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| 1 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'And thou, son of man, Thus said the Lord Jehovah to the ground of Israel: |
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| 2 An end, come hath the end on the four corners of the land. |
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| 3 Now [is] the end unto thee, And I have sent Mine anger upon thee, And judged thee according to thy ways, And set against thee all thine abominations. |
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| 4 And no pity on thee hath Mine eye, nor do I spare, For thy ways against thee I do set, And thine abominations are in thy midst, And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah. |
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| 5 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Evil, a single evil, lo, it hath come. |
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| 6 An end hath come, come hath the end, It hath waked for thee, lo, it hath come. |
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| 7 Come hath the morning unto thee, O inhabitant of the land! Come hath the time, near [is] a day of trouble, And not the shouting of mountains. |
Of the mountains – Kingdoms. A318
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| 8 Now, shortly I pour out My fury on thee, And have completed Mine anger against thee, And judged thee according to thy ways, And set against thee all thine abominations. |
Recompense – We are already entering the great Day of Recompense. R3619:2
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| 9 And not pity doth Mine eye, nor do I spare, According to thy ways unto thee I give, And thine abominations are in thy midst, And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah the smiter. |
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| 10 Lo, the day, lo, it hath come, Gone forth hath the morning, Blossomed hath the rod, flourished the pride. |
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| 11 The violence hath risen to a rod of wickedness, There is none of them, nor of their multitude, Nor of their noise, nor is there wailing for them. |
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| 12 Come hath the time, arrived hath the day, The buyer doth not rejoice, And the seller doth not become a mourner, For wrath [is] unto all its multitude. |
The seller mourn – For trouble will be on the entire multitude and there will be no security of property. A315
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| 13 For the seller to the sold thing turneth not, And yet among the living [is] their life, For the vision [is] unto all its multitude, It doth not turn back, And none by his iniquity doth strengthen his life. |
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| 14 They have blown with a trumpet to prepare the whole, And none is going to battle, For My wrath [is] unto all its multitude. |
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| 15 The sword [is] without, And the pestilence and the famine within, He who is in a field by sword dieth, And he who is in a city, Famine and pestilence devour him. |
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| 16 And escaped away have their fugitives, And they have been on the mountains As doves of the valleys, All of them make a noising each for his iniquity. |
Like doves – Symbols of peace and purity. E212
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| 17 All the hands are feeble, and all knees go waters. |
Shall be feeble – Helpless to turn aside the trouble. A315
Of little avail will be the protection which any government can provide, when the judgments of the Lord and the fruits of their folly are precipitated upon them all. D149
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| 18 And they have girded on sackcloth, And covered them hath trembling, And unto all faces [is] shame, And on all their heads baldness. |
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| 19 Their silver into out-places they cast, And their gold impurity becometh. Their silver and their gold is not able to deliver them, In a day of the wrath of Jehovah, Their soul they do not satisfy, And their bowels they do not fill, For the stumbling-block of their iniquity it hath been. |
They shall cast – The animosities of the masses will be exercised with violence against the rich. R1690:3, R2904:3
The rich will suffer most. D273
Their silver – The demonetization of silver seems to be referred to. OV339:1; SM691:1; D472
In the streets – Miller Bartella offered the mob, in vain, his fortune for his life--a picture throwing lurid light upon the situation. R2384:2
Financial institutions, including insurance companies and beneficial societies, will go down; and "treasures" in them will prove utterly worthless. D45
Treat it as a commodity and not as money. OV339:1
Shall be removed – "As though it were unclean." (Margin) D45
Become scarce and eventually be completely withdrawn by the people; hiding it as though it were an unclean thing, as the Hebrew text implies. SM691:1; OV339:1
Silver and their gold – And bank notes and bonds. F554; D329
Neither silver nor gold will be available. OV339:1
Not be able to deliver – Procuring neither protection, comforts nor luxuries. F554
The character of the trouble will be one in which the animosities of the masses will be exercised with violence against the rich. R1690:3
Day of the wrath – This is the predicted time of distress of nations with perplexity. (Luke 21:25) D149
They shall not satisfy – With their wealth. D45
Because it – The idolatry of money. B139
Is the stumblingblock – The spirit of acquisitiveness which lies at the foundation of all the trouble is to be found in every land, but nowhere more so than in so--called "Christendom." R2904:4
Those who worship idols of gold, silver, stocks or bonds, will receive severe chastisement before being granted a share in the coming blessings. SM482:1
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| 20 As to the beauty of his ornament, For excellency He set it, And the images of their abominations, Their detestable things they made in it, Therefore I have given it to them for impurity, |
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| 21 And I have given it into the hand of the strangers for a prey, And to the wicked of the land for a spoil, And they have polluted it. |
The strangers – Others, beyond the revolting hosts of Christendom, will also form a part of the Lord's great army. D549
Anarchists outrivaling heathendom in barbarity; or, possibly, uprisings of the peoples of India, China and Africa against Christendom. D550
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| 22 And I have turned My face from them, And they have polluted My hidden place, Yea, come into it have destroyers, and polluted it. |
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| 23 Make the chain; for the land Hath been full of bloody judgments, And the city hath been full of violence. |
Make a chain – Bind, unite them together, let them make common cause. D550
The city – Christendom. D550
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| 24 And I have brought in the wicked of the nations, And they have possessed their houses, And I have caused to cease the excellency of the strong, And polluted have been those sanctifying them. |
Worst of the heathen – Probably those in Christendom without God and without Christian sentiments or hopes. D550
Their holy places – Their honored or sacred places, their religious institutions, etc. D550
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| 25 Destruction hath come, And they have sought peace, and there is none. |
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| 26 Mischief on mischief cometh, and report is on report, And they have sought a vision from a prophet, And law doth perish from the priest, And counsel from the elders, |
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| 27 The king doth become a mourner, And a prince putteth on desolation, And the hands of the people of the land are troubled, From their own way I deal with them, And with their own judgments I judge them, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah!' |
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