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out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: that all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath it shall not return any more. Ry. I saw. p. cxlviii.

Lesson II.

SIGH therefore, thou son of man,

with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the LORD GOD. Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: it is sharpened to make a sore slaughter: it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree. And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished to give it into the hand of the slayer.

Ry. Look down. p. cxlviii.
Lesson III.

CRY and howl, son of man: for it

shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh. Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the LORD GOD. Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain:

it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers. I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied.

Ry. Behold. p. cxlviii.

SECOND NOCTURN.

From the Exposition of Ezekiel the Prophet by S. Jerome the Priest. Lesson IV.

Book 7 on Ezekiel. Chap. 21. SINCE he had just said, They say

of me, doth he not speak parables? and the people demanded an open sentence, therefore he now speaks more plainly that which the LORD had spoken by a figure or parable, or (as others express it) by a proverb: that by the forest of Nageb and Darom and Teman is signified Jerusalem and the temple and the Holy of Holies, and all the land of Judah; and that by the flame which would burn the forest is understood the devouring sword, which would be drawn forth from its sheath to slay both the righteous and the wicked. For this is the green tree and the dry tree; whence also the LORD says, If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

Ry. I have. p. cxlix.

Lesson V.

FIRST He had said, Prophesy, or

drop thy word, towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field. And because this seemed

obscure, and the people understood

not the words of the Prophet, in the next place it is expressed more clearly that the forest of the south is Jerusalem; and that by all unfruitful trees at whose roots the axe is laid, are understood the dwellers therein; and that by the burning flame is intended the sword. In the third place the Prophet is commanded, if they are silent and do not ask why he prophesies such things, to do what will compel

them to ask him; and then to answer and the people be not warned; if the

what the LORD hath spoken.

Ry. With thine. p. cxlix.

Lesson VI.

SIGH, He saith, and cry out with a loud voice, and with no light sorrow, but with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. And it shall be when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, I sigh, and cannot hide the grief of my heart for the report which hath continually sounded in mine ears, which indeed is being fulfilled and draweth nigh, namely, the army of the king of Baby-. lon, which cometh with glory; and when it shall have come and shut in

sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Ry. I am straitened. p. cl.
Lesson III.

Jerusalem, then every heart shall melt, NEVERTHELESS, if thou warn

and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and thy knees shall be weak as water: behold it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the

LORD GOD.

p.

Ry. We looked. p. cxlix.
Ry. Blessed be. cxlix.
Ry. Two Seraphim. p. xxviii.
MONDAY.

Of Ezekiel the Prophet.
Lesson I. Chap. xxxiii.

AGAIN the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

Ry. He hath. p. cl.

Lesson II.

BUT if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet,

from it; if he do not turn from his the wicked of his way to turn way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? say unto them, As I live, saith the LORD God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked

turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Ry. My God. p. cl.

A

TUESDAY.

Of Ezekiel the Prophet.
Lesson I. Chap. xxiv.
ND the word of the LORD came

unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the LORD GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that

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year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the

frame of a city on the south. And he brought me thither.

Ry. He hath. p. cli.

Lesson II.

AND they were scattered, because
there is no shepherd: and they
became meat to all the beasts of the
field, when they were scattered. My
sheep wandered through all the
mountains, and upon every high hill:AND, behold, there was
yea, my flock was scattered upon all
the face of the earth, and none did
search or seek after them. Therefore,
ye shepherds, hear the word of the
LORD; As I live, saith the LORD GOD,
Burely because my flock became a
prey, and my flock became meat to
every beast of the field, because there
was no shepherd, neither did my
shepherds search for my flock, but the
shepherds fed themselves, and fed not
not my flock; therefore, O ye shep-
herds, hear the word of the LORD.

Ry. Gird about. p. cli.

Lesson III.

THUS saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

Ry. On a sinful. p. cli.

WEDNESDAY.

Of Ezekiel the Prophet.

Lesson I. Chap. xl. IN the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the

a man,

whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel. Ry. I am straitened. cl.

Lesson III.

AND behold a wall on the outside of

the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad; and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad. Ry. My God. p. cl.

THURSDAY.

Of Ezekiel the Prophet.

Lesson I. Chap. xli.

AFTERWARD he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. And the breadth of the door

was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side,

and five cubits on the other side; and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits. Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits. Ry. I saw the LORD. p. cxlviii.

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Lesson II.

he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place. After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side. And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house.

Ry. Look down. p. cxlviii.

ΑΝ

Lesson III.

ND there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst. I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber without, was five cubits and that which was left was

from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.

Ry. I have set. p. cxlix.

Lesson II.

AN ND I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, I where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.

Ry. With thine. p. cxlix.

Lesson III.

the place of the side chambers that NOW let them put away their

were within.

Ry. Behold. p. cxlviii.

FRIDAY.

Of Ezekiel the Prophet.

Lesson I. Chap. xliii.

whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if

AFTERWARD he brought me to they be ashamed of all that they have the gate, even the gate that done, shew them the form of the looketh toward the east: and, behold, house, and the fashion thereof, and the glory of the God of Israel came the goings out thereof, and the

comings in thereof, and all the forms the river were very many trees on the

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again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from

:

one side and on the other. Then
said he unto me, These waters issue
out toward the east country, and go
down into the desert, and go into the
sea: which being brought forth
into the sea, the waters shall be
healed. And it shall come to pass,
that every thing that liveth, which
moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall
come, shall live: and there shall be a
very great multitude of fish, because
these waters shall come thither; for
they shall be healed; and every thing
shall live whither the river cometh.
Ry. My God. p. cl.

THIRD SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER.
FIRST NOCTURN.

the right side of the house, at the Here beginneth the Book of Daniel

south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.

Ry. Blessed are. p. cxlix.

Lesson II.

the Prophet. Lesson I. Chap. i.

IN the third year of the reign of

Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the LORD gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of GoD: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house

AND when the man that had the of his god; and he brought the vessels

line in his hand went forth east-into the treasure house of his god. ward, he measured a thousand cubits, And the king spake unto Ashpenaz and he brought me through the waters; the master of his eunuchs, that he the waters were to the ancles. Again should bring certain of the children of he measured a thousand, and brought Israel, and of the king's seed, and of me through the waters; the waters the princes; children in whom was no were to the knees. Again he blemish, but well favoured, and skilful measured a thousand, and brought me in all wisdom, and cunning in knowthrough; the waters were to the loins. ledge, and understanding science, and Afterward he measured a thousand; such as had ability in them to stand and it was a river that I could not in the king's palace, and whom they pass over for the waters were risen, might teach the learning and the waters to swim in, a river that could tongue of the Chaldeans. not be passed over. p. cxlviii.

Ry. I am straitened. p. cl.
Lesson III.

AND he said unto me, Son of man,

hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of

R. I saw.

Lesson II.

AND the king appointed them a

daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these

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