# verses

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On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, opposite the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace;


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and when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.


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And the king said to her, "What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom."


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And Esther said, "If it please the king, let the king and Haman come this day to a dinner that I have prepared for the king."


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Then said the king, "Bring Haman quickly, that we may do as Esther desires." So the king and Haman came to the dinner that Esther had prepared.


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And as they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, "What is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled."


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If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and fulfil my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the dinner which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said."


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And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mor'decai in the king's gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mor'decai.


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Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home; and he sent and fetched his friends and his wife Zeresh.


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And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and the servants of the king.


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And Haman added, "Even Queen Esther let no one come with the king to the banquet she prepared but myself. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king.


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Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mor'decai hanged upon it; then go merrily with the king to the dinner." This counsel pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.


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On that night the king could not sleep; and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.


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And it was found written how Mor'decai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands upon King Ahasu-e'rus.


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And the king said, "What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mor'decai for this?" The king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him."


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And the king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about having Mor'decai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him.


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So the king's servants told him, "Haman is there, standing in the court." And the king said, "Let him come in."


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So Haman came in, and the king said to him, "What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?" And Haman said to himself, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?"


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let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set;


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and let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble princes; let him array the man whom the king delights to honor, and let him conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: `Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.'"


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Then the king said to Haman, "Make haste, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mor'decai the Jew who sits at the king's gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned."


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So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he arrayed Mor'decai and made him ride through the open square of the city, proclaiming, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor."


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Then Mor'decai returned to the king's gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.


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And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, "If Mor'decai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him."


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While they were yet talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and brought Haman in haste to the banquet that Esther had prepared.


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And on the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled."


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Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.


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For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king."


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Then King Ahasu-e'rus said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, that would presume to do this?"


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And Esther said, "A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!" Then Haman was in terror before the king and the queen.


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And the king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king.


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And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was; and the king said, "Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?" As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face.


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Then said Harbo'na, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, "Moreover, the gallows which Haman has prepared for Mor'decai, whose word saved the king, is standing in Haman's house, fifty cubits high."


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And the king said, "Hang him on that." So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mor'decai. Then the anger of the king abated.


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On that day King Ahasu-e'rus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mor'decai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her;


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and the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mor'decai. And Esther set Mor'decai over the house of Haman.


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Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet and besought him with tears to avert the evil design of Haman the Ag'agite and the plot which he had devised against the Jews.


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and Esther rose and stood before the king. And she said, "If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Ag'agite, the son of Hammeda'tha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.


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For how can I endure to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?"


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Then King Ahasu-e'rus said to Queen Esther and to Mor'decai the Jew, "Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he would lay hands on the Jews.


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And you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked."


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The king's secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and an edict was written according to all that Mor'decai commanded concerning the Jews to the satraps and the governors and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.


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The writing was in the name of King Ahasu-e'rus and sealed with the king's ring, and letters were sent by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud.


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By these the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods,


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upon one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasu-e'rus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.


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A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, and by proclamation to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to avenge themselves upon their enemies.


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So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king's service, rode out in haste, urged by the king's command; and the decree was issued in Susa the capital.


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Then Mor'decai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.


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And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.


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Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and edict were about to be executed, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to get the mastery over them, but which had been changed to a day when the Jews should get the mastery over their foes,


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the Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasu-e'rus to lay hands on such as sought their hurt. And no one could make a stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all peoples.


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All the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal officials also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mor'decai had fallen upon them.


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For Mor'decai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for the man Mor'decai grew more and more powerful.


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So the Jews smote all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering, and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.


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the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammeda'tha, the enemy of the Jews; but they laid no hand on the plunder.


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And the king said to Queen Esther, "In Susa the capital the Jews have slain five hundred men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled."


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And Esther said, "If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day's edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows."


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So the king commanded this to be done; a decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.


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The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they slew three hundred men in Susa; but they laid no hands on the plunder.


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Now the other Jews who were in the king's provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies, and slew seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they laid no hands on the plunder.


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This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness.


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But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.


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Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the open towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting and holiday-making, and a day on which they send choice portions to one another.


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And Mor'decai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasu-e'rus, both near and far,


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enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year,


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as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor.


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For Haman the Ag'agite, the son of Hammeda'tha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to crush and destroy them;


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but when Esther came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his wicked plot which he had devised against the Jews should come upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.


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Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. And therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had befallen them,


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the Jews ordained and took it upon themselves and their descendants and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year,


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that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every family, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.


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Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Ab'ihail, and Mor'decai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim.


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Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasu-e'rus, in words of peace and truth,


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that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mor'decai the Jew and Queen Esther enjoined upon the Jews, and as they had laid down for themselves and for their descendants, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting.


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And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mor'decai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?


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For Mor'decai the Jew was next in rank to King Ahasu-e'rus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brethren, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.


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There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.


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He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.


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His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each on his day; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.


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And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.


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Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.


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The LORD said to Satan, "Whence have you come?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."


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And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"


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Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.


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And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.


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Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house;


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and there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them;


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and the Sabe'ans fell upon them and took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."


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While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you."


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While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "The Chalde'ans formed three companies, and made a raid upon the camels and took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."


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While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house;


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and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you."


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And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."


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Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.


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And the LORD said to Satan, "Whence have you come?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."


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And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause."


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So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD, and afflicted Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.


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But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.


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Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eli'phaz the Te'manite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Na'amathite. They made an appointment together to come to condole with him and comfort him.


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And when they saw him from afar, they did not recognize him; and they raised their voices and wept; and they rent their robes and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.


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And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.


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Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.


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That night--let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.


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Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning;


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For then I should have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then I should have been at rest,


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It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:


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how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth.


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His harvest the hungry eat, and he takes it even out of thorns; and the thirsty pant after his wealth.


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For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.


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You shall know also that your descendants shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.


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You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season.


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For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.


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Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the slime of the purslane?


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This would be my consolation; I would even exult in pain unsparing; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.


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When I lie down I say, "When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.


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"Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.


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If I sin, what do I do to thee, thou watcher of men? Why hast thou made me thy mark? Why have I become a burden to thee?


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Why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; thou wilt seek me, but I shall not be."


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If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the power of their transgression.


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if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and reward you with a rightful habitation.


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He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength --who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?--


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Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.


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The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges-- if it is not he, who then is it?


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If I say, ` I say, "I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer,'


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"I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.


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Does it seem good to thee to oppress, to despise the work of thy hands and favor the designs of the wicked?


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If I am wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction.


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thou dost renew thy witnesses against me, and increase thy vexation toward me; thou dost bring fresh hosts against me.


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and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.


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And you will have confidence, because there is hope; you will be protected and take your rest in safety.


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But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last."


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But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?


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I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.


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In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.


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The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.


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He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.


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Thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and watchest all my paths; thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet.


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Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass,


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"For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.


