ÿþ <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Book of ben Kathryn</TITLE> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UCS-2"> <META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="NetObjects Fusion 8 for Windows"> <BASE TARGET="_parent"> <LINK REL=STYLESHEET TYPE="text/css" HREF="../html/style.css"> <LINK REL=STYLESHEET TYPE="text/css" HREF="../html/site.css"> <STYLE> </STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY NOF="(MB=(ZeroMargins, 157, 75, 189, 217), L=(BookofbenKathrynLayout, 587, 184757))" STYLE="text-align: center; background-image: url('../assets/images/scroll.JPG');" TOPMARGIN=0 LEFTMARGIN=0 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0> <!-- Start of StatCounter Code --> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> var sc_project=1625515; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=15; var sc_security="6a38cd2a"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/frames.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://www.statcounter.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://c16.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=1625515&amp;java=0&amp;security=6a38cd2a&amp;invisible=1" alt="counter hit make" border="0"></a> </noscript> <!-- End of StatCounter Code --> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 WIDTH=578 NOF=LY> <TR VALIGN=TOP ALIGN=LEFT> <TD WIDTH=56 HEIGHT=24><IMG SRC="../assets/images/autogen/clearpixel.gif" WIDTH=56 HEIGHT=1 BORDER=0 ALT=""></TD> <TD WIDTH=2><IMG SRC="../assets/images/autogen/clearpixel.gif" WIDTH=2 HEIGHT=1 BORDER=0 ALT=""></TD> <TD WIDTH=181><IMG SRC="../assets/images/autogen/clearpixel.gif" WIDTH=181 HEIGHT=1 BORDER=0 ALT=""></TD> <TD WIDTH=142><IMG ID="Picture34" HEIGHT=24 WIDTH=142 SRC="../assets/images/autogen/a_sepherbK.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="sepherbK" TITLE="sepherbK"></TD> <TD WIDTH=195><IMG SRC="../assets/images/autogen/clearpixel.gif" WIDTH=195 HEIGHT=1 BORDER=0 ALT=""></TD> <TD WIDTH=2><IMG SRC="../assets/images/autogen/clearpixel.gif" WIDTH=2 HEIGHT=1 BORDER=0 ALT=""></TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP ALIGN=LEFT> <TD COLSPAN=6 HEIGHT=5></TD> </TR> <TR VALIGN=TOP ALIGN=LEFT> <TD COLSPAN=2></TD> <TD COLSPAN=4 WIDTH=520 CLASS="TextObject"> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">The Book of</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">JACHANAN <SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">BEN</SPAN> KATHRYN</SPAN></P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">Chapter</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">1</SPAN></P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">T</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">HE</SPAN> burden of the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> which came unto John the son of Kathryn, the daughter of Jacob and Messiah s Light, the son of Karl Hirsch, the son of Abraham, the son of Hillel, when the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> first drew him out from the nations and inclined his spirit to seek after the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. It first came when he was about 30 years of age, saying expressly:  Thou shalt surely be my witness to Israel. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; But the prophet wrestled at the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, and the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> would not have it inscribed, For it is not yet time that I cry out, that I rend and that I devour; that I heal and that I say Restore. So it was laid to heart. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; It came again in his 37<SUP>th</SUP> year. See, I have molded thee. I have given thee pain, and I have given thee fear. I have given thee loss and death, and a burning heart. None can quench what the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> causeth to burn. Lay it to heart. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; And in his 38<SUP>th</SUP> year, which was 5,764, it came as a flood. Inscribe it now, what I have laid in thine heart, and what I shall put from henceforth into thy heart, for it is time that I cry out. And publish thou it abroad at the time of thy turning 40, for thou shalt serve me in thine old age. For it is time that I plow up and that I plant, that I cause to wax young that which hath waxed old; that which is buried I reveal unto light, and that which is I pull up and bury. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Cry out, cry out in the name of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>: Destruction and upheaval! Plowing and planting, turning over and deep furrows, the banks thereof without footing. Heavy rains and mud, and the furrows shall be filled, and the line shall grow. I shall fence it in, and I shall reset the hinges of my gate. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; And the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> came unto me, saying, Behold now in the dusk vision, a great caldron set upon broken desert ground. What doeth it? And I said,  It pitcheth  round, as on a whirligig, and doth not steady, but the water slosheth at every point of the brim. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; So bring I upon the Earth at every quarter, convulsion and upheaval, dismay, a setting on edge, fumes and smoke and a steamy vapour. As the water feedeth the desert from tumult, so shall old seed sprout from upheaval. Publish it abroad. Fear not, for I shall put the fear of thee on mine enemies, and at the time appointed I shall give thee the heart not of a rabbit but of a lion. At my word they shall have confusion of face, for, lo, I have not spoken by prophet since days of old. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; (But the prophet wrestled again) And I said: Why should they, O my Lord, hearken unto me, seeing I was not raised after the manner of my fathers, nor in the ways of my mothers?  Seeing also that thou hast not raised up a prophet unto this thy people for so long. Why should it be me? &nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; And the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> said: Away, get thee to thy task, for I shall be with thee; and who can prevail against thee? seeing I am a hawk upon thy shoulder and a falcon unhooded against its prey. Whom I call, I shall call, and whose feet I shall place upon the path before me, I shall send before me. Away, son of Isaac, get thee to thy people and declare thou mine heart, what I have placed in thine heart. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;Chapter</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">2</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"></SPAN>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">The word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> which first came unto Jachanan ben Kathryn in the year 5,755 (1995) concerning the Holy Place (Temple).