Chapter 49

It is the Lord God that speaks; his message goes out to all the earth, from the sun’s rise to its setting.

Out of Sion, in perfect beauty,

God comes, revealed; he will keep silence no longer. Before him goes a raging fire; there is a whirling storm round about him.

So, from on high, he summons heaven and earth to witness the judgement pronounced on his people:

Muster in my presence my faithful servants, who honour my covenant still with sacrifice.

The heavens themselves pronounce him just, God who is our judge.

Listen, my people, to these words of mine, listen, Israel, to the protestation I make thee; I, the God thou ownest as God.

I do not find fault with thee over thy sacrifices; why, all day long thy burnt-offerings smoke before me.

But the gifts I accept are not cattle from thy stock, or buck-goats from thy folds;

I own already every wild beast in the forest, the hills are mine, and the herds that people them.

There is no bird flies in heaven, no life stirs in the country-side, but I know of it.

If I am hungry, I will not complain of it to thee, I, who am master of earth and all that earth contains.

Wouldst thou have me eat bull’s flesh, and drink the blood of goats?

The sacrifice thou must offer to God is a sacrifice of praise, so wilt thou perform thy vows to the most High.

So, when thou criest to me in time of trouble, I will deliver thee; then thou shalt honour me as thou wilt.

But thus, to the sinner, God speaks: How is it that thou canst repeat my commandments by rote, and boast of my covenant with thee,

and thou, all the while, hast no love for the amendment of thy ways, casting every warning of mine to the winds?

Swift thou art to welcome the thief who crosses thy path, to throw in thy lot with the adulterers.

Malice wells up from thy lips, and thy tongue is a ready engine of deceit;

thou wilt sit there in conclave, speaking evil of thy brother, traducing thy own mother’s son.

Such were thy ways, and should I make no sign? Should I let thee think I am such as thou? Here is thy reproof; here is thy indictment made plain to thee.

Think well on this, you that forget God, or his hand will fall suddenly, and there will be no delivering you.

He honours me truly, who offers me a sacrifice of praise; live aright, and you shall see the saving power of God.