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so man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake, or be roused out of his sleep.


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Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, that thou wouldest conceal me until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!


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If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my release should come.


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the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so thou destroyest the hope of man.


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Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passes; thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.


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The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.


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He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ` wanders abroad for bread, saying, "Where is it?' He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;


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and has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no man should inhabit, which were destined to become heaps of ruins;


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he will not escape from darkness; the flame will dry up his shoots, and his blossom will be swept away by the wind.


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I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.


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And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness has risen up against me, it testifies to my face.


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He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.


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Men have gaped at me with their mouth, they have struck me insolently upon the cheek, they mass themselves together against me.


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I was at ease, and he broke me asunder; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target,


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his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.


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He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property, the eyes of his children will fail.


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You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?


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His troops come on together; they have cast up siegeworks against me, and encamp round about my tent.


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the guests in my house have forgotten me; my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes.


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be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment."


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He will give back the fruit of his toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment.


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In the fulness of his sufficiency he will be in straits; all the force of misery will come upon him.


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To fill his belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into him, and rain it upon him as his food.


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It is drawn forth and comes out of his body, the glittering point comes out of his gall; terrors come upon him.


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Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not blown upon will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed.


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"How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger?


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You say, `God stores up their iniquity for their sons.' Let him recompense it to themselves, that they may know it.


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The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all men follow after him, and those who go before him are innumerable.


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How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood."


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Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?


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For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.


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If you return to the Almighty and humble yourself, if you remove unrighteousness far from your tents,


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on the left hand I seek him, but I cannot behold him; I turn to the right hand, but I cannot see him.


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I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.


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"Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?


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Behold, like wild asses in the desert they go forth to their toil, seeking prey in the wilderness as food for their children.


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(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and take in pledge the infant of the poor.)


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From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God pays no attention to their prayer.


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"There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.


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The murderer rises in the dark, that he may kill the poor and needy; and in the night he is as a thief.


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The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, `No eye will see me'; and he disguises his face.


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For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.


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"You say, "They are swiftly carried away upon the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.


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The squares of the town forget them; their name is no longer remembered; so wickedness is broken like a tree.'


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They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they wither and fade like the mallow; they are cut off like the heads of grain.


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Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways; and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"


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I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.


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"This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage which oppressors receive from the Almighty:


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Men put an end to darkness, and search out to the farthest bound the ore in gloom and deep darkness.


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They open shafts in a valley away from where men live; they are forgotten by travelers, they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro.


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He binds up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hid he brings forth to light.


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And he said to man, `Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'+"


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The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.


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I smiled on them when they had no confidence; and the light of my countenance they did not cast down.


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I chose their way, and sat as chief, and I dwelt like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.


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"But now they make sport of me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.


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On my right hand the rabble rise, they drive me forth, they cast up against me their ways of destruction.


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Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.


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Thou liftest me up on the wind, thou makest me ride on it, and thou tossest me about in the roar of the storm.


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if my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has cleaved to my hands;


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for that would be a fire which consumes unto Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.


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"If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me;


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this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I should have been false to God above.


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because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors--


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Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!


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Then Eli'hu the son of Bar'achel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God;


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he was angry also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.


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And Eli'hu the son of Bar'achel the Buzite answered: "I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.


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"Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say.


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I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none that confuted Job, or that answered his words, among you.


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In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while they slumber on their beds,


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If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him;


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and he is gracious to him, and says, `Deliver him from going down into the Pit, I have found a ransom;


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then man prays to God, and he accepts him, he comes into his presence with joy. He recounts to men his salvation,


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and he sings before men, and says: `I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not requited to me.


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in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.'


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"Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding, far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.


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For according to the work of a man he will requite him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.


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who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?


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In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.


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When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?--


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Will he then make requital to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.


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For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God."


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If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?


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"Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.


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How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!


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He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings upon the throne he sets them for ever, and they are exalted.


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If they hearken and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness.


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He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.


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After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.


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They turn round and round by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.


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"And now men cannot look on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.


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The Almighty--we cannot find him; he is great in power and justice, and abundant righteousness he will not violate.


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What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?


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Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?


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She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear;


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When the trumpet sounds, he says `trumpet sounds, he says "Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.


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Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened; he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.


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Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.


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After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eli'phaz the Te'manite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.


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Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."


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So Eli'phaz the Te'manite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Na'amathite went and did what the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.


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And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.


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Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house; and they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.


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And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.


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And he called the name of the first Jemi'mah; and the name of the second Kezi'ah; and the name of the third Ker'en-hap'puch.


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And in all the land there were no women so fair as Job's daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.


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And after this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.


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Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;


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He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.


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Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;


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The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his anointed, saying,


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kiss his feet, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.


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A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.<br/>O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;


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Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! For thou dost smite all my enemies on the cheek, thou dost break the teeth of the wicked.


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To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.<br/>Answer me when I call, O God of my right! Thou hast given me room when I was in distress. Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.


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O men, how long shall my honor suffer shame? How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies? [Selah]


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There are many who say, "O that we might see some good! Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, O LORD!"


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To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.<br/>Give ear to my words, O LORD; give heed to my groaning.


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O LORD, in the morning thou dost hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for thee, and watch.


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But I through the abundance of thy steadfast love will enter thy house, I will worship toward thy holy temple in the fear of thee.


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For there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is destruction, their throat is an open sepulchre, they flatter with their tongue.


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Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of their many transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against thee.


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But let all who take refuge in thee rejoice, let them ever sing for joy; and do thou defend them, that those who love thy name may exult in thee.


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To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.<br/>O LORD, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy wrath.


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I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.


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All my enemies shall be ashamed and sorely troubled; they shall turn back, and be put to shame in a moment.


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A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning Cush a Benjaminite.<br/>O LORD my God, in thee do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,


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let the enemy pursue me and overtake me, and let him trample my life to the ground, and lay my soul in the dust. [Selah]


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Arise, O LORD, in thy anger, lift thyself up against the fury of my enemies; awake, O my God; thou hast appointed a judgment.


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The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.


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O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish thou the righteous, thou who triest the minds and hearts, thou righteous God.


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I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.


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To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.<br/>O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth! Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted


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by the mouth of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.


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When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established;


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To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.<br/>I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all thy wonderful deeds.


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Thou hast rebuked the nations, thou hast destroyed the wicked; thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.


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The enemy have vanished in everlasting ruins; their cities thou hast rooted out; the very memory of them has perished.


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And those who know thy name put their trust in thee, for thou, O LORD, hast not forsaken those who seek thee.


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Be gracious to me, O LORD! Behold what I suffer from those who hate me, O thou who liftest me up from the gates of death,


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that I may recount all thy praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in thy deliverance.


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The nations have sunk in the pit which they made; in the net which they hid has their own foot been caught.


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The LORD has made himself known, he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. [Higgaion. Selah]


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In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes which they have devised.