</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, Do I not see Israel gather and wail at the wall? My spirit goeth forth within the land and every man s heart is turned toward Jerusalem in lament. Is it not the heart of Israel?</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Look upon this stone wall, if thou canst bear it. Listen to them bleat. Look at them bow themselves again and again and with their parted books recite vain words. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; See the concourse of stone as I see it, if thou canst bear the sight. Behold, I, even I, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, do see the heart of Israel. The concourse of stone is potted and etched and doth not have the appearance of vigour and hath no similitude unto what it was when it was cut true and polished smooth. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Beyond it are the promenades of free living cats, and the birds of centuries have cast their dung upon it, and beyond this there is the house of a god which is no god. Yea, have I seen the heart of Israel. Well do they call this place their heart. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Therefore tread upon this people s heart, and say unto them:</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> God, Thine heart is even as this stone, and beareth no resemblance to what it was. Within it is filth and brambles, unclean things and a place for birds to waste, and in its center are thine own imaginations. Thine idols are loathsome to me; thine imaginations are crudely formed and have no beauty. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; My spirit hath perceived, yea, mine eyes have beheld; therefore my right hand is stretched forth to make the days, even the days that shall come, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> Almighty, that I shall build again the wasteland of David and restore unto thee thine heart. Even I shall do this. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Such days as this thou hast not seen in all thy generations since, nor hath ear heard the gentle comfort of God from the far places of thy dispersion. These days have been the days of thine enslavement, and within these days the multitude of thy woundings have wedged thee into the cleft of the rock and sunk thine head between thy knees in weeping. The days that come shall be the days of thine astonishment, the days of thy setting free from thy yokes, from thy sore travail and thy caged heart. For thou art in bondage without me. No matter where thou shouldest dwell, affliction is thy neighbour; desolation is thy mother. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thou couldest see only flesh, O daughter of Zion. Goodly flesh and skin like alabaster thou beheldst with pleasure, but mine honour thou couldest not touch. Blood issued forth glory, but thou only hissedst. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thine eyes were cast to thy handsome men. Their comely features led thee to destruction, and thou wentest cheerfully enough. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; There they left thee, in the wilderness of thy desolation they caused thee to dwell. In the shadow of darkness thou foundest solitude, and thou soughtest to thyself no light. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thou hidst thy shame in the clefts of the rocks, and amongst the scorpions thou learnst a new thing: a coarse temperament was thy way; and thy feet walked upon the hot and sharp rocks. Thy soft skin became calloused; thine heart became old.&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; There I would not approach thee. What doth desolation have to do with me, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>? Let thy lovers console thee. Thou art a hissing to me.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">3</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">A<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ND</SPAN></SPAN> in the 38<SUP>th</SUP> year the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> moreover came unto me, saying, Behold, it is time to cry out, to lift up my voice as a slash of lightning teareth the sky with its thunder. I am a flood upon thee. My word shall be a tempest upon the Earth. I cry out. I proclaim from on high: </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Hear ye one and all the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, O ye nations and thou house of backsliding: I withhold not anymore. As a hand hitting the forehead I cause the whole Earth to stop astonied, to gape, and to stutter. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Shall I make mankind to multiply on the Earth, only for firebrands for the furnace? Behold, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, it shall never be. I shall never let that it should be shut up. Nor shall I bring forth man as the fowls, only to stamp my feet to cause them to fly into the fowler s net.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Behold, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, the nations are my kingdom and Israel is mine house. I shall return from setting my borders and from building me far cities. I shall sweep out mine house of the dust and the webs that grow only upon quiescence; and I prune the brambles about my garden. I shall remove the shutters, and let the light in. Yea, the very fine scent of jasmine and mandrakes shall fill mine house. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; I shall reset my table and replace my candlestick, and I shall light the way by day and by night to all those of my kingdom, near and far, who shall come to do obeisance before the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> of hosts. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; I see thee now, O daughter of Zion. Dost thou come also in the way? Ah, thou art old and no longer comely. Thy whoredoms have aged thee; and when thou didst set thy mind to knowledge, behold, it was vanity: strange ideas and evil eyes. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; I see now the report. The truth of it is before me. The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> hath heard the rumor and confirmeth it. In the markets thy reproach causeth even thy money to be scorned.&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; See the merchants magnify themselves against thee, but thou holdest thy peace. Thy skin is too calloused, thine eyes too heavy to care anymore. Thou art tired of thy wounds bound with dirty linen, and tears dried upon thy dirty face.