Latest / Sacred Texts Archive / 11 - Book of Mormon - Joseph Smith Jr
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- Chapter eighteen. Moreover, the word of the Lord said unto me, take thee a great roll and write in it with a man's pen concerning Maher shall al Hashbas. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record Uriah the priest and Zechariah, the son of Jeberkiah. And I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived embarrassed son, and said the Lord to me, call his name Maher shallal Hashbas. For behold, the child shall not have knowledge to cry my father and my mother before the riches of Damascus, and the spoil of Sumeria shall be taken away before the King of Assyria. The Lord spake also unto me, saying, forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloh, that go softly and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son. Now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the King of Assyria and all his glory. And he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks, and he shall pass through Judah Ye shall overflow and go over He shall reach even to the neck and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel, Associate yourselves, o ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces, and give ear all ye of far countries. Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought. Speak the word, and it shall not stand. For God is with us. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, say ye not a confederacy. To all to whom this people shall say a confederacy. Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples, and I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel, and from the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion. And when they shall say, unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter. Should not a people seek unto their God for the living, to hear from the dead, to the law and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it hardly, bestead and hungry. And it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves and curse their king and their God, and look upward, and they shall look unto the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and shall be driven to darkness Chapter nineteen. Nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtalai, and afterwards did more grievously afflict by the way of the Red Sea beyond Jordan and galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death. Upon them hath the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation and increased the joy. They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For that thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder the rod of his oppressor. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood. But this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful counselor the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the increase of government and peace. There is no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice. From henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. The Lord sent his word unto Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. And all the people shall know, even Ephrium and all the inhabitants of Samaria, that say, in the pride and stoutness of heart, the bricks are fought and down, but we will build with hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Resin against him and join his enemies together, the Syrians before and the Philistines behind. They shall not devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them. Neither do they seek Lord of hosts. Therefore will the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail branch, and rush in one day the ancient He is the head, and the prophet that teacheth lies he is the tale. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and they that are lad of them are destroyed. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless or widows. For every one of them is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For wickedness burneth is the fire. It shall devour the briars and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forests. And they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts. Is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire. No man shall spare his brother, and he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied. They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm Menessea Ephrim and Ephrium Manasse. They together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Chapter twenty. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that right grievousness. When they have prescribed to turn away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far, to whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory without me? They shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, o Assyrian. The rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is their indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath. While I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so. But in his heart it is to destroy and cut off nations, not a few. For he Saith are not my princes altogether. Kings is not call Know as Carcamish, is not Hameth as Arpad, is not Samaria as Damascus. As my hand hath founded the kingdoms of the Idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her Idols, so do to Jerusalem and to her Idols. Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mountains Ion and upon Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his high looks. For he saith by the strength of my hand and by my wisdom, I have done these things, for I am prudent, and I have moved the borders of the people, and have robbed their treasures. And I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. And my hand hath found as a nest to the riches of the people, and as one gathereth eggs that are left. Have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peace. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith, shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it, as if the rod should shake itself against him that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of Hosts send among his fat one's leanness, and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire, and the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and shall burn, and shall devour his thorns and his briars in one day, and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both body and soul. And they shall be as when a standard bearer fainteth, and the rest of the trees of his forests shall be a few, and that a child may right them. And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped to the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. In truth, the remnant shall return, yea, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the Mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness, For the Lord God of Hosts shall make a consumption even determined in all the land. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee after the manner of Egypt for yet a little while, and the indignations shall cease and mine anger in their destruction, And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. And as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed. Because of the anointing he has come up to Ayeth. He is passed to migrn at Micmash. He hath laid up his carriages. They are gone over the passage. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramth is afraid. Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up the voice, O, daughter of Galim, cause it to be heard until laish oh poor anathoth Madmena is removed. The inhabitants of Ghebim gathered themselves to flee. As yet shall he remain at Gnab that day ye shall shake his hand against the mount of the Daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, shall lop the bough with terror, and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled, And ye shall cut down the thickets of the forests with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one Chapter twenty one. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reigns. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf, and the young lion and the fatling together, and the little child shall lead them, and the cow and the bear shall feed their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the suckling shall play on the whole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the Cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, to which shall the gentile seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Kush, and from Elim, and from Shenar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an enzyme for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy of Ephrium shall also depart, and the adversaries of Judas shall be cut off. Ephriam shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephrium. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west. They shall spoil them of the east. Together they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea. And with his mighty wind, he shall shake his hand over the river and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt Chapter twenty two. And in that day thou shalt say, O, Lord, I will praise thee Though thou wast anger with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For my Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say praise the Lord. Call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Cry and shout thou, inhabitants of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel. In the midst of thee chapter twenty three, the burden of Babylon, which Isaiah, the son of Amos, did see, lift ye up the banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my sanctified ones. I have also called my mighty ones. Remine. Anger is not upon them that rejoice in my Highness. The noise of the multitude in the mountains like as of a great people, a tumultuous noise of the kingdom of nations gathered together. The Lord of hosts mustereth the hosts of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven. Yea the Lord and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land. How Ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, every man's heart shall melt, and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them. They shall be amazed one at another. Their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate. He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will laid down the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man than the gold wedge of opher. Therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. And it shall be as the chaste roe and as a sheep that no man taketh up. And they shall every man turn to his own people and flee, every one into his own land. Every One that is proud shall be thrust through yea, and every one that is joined to the wicked shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes. Their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. Behold, I will stir up the meads against them, which shall not regard silver and gold, nor shall they delight in it. Their bows shall also dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes shall not spare children, and Babylon, the gloe glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chalde's excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there, But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and the satyrs shall dance there, and the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant places. And her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged, for I will destroy her speedily. YEA, for I will be merciful unto my people, but the wicked shall perish. End of Second Nephi, chapters eighteen to twenty three,