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For the wicked boasts of the desires of his heart, and the man greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD.


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In the pride of his countenance the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God."


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His ways prosper at all times; thy judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them.


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He thinks in his heart, "I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity."


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His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.


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He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the hapless,


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he lurks in secret like a lion in his covert; he lurks that he may seize the poor, he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.


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Thou dost see; yea, thou dost note trouble and vexation, that thou mayest take it into thy hands; the hapless commits himself to thee; thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.


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O LORD, thou wilt hear the desire of the meek; thou wilt strengthen their heart, thou wilt incline thy ear


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to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.


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To the choirmaster. Of David.<br/>In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to me, "Flee like a bird to the mountains;


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for lo, the wicked bend the bow, they have fitted their arrow to the string, to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;


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The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven; his eyes behold, his eyelids test, the children of men.


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On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and brimstone; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.


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To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.<br/>Help, LORD; for there is no longer any that is godly; for the faithful have vanished from among the sons of men.


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"Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now arise," says the LORD; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs."


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The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.<br/>How long, O LORD? Wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?


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How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?


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To the choirmaster. Of David.<br/>The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good.


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The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.


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Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD?


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O that deliverance for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.


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who does not slander with his tongue, and does no evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;


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in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change;


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who does not put out his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.


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Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their libations of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.


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Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fulness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.


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A Prayer of David.<br/>Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!


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If thou triest my heart, if thou visitest me by night, if thou testest me, thou wilt find no wickedness in me; my mouth does not transgress.


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Wondrously show thy steadfast love, O savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at thy right hand.


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from men by thy hand, O LORD, from men whose portion in life is of the world. May their belly be filled with what thou hast stored up for them; may their children have more than enough; may they leave something over to their babes.


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As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with beholding thy form.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:<br/>I love thee, O LORD, my strength.


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The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.


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In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.


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Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.


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The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire.


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Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare, at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.


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The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.


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Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.


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With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal; with the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless;


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This God -- his way is perfect; the promise of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.


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Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand supported me, and thy help made me great.


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They cried for help, but there was none to save, they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.


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Thou didst deliver me from strife with the peoples; thou didst make me the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me.


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who delivered me from my enemies; yea, thou didst exalt me above my adversaries; thou didst deliver me from men of violence.


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Great triumphs he gives to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his descendants for ever.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.<br/>The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.


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yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,


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which comes forth like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.


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Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and there is nothing hid from its heat.


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The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;


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the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;


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the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.


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More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.


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Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.


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Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.<br/>The LORD answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect you!


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May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the LORD fulfil all your petitions!


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Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.<br/>In thy strength the king rejoices, O LORD; and in thy help how greatly he exults!


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Yea, thou dost make him most blessed for ever; thou dost make him glad with the joy of thy presence.


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For the king trusts in the LORD; and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.


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You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath; and fire will consume them.


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To the choirmaster: according to The Hind of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.<br/>My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?


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"He committed his cause to the LORD; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"


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I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast;


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my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; thou dost lay me in the dust of death.


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Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet --


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You who fear the LORD, praise him! all you sons of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!


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For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.


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The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live for ever!


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All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.


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Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and he who cannot keep himself alive.


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Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.


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Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.


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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.


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A Psalm of David.<br/>The earth is the LORD's and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein;


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He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.


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Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; for thee I wait all the day long.


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Remember not the sins of my youth, or my transgressions; according to thy steadfast love remember me, for thy goodness' sake, O LORD!


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All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.


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A Psalm of David.<br/>Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.


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A Psalm of David.<br/>The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?


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When evildoers assail me, uttering slanders against me, my adversaries and foes, they shall stumble and fall.


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Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.


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One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.


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For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent, he will set me high upon a rock.


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And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies round about me; and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.


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Hide not thy face from me. Turn not thy servant away in anger, thou who hast been my help. Cast me not off, forsake me not, O God of my salvation!


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Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.


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A Psalm of David.<br/>To thee, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the Pit.


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Hear the voice of my supplication, as I cry to thee for help, as I lift up my hands toward thy most holy sanctuary.


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Take me not off with the wicked, with those who are workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors, while mischief is in their hearts.


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Requite them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds; requite them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.


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Because they do not regard the works of the LORD, or the work of his hands, he will break them down and build them up no more.


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The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.


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A Psalm of David.<br/>Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.


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The voice of the LORD makes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forests bare; and in his temple all cry, "Glory!"


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A Psalm of David. A Song at the dedication of the Temple.<br/>I will extol thee, O LORD, for thou hast drawn me up, and hast not let my foes rejoice over me.


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O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.


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For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.


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By thy favor, O LORD, thou hadst established me as a strong mountain; thou didst hide thy face, I was dismayed.


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"What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise thee? Will it tell of thy faithfulness?


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Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.<br/>In thee, O LORD, do I seek refuge; let me never be put to shame; in thy righteousness deliver me!


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Incline thy ear to me, rescue me speedily! Be thou a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!


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I will rejoice and be glad for thy steadfast love, because thou hast seen my affliction, thou hast taken heed of my adversities,


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Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief, my soul and my body also.


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For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.


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I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.


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Yea, I hear the whispering of many -- terror on every side! -- as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.


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Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I call on thee; let the wicked be put to shame, let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.


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O how abundant is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for those who fear thee, and wrought for those who take refuge in thee, in the sight of the sons of men!


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In the covert of thy presence thou hidest them from the plots of men; thou holdest them safe under thy shelter from the strife of tongues.


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Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was beset as in a besieged city.


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I had said in my alarm, "I am driven far from thy sight." But thou didst hear my supplications, when I cried to thee for help.


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Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but abundantly requites him who acts haughtily.


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A Psalm of David. A Maskil.<br/>Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.


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For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. [Selah]


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I acknowledged my sin to thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. [Selah]


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Therefore let every one who is godly offer prayer to thee; at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.


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Thou art a hiding place for me, thou preservest me from trouble; thou dost encompass me with deliverance. [Selah]


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Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not keep with you.


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A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.<br/>I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.


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A Psalm of David.<br/>Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!


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Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and confounded who devise evil against me!


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Let ruin come upon them unawares! And let the net which they hid ensnare them; let them fall therein to ruin!


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All my bones shall say, "O LORD, who is like thee, thou who deliverest the weak from him who is too strong for him, the weak and needy from him who despoils him?"


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But I, when they were sick -- I wore sackcloth, I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,


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as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; I went about as one who laments his mother, bowed down and in mourning.


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But at my stumbling they gathered in glee, they gathered together against me; cripples whom I knew not slandered me without ceasing;


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Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause.


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For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they conceive words of deceit.


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Let them not say to themselves, "Aha, we have our heart's desire!" Let them not say, "We have swallowed him up."


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Let them be put to shame and confusion altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me!


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Let those who desire my vindication shout for joy and be glad, and say evermore, "Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!"


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD.<br/>Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.