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Are the cries of merchants so loud, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, that my shout of pity cannot they hear? My words are deeds indeed, and my deeds are mercy. What is it to thee if thou must be merciful for a season if thou shalt come to me forever and dwell in my garden of delight? </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Therefore stretch I out my voice, and my voice is salvation and my words dissolve brine. Behold a plain man. I stand at the door. Without thy sight thou shalt not see my garden hinter. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thy beauty is gone, O daughter Zion; thou hast long lost thy maiden innocence. Truly, thy widowhood hath been bitter. Now thou wilt hear my call. Above the din of the market thou shalt hear, and my plain flesh thou wilt not abhor. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; The whoredoms of thy youth I sought to redeem. The whoredoms of thy middle-age overflowed. Thy body was young and light and thine ear heavy. Now thou art heavy and slow, and thine ear is light. Now thou shalt hear. Thy youth shall not return for a season, but thou shalt live with what thou hast done. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thine eyebrow archeth with curiosity. What stirreth at that desolate house? Come and see, come and see, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; There is no shame upon me. I have cleansed this place, and I will build it: to turn thy heart to me in purity. Thou shalt build these concourses and I shall sweep thine heart. Thou shalt gild with gold and I shall burnish thy soul and make it gleam brighter than gold, yea greater than very fine gold. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Then shall thy worship be sweet to me; then shalt thou have this place and call it my house, though I dwell not in buildings, though even the Universe is nought but a bowl that cannot contain a finger of my soul. </SPAN></P> <P><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"></SPAN>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">4</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">W</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">EEP</SPAN>, O Zion, that thou ever didst bear a son; who can shut the floodgates of our weeping, for the hand of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> hath revealed it? </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; The mouth of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> doth direct mine ears to the sound: Kidron in the sunset doth moan with the weeping of women, weeping as if over their firstborn. Louder is the weep thereof then the cheer when they see Zion formed in marble and gold, for we have seen the hand of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, and a guiltless wound is etched in our pupil. Hear ye the beating of breasts, women beating their breasts in anguish at their firstborn, and saying, Truly my name is Bitterness.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Astonied looks give place, I say ye, give place to anguish. How is a harden brow become melted! At the sight of the wounds we without wounds feel pain. All we have become guilty, yet he suffereth no voice to accuse; it is we who with shamed face ask unto him,  Wherefore didst thou do this in the company of thy children? </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; We esteemed thee not, nor in thy affliction did pity take us companion. Our hearts spit forth murder, and yet thou bledst; our imaginations imagined vain things, yet thy soul was afflicted; even our sins overflowed, but thou wast whipped. Thou afflictedst thyself, but they thy bruises have become whiter than snow, but our bright spots are ugly and putrid. Our flesh is rotted, yet we have no wounds; our bodies stink, yet we wash. Thou hast scars, but art more brilliant than the sun.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Is this the weeping of triumph, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>? Is this the sound to greet a hero? Weep not, O Zion; remove the pit from thy stomach. Rather, shout ye aloud! I say ye,  Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. Be thou refreshed in thy God, and be no more ignorant of his way. See thou now, and declare:  I see. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Behold, behold, I have declared and my word is good. I live forever and my feet can tread down mountains as tender grapes in the harvest. I bury with mercy, yea, mercy is the only earth I know for them that love me; and my breath can blow the dust off the deepest of graves, and my voice can call and bring forth the bones, even dried bones. I shall bury thee under this earth, and I shall call thee forth with a mighty shout. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; And it shall come to pass in that time, and at that moment, that ye shall call upon the name of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, even upon his goodness, and the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD </SPAN>shall hear you, and he shall give goodness by an ephah worth an homer, a shekel shall be worth a talent, and it shall cause your hearts to burn, even as ye pull out your hair in anguish over your souls and the souls of your fathers. As a young woman waileth who hath just lost her firstborn at the time of his weaning, so shall ye wail. Lift up thy wounds with thy cry, O Zion, and I shall stretch forth my hand, and I shall bring forgiveness. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; As I live, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, I will not forebear. Thou shalt look up and feel the latter rain as before. As a wineskin that is sliced open shall I pour out my spirit upon Israel. Even as thou art overwhelmed at my graciousness, even more shall I overwhelm thee with my mercy, and thy sons and thy daughters shall come to me, and I shall polish their pockmarked hearts. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Then thou shalt acknowledge thy guilt; just that: acknowledge thy guilt; and I shall silence thy accusers. Thou shalt then worship at Zion with a joyful sound. Thy timbrals shall be merry, thy horn a rejoicing; and I shall hear thee. Then shalt thou tread my courts with joy and thou shalt dance the fine song of the maiden for the groom in the house of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; There thou shalt dwell and be happy, O Israel, and at its ramparts thou shalt look upon these stones of people and thou shalt say,  Look at what the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> hath built; even our God had mercy, for he hath forgiven us all our sins, even blotted out our unbelief, our great sin, and hath purged our souls. He bloweth our transgression from upon the book as dust that shall no more return. He hath gathered us to the fullest intent of his desire. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Desolation shall yield to fatness. It shall give fruit to abundance. Your withered souls shall swell and burst forth like a sweet grape. Kings and angels have desired to see that moment, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, and such a shout shall go forth in heaven when the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> bringeth it to pass.</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"></SPAN>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-family: 'Times New Roman Baltic', serif; font-size: xx-large;">5</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">G</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">IVE</SPAN> ear, O heavens, cast off your sullen eyelids, O stars. Canst thou imagine greater glory to shake the Earth? Canst thou see a greater wonder? Hast thou seen a virgin restored, or an old woman leap as unto a young Roe again? </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; If I awaken the nations from their vain ways would not the Earth still slumber? Did they wound me that I should bear grudge? But I shall restore thee as a marvel, as a widow to the husband of her youth, that the heavens may sing at the mercy of God.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall approach and the train of his majesty shall flow out from his holy house. As a cascading stream shall it flow over Moriah, and in it shall be his children of all nations. No more shall they be called strangers who come to the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Nations shall come by tens and by twenties. Ten thousands times ten thousands speak: Come, cast mercy as the sand. Cast it to the wind, and it shall come back to thee as sand doth in a gale. Come, cast gold of no value, for the treasures of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> are as abundant as the wind, and who can measure it upon a scale to determine its portion? As a mighty wind breathe upon us again, O L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, and give us again thy spirit. Unlock the floodgates of thy soul. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Gather  round me, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. I gather thee as a chick is gathered under the wing, and nestle thee to my warm breast. If any harm shall come to thee, mine hand beareth the wound, for my right hand it protecteth thee; and my left hand, it comforteth thee. This shall be the piercing of thine heart, and thy scars shall be healed. Mine hand shall be a shield to any foe; and a wound of battle is upon it that shall draw the beleaguered and warn thine enemies.&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Rise up and shout, O house of Jacob, shout unto heaven at the mercy of God, and in that day all the nations shall marvel! And they shall worship from afar off and from near. The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> thy God hath spoken.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; The army that destroyeth shall worship. They shall cast off their weapons and pick up the aged and the infirmed and bring them to the house of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, and I shall heal them. Mine house that is encompassed shall conquer. The armies that laid waste shall stand in awe, and shall cast off their idols.&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; In that day, as in aforetime, I shall make an end of Israel, Israel that scattereth, Israel that lieth, Israel that denieth the way. Without siege and without pulley, without fire and without the battling ram shall I make an end. They that were within the camp shall be left without, and Jacob shall possess the ramparts of his God.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; But the house of Israel shall be the portion for dogs, and the sword shall devour. All those of my people who call upon the Lord of their own imagining and know me not shall be as if they called upon Buddhim and Allahim and Krishna Baalim. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thou art still the younger, O Jacob, my beloved. Thou art a spitz and esteemest thyself evil above thy fathers; but I love thee. O Jacob, I have not forgotten thee. I shall give thee that place; for your sakes I shall give it to you. I shall give you the pleasant gardens. I shall give you a swept house.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; In that day I shall pose a riddle, and thou shalt give me the answer. When was Jacob not Israel? When was the younger divided into two, and the elder portion still served the younger?</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Jacob, O Jacob, thou shalt be my prince again. Thou shalt be Israel, and the elder shall be cast away and without inheritance.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: left;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">6</SPAN></SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">In that day thou shalt see my vengeance on they who made thy children few on they who stopped the womb; upon they also who took thee from thy path to heathen Tels to teach thee their ways as mine, saying:  No more do the ways of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, for they are things which are old. I shall make their ways few, and their traditions shall be no more remembered.&nbsp; Even I the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall do this. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; For in that day the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall make an end of the nations, and their glory shall be utterly consumed. Their congregations shall be called Impudent, and shall be a place for the casting of dice, for the forum and for the market; their heralds proclaiming the jig and the polka. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; And the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall turn the captivity of the nations into bitterness, and their sojourn shall be as dried timber, that the remnant of mankind shall seek the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. He shall plunder the nations, and he shall leave them with gall. For all that they have done he shall utterly devour and cast them off, because of their enchanters, because of their prophets, their vanities, and their lusts. Go to, ye nations! Be as primitives adorning your bodies with costly jewels and elabourate piercings! Your vanities only inflict upon you wounds, and they open up to infection and are a place for the gathering of puss.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Mount up ye who see and hear not, for the babblers are brought to nought, and the dreamer of dreams is set on edge, and the expounder of tradition hath confusion of face. None have children from that point, and are as unto a dried twig that withereth, one that a wind taketh from the stump. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; So shall the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> do in that day upon the house of the nations, upon the impudent congregations.