all the days of old (Isa. lxiii. 9) could hardly without changing His own unchangeable Name, His character and purposes, cast down His people and forsake them at last. Such is the drift of the prophet's first prayer. To this apparently unanswerable argument his religious meditation upon the present distress has brought him. But presently the thought returns with added force, with a sense of utmost certitude, with a conviction that it is Iahvah's Word, that the people have wrought out their own affliction, that misery is the hire of sin. "Thus hath Iahvah said of this people: Even so have they loved to wander, Their feet they have not refrained; And as for Iahvah, He accepteth them not; "He now remembereth their guilt, And visiteth their trespasses. And Iahvah said unto me, Intercede thou not for this people for good! If they fast, I will not hearken unto their cry; And if they offer whole-offering and oblation, I will not accept their persons; But by the sword, the famine, and the plague, will I consume them. "And I said, Ah, Lord Iahvah! Behold the prophets say to them, Ye shall not see sword, And famine shall not befall you; For peace and permanence will I give you in this place. "And Iahvah said unto me: Falsehood it is that the prophets prophesy in My Name. I sent them not, and I charged them not, and I spake not unto them. A vision of falsehood and jugglery and nothingness, and the guile of their own heart, They, for their part, prophesy you. "Therefore thus said Iahvah: Concerning the prophets who prophesy in My Name, albeit I sent them not, And of themselves say, Sword and famine there shall not be in this land; By the sword and by the famine shall those prophets be fordone. And the people to whom they prophesy shall lie thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem, Because of the famine and the sword, With none to bury them,-- Themselves, their wives, and their sons and their daughters: And I will pour upon them their own evil. And thou shalt say unto them this word: Let mine eyes run down with tears, night and day, And let them not tire; For with mighty breach is broken The virgin daughter of my people-- With a very grievous blow. If I go forth into the field, Then behold! the slain of the sword; And if I enter the city, Then behold! the pinings of famine: For both prophet and priest go trafficking about the land, And understand not."[59]