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Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God, thy judgments are like the great deep; man and beast thou savest, O LORD.


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How precious is thy steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of thy wings.


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They feast on the abundance of thy house, and thou givest them drink from the river of thy delights.


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Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!


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Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look well at his place, he will not be there.


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The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows, to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those who walk uprightly;


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But the wicked perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures, they vanish -- like smoke they vanish away.


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I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread.


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For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. The righteous shall be preserved for ever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.


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Wait for the LORD, and keep to his way, and he will exalt you to possess the land; you will look on the destruction of the wicked.


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The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked, and saves them, because they take refuge in him.


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A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.<br/>O LORD, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy wrath!


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There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.


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Those who seek my life lay their snares, those who seek my hurt speak of ruin, and meditate treachery all the day long.


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To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.<br/>I said, "I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will bridle my mouth, so long as the wicked are in my presence."


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Behold, thou hast made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in thy sight. Surely every man stands as a mere breath! [Selah]


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Surely man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nought are they in turmoil; man heaps up, and knows not who will gather!


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When thou dost chasten man with rebukes for sin, thou dost consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely every man is a mere breath! [Selah]


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"Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears! For I am thy passing guest, a sojourner, like all my fathers.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.<br/>I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.


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He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.


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He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.


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Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods!


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Thou hast multiplied, O LORD my God, thy wondrous deeds and thy thoughts toward us; none can compare with thee! Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be numbered.


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Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire; but thou hast given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required.


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I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; lo, I have not restrained my lips, as thou knowest, O LORD.


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I have not hid thy saving help within my heart, I have spoken of thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness from the great congregation.


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Do not thou, O LORD, withhold thy mercy from me, let thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness ever preserve me!


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For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, till I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.


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Let them be put to shame and confusion altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt!


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But may all who seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; may those who love thy salvation say continually, "Great is the LORD!"


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As for me, I am poor and needy; but the Lord takes thought for me. Thou art my help and my deliverer; do not tarry, O my God!


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.<br/>Blessed is he who considers the poor! The LORD delivers him in the day of trouble;


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the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies.


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And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers mischief; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.


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To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.<br/>As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God.


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These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.


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Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help


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and my God. My soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.


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Deep calls to deep at the thunder of thy cataracts; all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.


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By day the LORD commands his steadfast love; and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.


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I say to God, my rock: "Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"


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As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, "Where is your God?"


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Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.


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Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; from deceitful and unjust men deliver me!


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For thou art the God in whom I take refuge; why hast thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?


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Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling!


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Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise thee with the lyre, O God, my God.


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To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.<br/>We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what deeds thou didst perform in their days, in the days of old:


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thou with thy own hand didst drive out the nations, but them thou didst plant; thou didst afflict the peoples, but them thou didst set free;


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for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm give them victory; but thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance; for thou didst delight in them.


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To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah a love song.<br/>My heart overflows with a goodly theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.


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You are the fairest of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you for ever.


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In your majesty ride forth victoriously for the cause of truth and to defend the right; let your right hand teach you dread deeds!


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you love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows;


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your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;


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daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.


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I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations; therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.<br/>God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.


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Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;


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He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, he burns the chariots with fire!


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.<br/>Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!


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The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!


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A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.<br/>Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain,


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beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.


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As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God, which God establishes for ever. [Selah]


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As thy name, O God, so thy praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Thy right hand is filled with victory;


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.<br/>Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,


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Yea, he shall see that even the wise die, the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.


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Their graves are their homes for ever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they named lands their own.


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This is the fate of those who have foolish confidence, the end of those who are pleased with their portion. [Selah]


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Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; straight to the grave they descend, and their form shall waste away; Sheol shall be their home.


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Though, while he lives, he counts himself happy, and though a man gets praise when he does well for himself,


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A Psalm of Asaph.<br/>The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.


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Our God comes, he does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, round about him a mighty tempest.


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But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?


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These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.


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He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!"


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.<br/>Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.


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Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.


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Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.


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For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased.


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The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.


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then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.


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To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, "David has come to the house of Ahimelech."<br/>Why do you boast, O mighty man, of mischief done against the godly? All the day


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But God will break you down for ever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. [Selah]


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"See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and sought refuge in his wealth!"


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But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God for ever and ever.


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I will thank thee for ever, because thou hast done it. I will proclaim thy name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly.


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To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David.<br/>The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none that does good.


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God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any that are wise, that seek after God.


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Have those who work evil no understanding, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?


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There they are, in great terror, in terror such as has not been! For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly; they will be put to shame, for God has rejected them.


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O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.


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To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, "David is in hiding among us."<br/>Save me, O God, by thy name, and vindicate me by thy might.


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For insolent men have risen against me, ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before them. [Selah]


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With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to thee; I will give thanks to thy name, O LORD, for it is good.


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To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.<br/>Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication!


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by the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring trouble upon me, and in anger they cherish enmity against me.


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It is not an enemy who taunts me -- then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me -- then I could hide from him.


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Let death come upon them; let them go down to Sheol alive; let them go away in terror into their graves.


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God will give ear, and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old; because they keep no law, and do not fear God. [Selah]


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His speech was smoother than butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.


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Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.


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But thou, O God, wilt cast them down into the lowest pit; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in thee.


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To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.<br/>Be gracious to me, O God, for men trample upon me; all day long foemen oppress me;


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For thou hast delivered my soul from death, yea, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.


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To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.<br/>Be merdiful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in thee my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of thy wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.


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He will send from heaven and save me, he will put to shame those who trample upon me. [Selah] God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness!


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I lie in the midst of lions that greedily devour the sons of men; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues sharp swords.


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They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. [Selah]


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I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to thee among the nations.


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To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David.<br/>Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the sons of men uprightly?


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Let them be like the snail which dissolves into slime, like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.


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The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.


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Men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."


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To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.<br/>Deliver me from my enemies, O my God, protect me from those who rise up against me,


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For, lo, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men band themselves against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD,


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Thou, LORD God of hosts, art God of Israel. Awake to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. [Selah]


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There they are, bellowing with their mouths, and snarling with their lips -- for "Who," they think, "will hear us?"


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Slay them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!


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For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies which they utter,


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consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more, that men may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. [Selah]


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But I will sing of thy might; I will sing aloud of thy steadfast love in the morning. For thou hast been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.


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O my Strength, I will sing praises to thee, for thou, O God, art my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.


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To the choirmaster: according to Shushan Eduth. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.<br/>O God, thou hast rejected us, broken our defenses; thou hast been angry; oh, restore us.


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God has spoken in his sanctuary: "With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the Vale of Succoth.


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To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.<br/>Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer;


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from the end of the earth I call to thee, when my heart is faint. Lead thou me to the rock that is higher than I;


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To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.<br/>For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.


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How long will you set upon a man to shatter him, all of you, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?