&nbsp; Mount up, ye that see and hear not, mount up and be not afraid of what ye see in that day. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; For the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall rise up on Mount Moriah. He shall exalt himself above the mountains and he shall fill in the valleys. All they that come to him shall come on sure ground, and they shall see his glory. Bring thou down our walls; let every fortification fall out that we may see thy rising early. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: left;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">7</SPAN></SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">T</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">HUS</SPAN> saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, When have I spoken in the secret place, or when have my words been unintelligible? My words are not the words of groves nor the wisps of wind. When have I whispered in the ear or carried my word as skulking gossip? </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Your fathers cannot teach you to hear me, nor train your tongue to speak my words. My words are not tattle nor the rumor of strangers.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; All these years I have not spoken unto thee, O Israel. Hast thou not considered? Doth not even a dog whine when his master s voice is long absent? </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Yet thou hast not considered the sum of thy ways and looked back to see thy footsteps outlined in blood. Thou hast invented doctrines to cover thine inward parts like a skirt for shame, and vain statutes are the covering upon thine head that thou wilt not bear or confront. Thou makest excuses. As a mantel they cover shame, for they cover the things of thine own imagining. Thy study is perverse. It is wisdom only to lackeys. Thou makest excuses. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Dost thou think it is mine iniquity that hath caused silence? Nay, but if thou couldst thou wouldest hear the heavens resound with my praise. Thou wouldest run to and fro and not be comforted as a lover seeking her spouse if thou lovest me with all thine heart. If thou knewest how great I am thou wouldest brag until the Earth would beat its ears.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thou hast not pined and longed for me, but inventedst debaucheries to keep thy mind at ease. Thou sittest and art idle all the day, inventing excuses. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; When for one day thine heart and tongue do not make excuse, then will I declare thou hast righteousness. If a lens can be made powerful enough that I can see thy righteousness then will I say unto thee that thou needest me not. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Who hath spoken unto thee in my name, lo, these many generations, these thousands of autumns the leaves have fallen to the grave, and it hath come to pass or hath comforted thee?</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"></SPAN>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">8</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">J</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">UDGMENT</SPAN> hath come upon you, O my people, yea, cruel judgment hath come swiftly upon you like a stag and deadly as unto a scorpion s sting. Without warning and without a word from the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> hath it come. Yet ye have not inclined your hearts unto the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, to deliver you from the sore travails Nay, but ye have courted disaster. Ye have called upon me, and I have not answered. Ye have sought deliverance, but your bodies have formed hillocks. Your dead ye have left by the wayside; the avenue of your sojourn is littered with the corpses of your dispersion. The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> s wrath hath burned furiously, but you have only hardened your hearts lest ye should see. Ye look up only to see the vultures. And because ye see something desiring you, ye think ye must be righteous and possessing something worth extolling. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; It is not my silence, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, that hath caused thy foot to continue on the hard ground. Who speaketh to a stone, and how long shall one wait for an intelligent reply? </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Behold, your hearts are hard, the heart of this people is waxed stupid. Your minds are defiled with your pride, and your hard conceit hath made you dumb to reason, and rebelling to the words of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. I shall make the presumptuous woman a blemish unto you; and he that maketh a word an offense to make men count their words before him, even he shall be an offense to me. Your hearts and minds are defiled with your idols, and an image of your fancy is as a totem burned into your pupil that ye may adulate it all the day. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; This generation shall end before me, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. This pride shall I no more tolerate upon the Earth; they and the farmers that have become your teachers, and they who were at the plow that have become your elders; and their vain jangling that hath become your law; even this shall be the last of it. I shall sift them out as wheat. Not one shall fall upon the ground that it should take hold and bear the fruit of this generation. None shall live out their days that they may as a burden place it upon the sure and youthful foot to carry it forward into their generation.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; They are the forehead of a foolish body. I remember the feet that were their fathers, in the day that I scattered them; and, behold, ye are indeed the forehead and the princes the crown of an ignorant head. In my sore contempt I would not approach thee. Nor did I walk amongst the promenades of thy ruins in wait for someone to come upon me. But I left thee to thy ruins. Thou madest the scale of the righteous and the wicked equal, in that thy foolishness saith  He punisheth the righteous. How else can we explain our travail? Is it not meet that I should make the head fall? Is it not good that it should fall, such a foolish thing that doth not consider where he who was an husband unto Israel hath gone? Who shall ask, and who shall enquire? but he in whom I have placed my heart and he in whom my words do reside.