow ye ,
and reap ,
and plant vineyards ,
and eat the fruit thereof .
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And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward ,
and bear fruit upward :
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For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant ,
and they that escape out of mount Zion :
the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this .
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Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria ,
He shall not come into this city ,
nor shoot an arrow there ,
nor come before it with shields ,
nor cast a bank against it .
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By the way that he came ,
by the same shall he return ,
and shall not come into this city ,
saith the LORD .
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For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake ,
and for my servant David '
s sake .
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Then the angel of the LORD went forth ,
and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand :
and when they arose early in the morning ,
behold ,
they were all dead corpses .
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So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed ,
and went and returned ,
and dwelt at Nineveh .
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And it came to pass ,
as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god ,
that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword ;
and they escaped into the land of Armenia :
and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead .
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In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death .
And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him ,
and said unto him ,
Thus saith the LORD ,
Set thine house in order :
for thou shalt die ,
and not live .
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Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall ,
and prayed unto the LORD ,
*
And said ,
Remember now ,
O LORD ,
I beseech thee ,
how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart ,
and have done that which is good in thy sight .
And Hezekiah wept sore .
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Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah ,
saying ,
*
Go ,
and say to Hezekiah ,
Thus saith the LORD ,
the God of David thy father ,
I have heard thy prayer ,
I have seen thy tears :
behold ,
I will add unto thy days fifteen years .
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And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria :
and I will defend this city .
*
And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD ,
that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken ;
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Behold ,
I will bring again the shadow of the degrees ,
which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz ,
ten degrees backward .
So the sun returned ten degrees ,
by which degrees it was gone down .
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The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah ,
when he had been sick ,
and was recovered of his sickness :
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I said in the cutting off of my days ,
I shall go to the gates of the grave :
I am deprived of the residue of my years .
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I said ,
I shall not see the LORD ,
even the LORD ,
in the land of the living :
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world .
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Mine age is departed ,
and is removed from me as a shepherd '
s tent :
I have cut off like a weaver my life :
he will cut me off with pining sickness :
from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me .
*
I reckoned till morning ,
that ,
as a lion ,
so will he break all my bones :
from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me .
*
Like a crane or a swallow ,
so did I chatter :
I did mourn as a dove :
mine eyes fail with looking upward :
O LORD ,
I am oppressed ;
undertake for me .
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What shall I say ?
he hath both spoken unto me ,
and himself hath done it :
I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul .
*
O Lord ,
by these things men live ,
and in all these things is the life of my spirit :
so wilt thou recover me ,
and make me to live .
*
Behold ,
for peace I had great bitterness :
but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption :
for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back .
*
For the grave cannot praise thee ,
death can not celebrate thee :
they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth .
*
The living ,
the living ,
he shall praise thee ,
as I do this day :
the father to the children shall make known thy truth .
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The LORD was ready to save me :
therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD .
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For Isaiah had said ,
Let them take a lump of figs ,
and lay it for a plaister upon the boil ,
and he shall recover .
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Hezekiah also had said ,
What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD ?
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At that time Merodachbaladan ,
the son of Baladan ,
king of Babylon ,
sent letters and a present to Hezekiah :
for he had heard that he had been sick ,
and was recovered .
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And Hezekiah was glad of them ,
and shewed them the house of his precious things ,
the silver ,
and the gold ,
and the spices ,
and the precious ointment ,
and all the house of his armour ,
and all that was found in his treasures :
there was nothing in his house ,
nor in all his dominion ,
that Hezekiah shewed them not .
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Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah ,
and said unto him ,
What said these men ?
and from whence came they unto thee ?
And Hezekiah said ,
They are come from a far country unto me ,
even from Babylon .
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Then said he ,
What have they seen in thine house ?
And Hezekiah answered ,
All that is in mine house have they seen :
there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them .
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Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah ,
Hear the word of the LORD of hosts :
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Behold ,
the days come ,
that all that is in thine house ,
and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day ,
shall be carried to Babylon :
nothing shall be left ,
saith the LORD .
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And of thy sons that shall issue from thee ,
which thou shalt beget ,
shall they take away ;
and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon .
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Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah ,
Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken .
He said moreover ,
For there shall be peace and truth in my days .
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Comfort ye ,
comfort ye my people ,
saith your God .
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Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem ,
and cry unto her ,
that her warfare is accomplished ,
that her iniquity is pardoned :
for she hath received of the LORD '
S hand double for all her sins .
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The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness ,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD ,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God .
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Every valley shall be exalted ,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low :
and the crooked shall be made straight ,
and the rough places plain :
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And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed ,
and all flesh shall see it together :
for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it .
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The voice said ,
Cry .
And he said ,
What shall I cry ?
All flesh is grass ,
and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field :
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The grass withereth ,
the flower fadeth :
because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it :
surely the people is grass .
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The grass withereth ,
the flower fadeth :
but the word of our God shall stand for ever .
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O Zion ,
that bringest good tidings ,
get thee up into the high mountain ;
O Jerusalem ,
that bringest good tidings ,
lift up thy voice with strength ;
lift it up ,
be not afraid ;
say unto the cities of Judah ,
Behold your God !
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Behold ,
the Lord GOD will come with strong hand ,
and his arm shall rule for him :
behold ,
his reward is with him ,
and his work before him .
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He shall feed his flock like a shepherd :
he shall gather the lambs with his arm ,
and carry them in his bosom ,
and shall gently lead those that are with young .
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Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand ,
and meted out heaven with the span ,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure ,
and weighed the mountains in scales ,
and the hills in a balance ?
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Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD ,
or being his counsellor hath taught him ?
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With whom took he counsel ,
and who instructed him ,
and taught him in the path of judgment ,
and taught him knowledge ,
and shewed to him the way of understanding ?
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Behold ,
the nations are as a drop of a bucket ,
and are counted as the small dust of the balance :
behold ,
he taketh up the isles as a very little thing .
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And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn ,
nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering .
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All nations before him are as nothing ;
and they are counted to him less than nothing ,
and vanity .
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To whom then will ye liken God ?
or what likeness will ye compare unto him ?
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The workman melteth a graven image ,
and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold ,
and casteth silver chains .
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He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot ;
he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image ,
that shall not be moved .
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Have ye not known ?
have ye not heard ?
hath it not been told you from the beginning ?
have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth ?
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It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth ,
and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers ;
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain ,
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in :
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That bringeth the princes to nothing ;
he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity .
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Yea ,
they shall not be planted ;
yea ,
they shall not be sown :
yea ,
their stock shall not take root in the earth :
and he shall also blow upon them ,
and they shall wither ,
and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble .
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To whom then will ye liken me ,
or shall I be equal ?
saith the Holy One .
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Lift up your eyes on high ,
and behold who hath created these things ,
that bringeth out their host by number :
he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might ,
for that he is strong in power ;
not one faileth .
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Why sayest thou ,
O Jacob ,
and speakest ,
O Israel ,
My way is hid from the LORD ,
and my judgment is passed over from my God ?
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Hast thou not known ?
hast thou not heard ,
that the everlasting God ,
the LORD ,
the Creator of the ends of the earth ,
fainteth not ,
neither is weary ?
there is no searching of his understanding .
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He giveth power to the faint ;
and to them that have no might he increaseth strength .
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Even the youths shall faint and be weary ,
and the young men shall utterly fall :
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But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength ;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles ;
they shall run ,
and not be weary ;
and they shall walk ,
and not faint .
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Keep silence before me ,
O islands ;
and let the people renew their strength :
let them come near ;
then let them speak :
let us come near together to judgment .