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They only plan to thrust him down from his eminence. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. [Selah]


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Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. [Selah]


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Men of low estate are but a breath, men of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.


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Put no confidence in extortion, set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.


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and that to thee, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For thou dost requite a man according to his work.


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A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.<br/>O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is.


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But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall glory; for the mouths of liars will be stopped.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.<br/>Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy,


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They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, "Who can see us?


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Who can search out our crimes? We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot." For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep!


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.<br/>Praise is due to thee, O God, in Zion; and to thee shall vows be performed,


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Blessed is he whom thou dost choose and bring near, to dwell in thy courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, thy holy temple!


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By dread deeds thou dost answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of the farthest seas;


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so that those who dwell at earth's farthest bounds are afraid at thy signs; thou makest the outgoings of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.


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Thou visitest the earth and waterest it, thou greatly enrichest it; the river of God is full of water; thou providest their grain, for so thou hast prepared it.


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Thou waterest its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.


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the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.


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who rules by his might for ever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations -- let not the rebellious exalt themselves. [Selah]


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thou didst let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet thou hast brought us forth to a spacious place.


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I will offer to thee burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. [Selah]


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To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.<br/>May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, [Selah]


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Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou dost judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. [Selah]


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.<br/>Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him!


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As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before fire, let the wicked perish before God!


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Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds; his name is the LORD, exult before him!


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God gives the desolate a home to dwell in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.


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O God, when thou didst go forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, [Selah]


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the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, at the presence of God; yon Sinai quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.


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though they stay among the sheepfolds -- the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with green gold.


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Why look you with envy, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount which God desired for his abode, yea, where the LORD will dwell for ever?


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With mighty chariotry, twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands, the Lord came from Sinai into the holy place.


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Thou didst ascend the high mount, leading captives in thy train, and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.


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The Lord said, "I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,


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that you may bathe your feet in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe."


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There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zeb'ulun, the princes of Naph'tali.


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Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war.


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to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; lo, he sends forth his voice, his mighty voice.


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Terrible is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel, he gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!


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To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Psalm of David.<br/>Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.


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I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.


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More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?


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Let not those who hope in thee be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek thee be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.


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But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of thy steadfast love answer me. With thy faithful help


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Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.


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For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and him whom thou hast wounded, they afflict still more.


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For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and his servants shall dwell there and possess it;


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.<br/>Be pleased, O God, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!


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Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt!


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May all who seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee! May those who love thy salvation say evermore, "God is great!"


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But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! Thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not tarry!


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Be thou to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress.


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Upon thee I have leaned from my birth; thou art he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of thee.


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May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt.


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My mouth will tell of thy righteous acts, of thy deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.


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So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, till I proclaim thy might to all the generations to come. Thy power


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and thy righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. Thou who hast done great things, O God, who is like thee?


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Thou who hast made me see many sore troubles wilt revive me again; from the depths of the earth thou wilt bring me up again.


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I will also praise thee with the harp for thy faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to thee with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.


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And my tongue will talk of thy righteous help all the day long, for they have been put to shame and disgraced who sought to do me hurt.


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May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor!


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May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!


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Long may he live, may gold of Sheba be given to him! May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day!


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May there be abundance of grain in the land; on the tops of the mountains may it wave; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may men blossom forth from the cities like the grass of the field!


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May his name endure for ever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May men bless themselves by him, all nations call him blessed!


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For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish; thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee.


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But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all thy works.


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A Maskil of Asaph.<br/>O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever? Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?


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Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt.


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They said to themselves, "We will utterly subdue them"; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.


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We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.


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Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan, thou didst give him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.


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Do not deliver the soul of thy dove to the wild beasts; do not forget the life of thy poor for ever.


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Have regard for thy covenant; for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.


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To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.<br/>We give thanks to thee, O God; we give thanks; we call on thy name and recount thy wondrous deeds.


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For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, with foaming wine, well mixed; and he will pour a draught from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.


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To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.<br/>In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel.


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The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.


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Make your vows to the LORD your God, and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared,


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To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.<br/>I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me.


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In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.


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When the waters saw thee, O God, when the waters saw thee, they were afraid, yea, the deep trembled.


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The crash of thy thunder was in the whirlwind; thy lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.


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A Maskil of Asaph.<br/>Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!


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We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought.


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He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children;


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that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,


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so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;


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and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.


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He smote the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?"


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Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel;


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the anger of God rose against them and he slew the strongest of them, and laid low the picked men of Israel.


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Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often, and did not stir up all his wrath.


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He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.


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He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.


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He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.


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For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their graven images.


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from tending the ewes that had young he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, of Israel his inheritance.


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A Psalm of Asaph.<br/>O God, the heathen have come into thy inheritance; they have defiled thy holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.


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They have given the bodies of thy servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the earth.


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Pour out thy anger on the nations that do not know thee, and on the kingdoms that do not call on thy name!


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Do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers; let thy compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.


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Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake!


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Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of thy servants be known among the nations before our eyes!


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Let the groans of the prisoners come before thee; according to thy great power preserve those doomed to die!


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Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted thee, O Lord!


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Then we thy people, the flock of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever; from generation to generation we will recount thy praise.


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To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony of Asaph. A Psalm.<br/>Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou who leadest Joseph like a flock! Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth


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They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance!


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But let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself!


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To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph.<br/>Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!


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He made it a decree in Joseph, when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a voice I had not known:


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In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Mer'ibah. [Selah]


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I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.


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A Psalm of Asaph.<br/>God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:


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They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.


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To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.<br/>How lovely is thy dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!


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My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.


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Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at thy altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.


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As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.


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For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.


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For the LORD God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the LORD withhold from those who walk uprightly.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.<br/>LORD, thou wast favorable to thy land; thou didst restore the fortunes of Jacob.


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Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints, to those who turn to him in their hearts.


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All the nations thou hast made shall come and bow down before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.


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O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seek my life, and they do not set thee before them.


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But thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.


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Show me a sign of thy favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because thou, LORD, hast helped me and comforted me.


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Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia -- "This one was born there," they say.


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And of Zion it shall be said, "This one and that one were born in her"; for the Most High himself will establish her.


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A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.<br/>O LORD, my God, I call for help by day; I cry out in the night before thee.


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like one forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom thou dost remember no more, for they are cut off from thy hand.


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Thou hast caused my companions to shun me; thou hast made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;


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A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.<br/>I will sing of thy steadfast love, O LORD, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations.


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a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and terrible above all that are round about him?


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The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine; the world and all that is in it, thou hast founded them.


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Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before thee.


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Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance,


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Of old thou didst speak in a vision to thy faithful one, and say: "I have set the crown upon one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people.


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Like the moon it shall be established for ever; it shall stand firm while the skies endure." [Selah]


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Remember, O Lord, what the measure of life is, for what vanity thou hast created all the sons of men!


