O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen {doth gather} her brood under {her} wings, and ye would not!

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth {shall be thy} shield and buckler.

The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where {is} the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk {therein}.

How excellent {is} thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. {excellent: Heb. precious}

Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

[To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.] Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until {these} calamities be overpast. {Altaschith: or, Destroy not} {Michtam: or, A golden Psalm}

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great {is} your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.

{As} they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and {my} fatlings {are} killed, and all things {are} ready: come unto the marriage.

But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this {man} to reign over us.

I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending {them}, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.

And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers {did}, so {do} ye.

From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that {is} the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.

And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;

Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: {persecuted us: or, chased us out}

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending {them}, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.

Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and {from} your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt {him}. {none...: Heb. together they exalted not}

And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: {by: Heb. by the hand of} {betimes: that is, continually and carefully}

But when the king heard {thereof}, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. {common...: Heb. sons of the people}

For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day {that} I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, {even} unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. {depart: Heb. be loosed, or, disjointed}

Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

Wherefore, when I came, {was there} no man? when I called, {was there} none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because {there is} no water, and dieth for thirst.

And they caught {him}, and beat him, and sent {him} away empty.

And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated {him} shamefully, and sent {him} away empty.

And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth {shall be thy} shield and buckler.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen {doth gather} her brood under {her} wings, and ye would not!

Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

The LORD {is} thy keeper: the LORD {is} thy shade upon thy right hand.

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? {how} shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? {how} shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. {trust: or, make my refuge}

For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way {that was} not good, after their own thoughts;

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

When Herod the king had heard {these things}, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

{And} of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; {and the LORD} shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.

O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: {persecuted us: or, chased us out}

Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, {and} Israel had walked in my ways!

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. {answereth to: or, is in the same rank with}

Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, {and} the troop of robbers spoileth without. {wickedness: Heb. evils} {spoileth: Heb. strippeth}

We then, {as} workers together {with him}, beseech {you} also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which {is} beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: {yet} surely my judgment {is} with the LORD, and my work with my God. {my work: or, my reward}

And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;

For this city hath been to me {as} a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face, {a provocation...: Heb. for my anger}

Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.

And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. {Ornan: also called, Araunah}

And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, {I} the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, {and} will speak unto him in a dream.

Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Destroy, O Lord, {and} divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb {to be} his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. {Though...: or, That Israel may be gathered to him, and I may, etc}

How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by {them that are} no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not. {punish: Heb. visit upon}

And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which {is} on the east side of the city.

In thy filthiness {is} lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

Plead with your mother, plead: for she {is} not my wife, neither {am} I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me. {destruction: Heb. spoil}

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and {my} fatlings {are} killed, and all things {are} ready: come unto the marriage.

And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.

For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he {is} not.

Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, {even} thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.

For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man {that is} an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.