</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"></SPAN>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">9</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">And the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> came unto me, saying, Hearken unto thy heart, and be attentive to thine ears, for I shall put my heart into thy bosom, and place my will before thine eyes. Thou shalt call upon me and I shall hear thee, and I shall answer thee. Thy prayers for this people I shall put upon thy lips, and the deep groanings I shall apply unto their hearts. Of all they who since old have fallen asleep thou shalt call upon me, and thou shalt say, Thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> God; and it shall come to pass. For I do put my words in thine heart and I wrap them around thine head; and thou shalt enquire, Ah, L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> God; and I shall hear thee. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">And the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> came unto me, saying, What seest thou? And I said,  A tree heavily laden with fruit, and upon the fruit thine holy name. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Take and eat, for so do I end the famine that I have brought upon Israel, as I swore unto Amos that I should bring. Therefore speak unto this people, and say unto them, Thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> God of Israel:&nbsp; Run no more to and fro, beloved daughter. Lift up thy downcast head, O my son. Be ye comforted, my people and all ye nations. All ye Gentiles that are called by my name, wedge your staff in Zion and be not moved. He that lusteth after God hath found the Most High. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Let the evil be vanquished at my word, but let my people rejoice and shout aloud. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Open thine ears, and hear the pleasant waters, for the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> thy God doth direct thee again in thy ways, and my words shall give thee peace and they shall give thee life.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">(The burden of the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> which was given unto John ben Kathryn)</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">And this shall be the burden of the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> which I give unto thee:&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> unto thee, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Thy mother Kathryn is with me, and thy mother Messiah s Light. They dance and rejoice with their mother Sarah. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; I am the God of thy people. In flesh I did appear amongst them, and from the womb did mine eyes see the travail. I looked about at the poverty of their soul and was amazed. My spirit was grieved within me. The wealth of ages flowed out from me, but they preferred poverty of their flesh. In drunkenness did they wound me. In ignorance did they call judgment down upon themselves and their children.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; I shall shake off their wine of ignorance, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. I shall sober their hearts and fatten their lean souls on my mercy. I shall teach them to fast from the world, and I shall set them up for a sign, and establish them as a far gate in my kingdom, that the overflow may come to me; and the world shall know that I am the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Say thou not, O Zion,  I am forsaken, and,  My Lord hath cast me off for the place of a wound. I am the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>. B<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">EING</SPAN> is my name. My name is etched deeper than any wound, and for thee I bore it. For my great namesake I shall gather thee at last. It is I the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> that doth ever have thine image in my pupil, that declareth now unto thee. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Beforehand it cometh to pass, I reveal unto you. Before they should happen I tell you of them. Before ye shall hear, I speak. Before I gather Israel, I declare unto you that ye may consider and lay it to heart at the doings of God. Behold, I gather mine offspring from amongst the nations and set them upon the path. Let not the nations say:  I never was, and that:  His hand is not fierce and his visage dreadful; and of the days that come,  They come by natural course. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; They come by my mighty hand, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, and my voice precedeth them as a howling wind before storm. For this purpose I raised thee up from thy mother s womb. I brought thee out from a princeling among the Gentiles and restored thee unto thy people which thou knewest not. I took thee from thy righteousness and showed thee thy sin. From foolishness to wisdom I led thee, for great is the day of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> that shall come, and great shall be the repentance before it. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; For this reason raise I up my prophets so that none of my doings shall come without mercy. For, behold, I give warning first: I do not delight in destruction.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Faint not, nor look upon thine own sin. Why dishearten thyself at blackness? If I should raise thee up to be a prophet, what is it to thee? It shall be my words that shall come to pass, not thine. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; I know thy fears and thine infirmities, thy halting speech. It is for my word that thou wast given these. It is I who have afflicted thee since thy youth, and I shall afflict thee until I take thee; that thou mayest say, Thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> God, and that thou may bear it; that thou mayest call upon me rightly, Ah L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> God, and that I should hear thee. See the false prophets around thee; see them carried off in their pride. Rejoice then at my affliction, for thou shalt say, Thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> the King, and it shall come to pass. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; See how the Gentiles glorify their prophets. But I have made thee base that thou and Israel shall know that it is I the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> that doeth these things.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Tie thy tongue into a ribbon and bow if thou canst, yet when thou speakest Israel shall hear thee, for I shall now cause wonders upon the Earth. Even I, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, shall bring my word to pass and I shall turn Israel. As I place my column in the sky to lead them, so shall I place it in their hearts to lead them perpetually.