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Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.


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The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.


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Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.


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he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.


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You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.


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When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him.


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A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.<br/>It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to thy name, O Most High;


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that, though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction for ever,


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The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength. Yea, the world is established; it shall never be moved;


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The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their roaring.


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Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!


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He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.


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Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!


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For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would hearken to his voice!


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For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who err in heart, and they do not regard my ways."


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Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns! Yea, the world is established, it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity."


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before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.


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Clouds and thick darkness are round about him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.


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All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him.


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The LORD loves those who hate evil; he preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.


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A Psalm.<br/>O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.


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He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.


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before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.


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Mighty King, lover of justice, thou hast established equity; thou hast executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.


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Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.


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He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his testimonies, and the statutes that he gave them.


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O LORD our God, thou didst answer them; thou wast a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.


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Know that the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.


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I will give heed to the way that is blameless. Oh when wilt thou come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;


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I will not set before my eyes anything that is base. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cleave to me.


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Him who slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. The man of haughty looks and arrogant heart I will not endure.


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I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.


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No man who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no man who utters lies shall continue in my presence.


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Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD.


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A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.<br/>Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to thee!


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Do not hide thy face from me in the day of my distress! Incline thy ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!


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"O my God," I say, "take me not hence in the midst of my days, thou whose years endure throughout all generations!"


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They will perish, but thou dost endure; they will all wear out like a garment. Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away;


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For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;


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But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children,


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Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word!


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Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, thou art very great! Thou art clothed with honor and majesty,


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who hast laid the beams of thy chambers on the waters, who makest the clouds thy chariot, who ridest on the wings of the wind,


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From thy lofty abode thou waterest the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy work.


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Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth,


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and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart.


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O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy creatures.


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Yonder is the sea, great and wide, which teems with things innumerable, living things both small and great.


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When thou givest to them, they gather it up; when thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good things.


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When thou hidest thy face, they are dismayed; when thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust.


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Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!


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And he gave them the lands of the nations; and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil,


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Praise the LORD! O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!


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that I may see the prosperity of thy chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thy heritage.


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Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider thy wonderful works; they did not remember the abundance of thy steadfast love, but rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea.


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Therefore he said he would destroy them -- had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.


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they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood.


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Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes, and were brought low through their iniquity.


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He remembered for their sake his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.


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Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to thy holy name and glory in thy praise.


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Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the LORD!


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They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight;


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Whoever is wise, let him give heed to these things; let men consider the steadfast love of the LORD.


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A Song. A Psalm of David.<br/>My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake, my soul!


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I will give thanks to thee, O LORD, among the peoples, I will sing praises to thee among the nations.


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God has promised in his sanctuary: "With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth.


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May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!


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For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to their death.


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He clothed himself with cursing as his coat, may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones!


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But thou, O GOD my Lord, deal on my behalf for thy name's sake; because thy steadfast love is good, deliver me!


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A Psalm of David.<br/>The LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool."


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Your people will offer themselves freely on the day you lead your host upon the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning like dew your youth will come to you.


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The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchiz'edek."


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He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.


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Prasie the LORD. I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.


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He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name!


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The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who practice it. His praise endures for ever!


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He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever; his horn is exalted in honor.


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The wicked man sees it and is angry; he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked man comes to nought.


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Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to thy name give glory, for the sake of thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness!


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They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.


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The LORD has been mindful of us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;


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The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.


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For great is his steadfast love toward us; and the faithfulness of the LORD endures for ever. Praise the LORD!


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They surrounded me like bees, they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!


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Hark, glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: "The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,


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The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar!


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Let the godless be put to shame, because they have subverted me with guile; as for me, I will meditate on thy precepts.


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A Song of Ascents. Of David.<br/>I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"


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to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.


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Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he have mercy upon us.


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Too long our soul has been sated with the scorn of those who are at ease, the contempt of the proud.


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A Song of Ascents. Of David.<br/>If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, let Israel now say --


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A Song of Ascents.<br/>Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides for ever.


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As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people, from this time forth and for evermore.


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For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands to do wrong.


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But those who turn aside upon their crooked ways the LORD will lead away with evildoers! Peace be in Israel!


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Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."


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He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.


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A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.<br/>Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.


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It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.


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Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.


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You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.


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Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.


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while those who pass by do not say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD!"


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O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plenteous redemption.


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A Song of Ascents. Of David.<br/>O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.


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But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother's breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul.


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The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: "One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.


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If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies which I shall teach them, their sons also for ever shall sit upon your throne."


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It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!


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It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life for evermore.


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A Song of Ascents.<br/>Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!


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He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.


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For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"


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Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!


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Remember, O LORD, against the E'domites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, "Rase it, rase it! Down to its foundations!"


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O daughter of Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall he be who requites you with what you have done to us!


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A Psalm of David.<br/>I give thee thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing thy praise;


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I bow down toward thy holy temple and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness; for thou hast exalted above everything thy name and thy word.


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Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou dost preserve my life; thou dost stretch out thy hand against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right hand delivers me.


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The LORD will fulfil his purpose for me; thy steadfast love, O LORD, endures for ever. Do not forsake the work of thy hands.


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even the darkness is not dark to thee, the night is bright as the day; for darkness is as light with thee.


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I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works! Thou knowest me right well;


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my frame was not hidden from thee, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.


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Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance; in thy book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.


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To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men,


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Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet.


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Arrogant men have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net, by the wayside they have set snares for me. [Selah]


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A Psalm of David. I call upon thee, O LORD; make haste to me! Give ear to my voice, when I call to thee!


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Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice!


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Incline not my heart to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties!


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Let a good man strike or rebuke me in kindness, but let the oil of the wicked never anoint my head; for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.


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When they are given over to those who shall condemn them, then they shall learn that the word of the LORD is true.


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As a rock which one cleaves and shatters on the land, so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.


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A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer. I cry with my voice to the LORD, with my voice I make supplication to the LORD,


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When my spirit is faint, thou knowest my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.


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I look to the right and watch, but there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me, no man cares for me.


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Give heed to my cry; for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are too strong for me!


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Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to thy name! The righteous will surround me; for thou wilt deal bountifully with me.


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A Psalm of David. Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my supplications! In thy faithfulness answer me, in thy righteousness!


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For the enemy has pursued me; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.


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I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that thou hast done; I muse on what thy hands have wrought.


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Make haste to answer me, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the Pit.


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Let me hear in the morning of thy steadfast love, for in thee I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to thee I lift up my soul.


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A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;


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my rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under him.


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Stretch forth thy hand from on high, rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of aliens,


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Rescue me from the cruel sword, and deliver me from the hand of aliens, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.


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May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace;


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may our garners be full, providing all manner of store; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;


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may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mischance or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets!


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A Song of Praise. Of David. I will extol thee, my God and King, and bless thy name for ever and ever.


