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| 1 At that time, an affirmation of Jehovah, They bring the bones of the kings of Judah, And the bones of its princes, And the bones of the priests, And the bones of the prophets, And the bones of inhabitants of Jerusalem, Out of their graves, |
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| 2 And have spread them to sun, and to moon, And to all the host of the heavens, that they have loved, And that they have served, And that they have walked after, And that they have sought, And to which they have bowed themselves, They are not gathered, nor buried, They are for dung on the face of the ground. |
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| 3 And chosen is death rather than life By all the remnant who are left of this evil family, In all the remaining places, whither I have driven them, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts. |
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| 4 And thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah, Do they fall, and not rise Doth he turn back, and not return |
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| 5 Wherefore hath this people of Jerusalem Turned back a perpetual backsliding They have kept hold on deceit, They have refused to turn back. |
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| 6 I have given attention, yea, I hearken, They do not speak right, No man hath repented of his wickedness, Saying, What have I done Every one hath turned to his courses, As a horse is rushing into battle. |
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| 7 Even a stork in the heavens hath known her seasons, And turtle, and swallow, and crane, Have watched the time of their coming, And My people have not known the judgment of Jehovah. |
Not the judgment – Arrangement, dealings. C157; R230:5
Of the LORD – That this harvest day of full, complete separation of wheat from chaff and tares must come; in this they show less discernment than the migratory fowls. C157
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| 8 How do ye say, We [are] wise, And the law of Jehovah [is] with us Surely, lo, falsely it hath wrought, The false pen of scribes. |
How do ye say – How can you say, when you cannot discern the harvest time and the change of dispensation then due. C157
Is in vain – Because the Word of the Lord by his prophets and apostles is made void and set aside without attention. The creeds formed in the Dark Ages are the lightless lanterns of them that walk in darkness. C157
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| 9 Ashamed have been the wise, They have been affrighted, and are captured, Lo, against a word of Jehovah they kicked, And the wisdom of what have they |
The wise men – Those learned in the wisdom of this world. C157
They are dismayed – Disheartened by the failure of their cherished human schemes. C157
And taken – Caught. C157
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| 10 Therefore, I give their wives to others, Their fields to dispossessors, For from the least even unto the greatest, Every one is gaining dishonest gain, From prophet even unto priest, every one is dealing falsely. |
Will I give their wives – Their churches. C157
And their fields – Of labor. C157
To them – To the conquerors. C157
For every one – Of them. C157
To covetousness – "They are greedy dogs, which can never have enough." (Isa. 56:11) C157
From the prophet – Orator. C157
Unto the priest – Minister. C157
Dealeth falsely – Practiseth falsehood: "For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." (Isa. 28:15) C157
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| 11 And they heal the breach of the daughter of my people slightly, Saying, Peace, peace! and there is no peace.
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Healed the hurt – The sore. C157
In the days of Luther and the Reformation, when the daughters might have been radically healed. R498:5
Of the daughter – Nominal Zion, Babylon. C157
There is no peace – Her whole system is diseased and needs thorough cleansing with the medicine of God's Word, the truth. C157
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| 12 They were ashamed when they did abomination! Yea, they are not at all ashamed, And blushing they have not known, Therefore, they do fall among falling ones, In the time of their inspection they stumble, said Jehovah. |
Were they – They should have been. C157
Abomination – Their abominable work. C157
Shall they – The teachers. C157
Their visitation – Or inspection, in the harvest. C157
Shall be cast down – They shall stumble. C157
"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Thess. 5:4) C215
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| 13 I utterly consume them, an affirmation of Jehovah, There are no grapes in the vine, Yea, there are no figs in the fig-tree, And the leaf hath faded, And the strength they have passeth from them. |
Consume them – Make an end of them. C157
There shall be – There shall be left. C158
Shall fade – Shall wither. C158
And the things – All divine favors and privileges. C158
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| 14 Wherefore are we sitting still Be gathered, and we go in to the fenced cities, And we are silent there, For Jehovah our God hath made us silent, Yea, He causeth us to drink water of gall, For we have sinned against Jehovah. |
The defenced cities – Governments. C158
Water of gall – Bitter poison-water, the poison of bitter error, the "doctrine of devils" mingled with the pure water of life, the truth of God's Word. C158
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| 15 Looking for peace and there is no good, For a time of healing, and lo, terror. |
We looked for peace – Anticipating that our bitter poison-water doctrines would convert the world and bring about the Millennium. C158
And behold trouble – The disease of nominal Zion will grow rapidly worse as the Israelites indeed withdraw. C158
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| 16 From Dan hath been heard the snorting of his horses, From the voice of the neighings of his mighty ones, Trembled hath all the land, And they come in and consume the land and its fulness, The city and the inhabitants in it. |
Of his horses – Doctrines. C316
The city – Babylon, Christendom. D527
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| 17 For, lo, I am sending among you serpents, Vipers that have no charmer, And they have bitten you, an affirmation of Jehovah. |
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| 18 My refreshing for me [is] sorrow, For me my heart [is] sick. |
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| 19 Lo, the voice of a cry of the daughter of my people from a land afar off, Is Jehovah not in Zion is her king not in her Wherefore have they provoked Me with their graven images, With the vanities of a foreigner |
The LORD in Zion – Nominal Zion, Babylon, is spewed out of his mouth. C157[C157]; R498:4[R498]
Provoked me to anger – Love can be justly provoked to anger. R5978:6, R5603:2
His anger is righteous indignation against sin. R5603:1, R5978:6
God's indignation was kindled against his chosen people. R5603:2
Strange vanities – Infidelity sits in the pews, declaims from the pulpits, rules in the assemblies; and, together with Agnosticism and Evolution, these strike against the very foundation doctrines of Christianity--the fall of man and his redemption through Christ. R1690:5
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| 20 Harvest hath passed, summer hath ended, And we we have not been saved. |
The harvest is past – We did not do the Lord's will. R4079:5*
They realize they have failed to make their calling and election sure to a place in the kingdom class. R2837:3
Nominal Zion might have been healed once, but now it is too late to reform the sects. R731:4
Summer is ended – "Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter" with the tribulation class (Matt. 24:20). Escape from Babylon before the winter time of her trouble comes upon her. D578
We are not saved – A class who would realize that the Bride has been taken and that they are left; at the fall of Babylon. (Rev. 19) Q229:2
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| 21 For a breach of the daughter of my people have I been broken, I have been black, astonishment hath seized me. |
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| 22 Is there no balm in Gilead Is there no physician there For wherefore hath not the health of the daughter of my people gone up |
No balm in Gilead – None of the human remedies proposed will cure the malady of human depravity. D469
Consolation of wounded spirits on the battlefield of life. R5803:1
Babylon might have been healed once, but now, like her prototype Israel, she is given up--left desolate. R731:4
No physician there – There is no remedy, these systems must die. The disorder comes from within. Though the canker is carefully concealed, the bad odor and distress are noticeable. R498:5
With the harvest ended those then in Zion will have lost the "especial" salvation, the prize of being made the heavenly Zion. R230:5
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