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">Chapter</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">10</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;"></SPAN>And the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> moreover came unto me, saying: Seeing that I have made thee a prophet unto Israel, take thou no disciples, lead no one off into a far place, separate not, bind not men with customs, take no money, make no public display, shout thou not in the street, nor speak rashly in my name.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; But rather when thine heart burneth within thee, when it hurteth and when tears choke thee, when thou art in passion of my nature and great name, then speak and write in my name and I shall bring it to pass.&nbsp; Fear not, for it is I that speak from thee. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; And this shall be a sign unto thee: I shall burn these words into the heart of Israel, and thou shalt know that I have spoken from thee. Be not lifted up, nor deceived, for I shall do these things and my spirit shall move men. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Take heed so that thou fearest not at my word, seeing how hard the heart of Israel hath been and how vain have I let the customs of Jacob become. It is I who shall cause men to turn, not thee. It is I who shall be praised, not thee. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; But when thou hatest thy people for their hard hearts and despisest them for their ignorance, thou shalt not speak in my name, nor in thine anger declare my vengeance. For words spoken at my glory are harsh enough, and even from a steady note can no one stand before my wrath.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Wages I give thee not; but thou shalt inherit of thy portion as a child. Thy reward thou knowest: Thou shalt see of these things come to pass. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> thy God, Come unto me as a child, and like an admirer in an accomplished man so boast of me. Begrudge me not, for my great glory is greater than man s and my ways worth shouting across the Universe. If thou wilt admire a great man and be filled with privilege in the company of famous people, how much more should not all mankind seek the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> who is beyond all things and created all things? </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Speak not what Israel wanteth to hear, nor be joined to any group, nor be led to any place, saying, It is the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> s will. I shall not be enquired of concerning those things already said. I bandy not with men, nor am I tried by mankind. If Israel shall say unto thee,  Judge us, say <SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">NO</SPAN>. If they say  Administer, say <SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">NEVER</SPAN>. For I have appointed thee a prophet, and I shall judge Israel, and I shall be their ruler.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; But gird thou up and hold thy reigns within thee, and prophesy unto this people and tell them, Set your hearts to turn; let the hearts of the sons turn to the fathers, so that they might understand how they have wandered, so that they turn. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Soften thy stony heart into flesh, O Israel, for flesh cannot break, and there is none who can mend rock and make it sound again. A wounded heart I will heal; but a heart of stone shall shatter and crumble under my fist; and I shall scoop up the pieces and cast it to the heap; and it shall be a proverb that a hard heart hath no life and can only break, but a heart of flesh I shall wound and I will heal. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Set thine heart to be wounded, O foolish wandering Israel, that I may heal, so that at my coming I shall find faith upon the Earth and shall not utterly destroy all mankind at my sight. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; For, lo, I come suddenly, and my sword is in mine hand, and my justice set to heart; my threshingfloor prepared unannounced. Let my people prepare, let the nations cringe and tremble, for the day of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall not be as they imagine; and it is a day in which no grain shall be spared the reaper s eye, nor shall one be overlooked to find refuge; and it is a great and terrible day when all secrets of men s hearts are purged by the hand of the living God. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; I play amongst the atoms, and from nothing I can create beauty. Who will not tremble at my presence?</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Yet am I as gentle as a father with my children. As gentle as a hand stroking a lamb do I comfort my people. I shall make thy wool white with a touch, and I shall rest thine inward parts.</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Therefore thus say I the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> unto thee, speak to this people Israel, for I turn the hearts unto the fathers. Turn ye that my day catch you not in shame. This shall be thy burden wherewith I burden thee. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; (And from this point forward no more did John ben Kathryn struggle and wrestle at the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, for he did not wish to be a prophet).</SPAN></P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">11</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;"></SPAN>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">I</SPAN> <SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">SHALL</SPAN> now stand in awe with certainty, unto the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, for his goodness; his word is unrelenting; his honour unreproachable; they are soothing psalms of edification, for his graciousness endureth forever. Beware, O ye nations, and ye gainsayers of foolish traditions:&nbsp; He shall restore his people with a mighty hand; he shall honour us as at the first with his holy name. For his great namesake he shall prepare the future as a fine confection. He shall shut the presumptuous mouth and bring to nought the thoughts of the self-serving. Our honour is the great name of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, and his presence is our joy! He taketh away our reproach! </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Set it to heart to enquire. I shall seek from mine heart his words; and I shall not take them for granted. Let thy people humble themselves and enquire. Behold, the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> hath not gone so far that he cannot hear, nor are his feet slow that he cannot deliver his people. Let our prayers go up before the Holy One of Israel, and let them be acceptable.