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Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds.


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My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.


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who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;


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the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.


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The LORD watches over the sojourners, he upholds the widow and the fatherless; but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.


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Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is seemly.


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He covers the heavens with clouds, he prepares rain for the earth, he makes grass grow upon the hills.


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Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.


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He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the LORD!


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"How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?


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Give heed to my reproof; behold, I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you.


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when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.


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Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.


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Let not loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.


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Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it"--when you have it with you.


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For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made some one stumble.


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But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.


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a lovely hind, a graceful doe. Let her affection fill you at all times with delight, be infatuated always with her love.


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then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into your neighbor's power: go, hasten, and importune your neighbor.


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When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.


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For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,


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till an arrow pierces its entrails; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.


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The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.


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when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,


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then I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,


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Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man and he will increase in learning.


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The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.


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On the lips of him who has understanding wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.


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The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.


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The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.


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With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.


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When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.


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He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing hidden.


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One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.


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Better is a man of humble standing who works for himself than one who plays the great man but lacks bread.


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He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits has no sense.


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From the fruit of his words a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.


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From the fruit of his mouth a good man eats good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.


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The soul of the sluggard craves, and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.


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He who despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who respects the commandment will be rewarded.


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A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.


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A perverse man will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man with the fruit of his deeds.


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The wicked is overthrown through his evil-doing, but the righteous finds refuge through his integrity.


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The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.


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The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD, the words of the pure are pleasing to him.


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He who is greedy for unjust gain makes trouble for his household, but he who hates bribes will live.


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In the light of a king's face there is life, and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain.


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He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.


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A slave who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully, and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.


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He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.


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A man of understanding sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.


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There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.


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Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a man who is perverse in speech, and is a fool.


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It is not good for a man to be without knowledge, and he who makes haste with his feet misses his way.


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All a poor man's brothers hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues them with words, but does not have them.


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A man of great wrath will pay the penalty; for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.


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Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established.


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The fear of the LORD leads to life; and he who has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.


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Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.


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He who does violence to his father and chases away his mother is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.


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The dread wrath of a king is like the growling of a lion; he who provokes him to anger forfeits his life.


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Take a man's garment when he has given surety for a stranger, and hold him in pledge when he gives surety for foreigners.


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He who goes about gossiping reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with one who speaks foolishly.


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When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise; when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.


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Do you see a man skilful in his work? he will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.


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When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes to itself wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.


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for he is like one who is inwardly reckoning. "Eat and drink!" he says to you; but his heart is not with you.


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Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?


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"They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink."


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If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not requite man according to his work?


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Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.


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Prepare your work outside, get everything ready for you in the field; and after that build your house.


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and lo, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.


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take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness.


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for it is better to be told, "Come up here," than to be put lower in the presence of the prince. What your eyes have seen


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do not hastily bring into court; for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame?


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Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him, he refreshes the spirit of his masters.


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A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.


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He who sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on a wound.


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Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.


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Your friend, and your father's friend, do not forsake; and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.


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He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.


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Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his folly will not depart from him.


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there will be enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household and maintenance for your maidens.


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When a land transgresses it has many rulers; but with men of understanding and knowledge its stability will long continue.


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He who misleads the upright into an evil way will fall into his own pit; but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.


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He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.


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A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor; but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.


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If a man is burdened with the blood of another, let him be a fugitive until death; let no one help him.


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He who walks in integrity will be delivered, but he who is perverse in his ways will fall into a pit.


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He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.


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He who robs his father or his mother and says, "That is no transgression," is the companion of a man who destroys.


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When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.


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He who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but one who keeps company with harlots squanders his substance.


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When the wicked are in authority, transgression increases; but the righteous will look upon their downfall.


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An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but he whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.


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Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!


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Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,


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lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, "Who is the LORD?" or lest I be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God.


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There are those whose teeth are swords, whose teeth are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among men.


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The leech has two daughters; "Give, give," they cry. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, "Enough":


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The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.


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the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.


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If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.


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For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.


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It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire strong drink;


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The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.


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All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.


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All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.


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What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.


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Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already, in the ages before us.


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There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen among those who come after.


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And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with.


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I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.


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I said to myself, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."


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And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.


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I said to myself, "Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity.


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I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine--my mind still guiding me with wisdom--and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven during the few days of their life.


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I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.


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I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, man's delight.


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So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.


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And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.


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Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.


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So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what he has already done.


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The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I perceived that one fate comes to all of them.


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Then I said to myself, "What befalls the fool will befall me also; why then have I been so very wise?" And I said to myself that this also is vanity.


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For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise man dies just like the fool!


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So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.


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I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me;


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and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.


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because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.


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For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.


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There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;


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For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.


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a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;


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He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man's mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.


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I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;


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also that it is God's gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.


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I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him.


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That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.


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Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.


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I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work.


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I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men that God is testing them to show them that they are but beasts.


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For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity.


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So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should enjoy his work, for that is his lot; who can bring him to see what will be after him?


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Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.


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but better than both is he who has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.


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Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.


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a person who has no one, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy business.


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For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up.


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And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.


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I saw all the living who move about under the sun, as well as that youth, who was to stand in his place;


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there was no end of all the people; he was over all of them. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.


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Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil.


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Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.


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When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.


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Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?


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If you see in a province the poor oppressed and justice and right violently taken away, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.


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He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this also is vanity.


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When goods increase, they increase who eat them; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?


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Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let him sleep.


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There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt,


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and those riches were lost in a bad venture; and he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.


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As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil, which he may carry away in his hand.


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This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he that he toiled for the wind,


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Behold, what I have seen to be good and to be fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life which God has given him, for this is his lot.


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Every man also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and find enjoyment in his toil--this is the gift of God.


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For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.


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a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them; this is vanity; it is a sore affliction.


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If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but he does not enjoy life's good things, and also has no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better off than he.


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Even though he should live a thousand years twice told, yet enjoy no good--do not all go to the one place?


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For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?


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Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a striving after wind.


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Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.


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For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?


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It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for this is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart.


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Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.


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For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money; and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.


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In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.


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In my vain life I have seen everything; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil-doing.


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It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand; for he who fears God shall come forth from them all.


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I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness which is madness.


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And I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters; he who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.


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which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found.


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Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his countenance is changed.


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No man has power to retain the spirit, or authority over the day of death; there is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.


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All this I observed while applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while man lords it over man to his hurt.


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Then I saw the wicked buried; they used to go in and out of the holy place, and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.


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Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the sons of men is fully set to do evil.


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Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him;


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but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.


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There is a vanity which takes place on earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.


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And I commend enjoyment, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink, and enjoy himself, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of life which God gives him under the sun.


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When I applied my mind to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night one's eyes see sleep;


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then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out; even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.


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But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate man does not know. Everything before them is vanity,


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since one fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good man, so is the sinner; and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.


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This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that one fate comes to all; also the hearts of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.