&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Who can bear the words of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>! Hearts are hardened and fists beat against temples. For the day of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> is declared and his words break the forms of Ephraim and dash the carved stones of Israel, and rework the carved trunks of the nations! </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Plain words overthrow, declareth Ephraim. He searcheth to find a means of annulment. The letter is an idol for him but its meaning is an uncarved form to recarve a meaning, that he might worship the works of his own mind. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Let us, saith Ephraim, go to and cast the prophets from our midst. Oh heavy burden! Get thee hence and prophesy not. When thou art perished we shall adorn thy tomb and make merry over thy words. Is it not said amongst the people,  What the son wisheth to forget, the grandson wisheth to remember ? Thus hath Ephraim trusted in the word of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, but thus he recognizeth not the words when the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> speaketh. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Wherefore, thus saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, forasmuch as this is true, thou shalt be plundered, O Ephraim, for by a flea in the ear is a man driven mad. So shall the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> s words be unto this generation. They shall not be a shout, to cause one to jolt and dismiss, but they shall be a buzz and a tickle that shall not depart from thine ears or from the house of Israel. So do and, Lay on! Boldly on! Thy finger shall route thine ear until thou art a laughing stock, and the people walk from thee.</SPAN></P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">Chapter </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;">12</SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: center;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: xx-large;"></SPAN>&nbsp;</P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: x-large;">B</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">EHOLD</SPAN>, I see Ephraim upon the mountains and in the watchtowers, yea, the very tall watchtowers. They have set their code, and they signal therewith. Though they reflect the sun, their signal is set to their rhythm. Therefore the stillness of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> s doings they have not detected, and the method of his purpose hath been marvelous unto them, incomprehensible and without form.&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Rise up, O ye inhabitants of Judah and ye dwellers of her uttermost borders, and give the signal to the watchmen. The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> cometh with a mighty hand, and his fierce ax doth cleave mountains before him! But is it that ye see not also? Howbeit none see? only because your watchmen peek at points of light and ye dwellers of the land wait upon them. Open up your panorama and see smoke over the mountains. It is not the smoke of fire but of dust, the dust of stampede. Behold, they are not far mountains, O Judah. And the men of them ye know. But, lo, ye know not the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> your God. The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> sendeth them not a prophet to stir them up, but I send ye my servant, for many winds shall be stirred, and the dust shall approach you from many lands, yea, and encompass your seed even in far lands. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> is wonderful in wisdom and comforting in his counsel. And from his depth he doth declare his wise things. Woe unto them who do not enquire, saith the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN>, and woe unto those who do not consider the sum of their ways and the burden of history, who take away from what the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> hath done, and who add but a foot unto his path, either to lengthen it or to broaden it by their measure. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall turn the dust with his breath and make it a smoke of fire upon mine enemies, to raise up Jacob to bear my name, to deliver the outcasts and gather the dispersed of Israel.&nbsp; What thou, O mighty Syria, devisest in the culverts of Riyadh shall bring down Damascus and shake the foundations of Mecca; and it shall be contemplated in Medina; and Alexandria shall bring down Cairo with it. Hear the sound of the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> s quake! The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> deviseth not in secret of his beloved, but hath drawn my banner in days of old. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; The L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall save thee that day, O Judah, by his open counsel with the words he declareth here, as in the days of thy Babylonian captivity. Ye shall no more fall back into your idols, O people, for, lo, the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> raiseth me up again by wise counsel; he setteth me in an anointed place. By hardness he delivereth thee, and in it shall be glory. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; In this his resolution there is tender purpose. In his deep things there is reason, a fuller s soap, a trying with fire. It burneth forth not with eloquence, but it refineth the metal of dross and it cleanseth the linen. For the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> shall open again the mouth of the unlearned, and from the reason of the illiterate will he speak again unto his people. He shall utter his deep things from voices long stilled, and Jerusalem shall rejoice again as a barren widow who hath found joy in the son of her first husband. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; Man s trials are hard, but the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> s are cunning. The meek have upset the mighty, and the brazen have learned to keep their mouth shut. O thou, little Judah, though thou be small and as unto a remnant, halt and quivering, shall God s salvation burn in thee, and as an ember it shall ignite and it shall consume the world. In that day the Gentiles shall cast off their idols, and no more shall a graven image be found amongst them. No more shall a hand fondle stone and bronze, nor heart wait upon a stony eye. Apples shall not be an offering to brass, nor flowers to the artificer s vanity. The stone altars of the heathen shall be barren, and their foundations shall be pits. They shall break up their idols, and decay shall grow over them; they shall no more be found. </SPAN></P> <P STYLE="text-align: justify;"><SPAN STYLE="font-size: large;">&nbsp;&nbsp; For, lo, O Israel, the L<SPAN STYLE="font-size: medium;">ORD</SPAN> hath