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For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward; but the memory of them is lost.


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Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and they have no more for ever any share in all that is done under the sun.


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Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already approved what you do.


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Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life which he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.


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Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.


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Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.


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For man does not know his time. Like fish which are taken in an evil net, and like birds which are caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.


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There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.


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But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.


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But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.


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Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off an evil odor; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.


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If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for deference will make amends for great offenses.


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If the iron is blunt, and one does not whet the edge, he must put forth more strength; but wisdom helps one to succeed.


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A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him?


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Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of free men, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!


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Even in your thought, do not curse the king, nor in your bedchamber curse the rich; for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.


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If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.


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As you do not know how the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.


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In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.


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For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.


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Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.


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Remove vexation from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.


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Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them";


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before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain;


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in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look through the windows are dimmed,


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and the doors on the street are shut; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low;


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they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails; because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets;


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before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,


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Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging proverbs with great care.


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The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings which are given by one Shepherd.


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My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.


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The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.


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Draw me after you, let us make haste. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you.


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I am very dark, but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.


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Do not gaze at me because I am swarthy, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me, they made me keeper of the vineyards; but, my own vineyard I have not kept!


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Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who wanders beside the flocks of your companions?


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If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your kids beside the shepherds' tents.


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As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.


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I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the hinds of the field, that you stir not up nor awaken love until it please.


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My beloved is like a gazelle, or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice.


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The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.


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The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.


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O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is comely.


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Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle, or a young stag upon rugged mountains.


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Upon my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.


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"I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves." I sought him, but found him not.


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Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.


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What is that coming up from the wilderness, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?


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He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; it was lovingly wrought within by the daughters of Jerusalem.


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Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart.


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Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.


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Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved.


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Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.


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Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an arsenal, whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors.


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Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hie me to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.


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Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Ama'na, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.


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You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.


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How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! how much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!


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Your lips distil nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon.


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nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices--


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Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its fragrance be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.


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I come to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gather my myrrh with my spice, I eat my honeycomb with my honey, I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink: drink deeply, O lovers!


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I slept, but my heart was awake. Hark! my beloved is knocking. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night."


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I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt.


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I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.


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The watchmen found me, as they went about in the city; they beat me, they wounded me, they took away my mantle, those watchmen of the walls.


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I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.


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What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?


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His cheeks are like beds of spices, yielding fragrance. His lips are lilies, distilling liquid myrrh.


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His legs are alabaster columns, set upon bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.


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His speech is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.


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Whither has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Whither has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?


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My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.


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Turn away your eyes from me, for they disturb me-- Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead.


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Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, that have come up from the washing, all of them bear twins, not one among them is bereaved.


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My dove, my perfect one, is only one, the darling of her mother, flawless to her that bore her. The maidens saw her and called her happy; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.


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"Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?"


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I went down to the nut orchard, to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom.


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Return, return, O Shu'lammite, return, return, that we may look upon you. Why should you look upon the Shu'lammite, as upon a dance before two armies?


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How graceful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.


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Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies.


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Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rab'bim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, overlooking Damascus.


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Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.


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I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its branches. Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples,


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let us go out early to the vineyards, and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.


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The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.


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O that you were like a brother to me, that nursed at my mother's breast! If I met you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.


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I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates.


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Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in travail with you, there she who bore you was in travail.


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Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame.


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Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.


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We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister, on the day when she is spoken for?


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If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.


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Solomon had a vineyard at Ba'al-ha'mon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.


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My vineyard, my very own, is for myself; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.


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The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzzi'ah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezeki'ah, kings of Judah.


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Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: "Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.


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The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand."


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Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.


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Why will you still be smitten, that you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.


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From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds; they are not pressed out, or bound up, or softened with oil.


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Your country lies desolate, your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence aliens devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by aliens.


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And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.


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If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomor'rah.


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Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomor'rah!


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"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.


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Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and the calling of assemblies-- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.


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Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.


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When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.


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Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,


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"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.


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But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."


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How the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.


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Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.


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Therefore the Lord says, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes.


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I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.


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And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city."


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But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.


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For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted; and you shall blush for the gardens which you have chosen.


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And the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.


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It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,


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and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.


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He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.


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For thou hast rejected thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of diviners from the east and of soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with foreigners.


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Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.


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Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.


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Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty.


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The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.


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For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high;


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And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be brought low; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.


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And men shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.


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In that day men will cast forth their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,


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to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.


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For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water;


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the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skilful magician and the expert in charms.


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And the people will oppress one another, every man his fellow and every man his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the base fellow to the honorable.


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When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: "You have a mantle; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule";


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in that day he will speak out, saying: "I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor mantle; you shall not make me leader of the people."


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For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen; because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.


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Their partiality witnesses against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom, they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil upon themselves.


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My people-- children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your leaders mislead you, and confuse the course of your paths.


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The LORD enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: "It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.


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What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" says the Lord GOD of hosts.


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The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet;


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the Lord will smite with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.


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Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.


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And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach."


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In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel.


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And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, every one who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,


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when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.


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Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy and a pavilion.


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It will be for a shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.


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Let me sing for my beloved a love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.


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He digged it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.


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And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.


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What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?


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And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.


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I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.


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For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry!


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Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.


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The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.


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Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening till wine inflames them!


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They have lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts; but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands.


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Therefore my people go into exile for want of knowledge; their honored men are dying of hunger, and their multitude is parched with thirst.


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Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down, her throng and he who exults in her.


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who say: "Let him make haste, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!"


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Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!


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Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.


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Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and smote them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.


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He will raise a signal for a nation afar off, and whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and lo, swiftly, speedily it comes!


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None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistcloth is loose, not a sandal-thong broken;


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their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.


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Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey, they carry it off, and none can rescue.


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They will growl over it on that day, like the roaring of the sea. And if one look to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.


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In the year that King Uzzi'ah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.


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Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.


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And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."


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And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.


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And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"


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Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.


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And he touched my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven."


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And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."


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And he said, "Go, and say to this people: `Hear and hear, but do not understand; see and see, but do not perceive.'


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Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."


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Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without men, and the land is utterly desolate,


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And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains standing when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.


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In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzzi'ah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remali'ah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it.


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When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with E'phraim," his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.


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And the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go forth to meet Ahaz, you and She'ar-jash'ub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field,


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and say to him, `Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remali'ah.


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"Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Ta'be-el as king in the midst of it,"


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For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. (Within sixty-five years E'phraim will be broken to pieces so that it will no longer be a people.)


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And the head of E'phraim is Sama'ria, and the head of Sama'ria is the son of Remali'ah. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.'"


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And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?


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Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman'u-el.


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For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.


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The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that E'phraim departed from Judah-- the king of Assyria."


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In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly which is at the sources of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of Assyria.


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And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.


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In that day the Lord will shave with a razor which is hired beyond the River-- with the king of Assyria-- the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.


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and because of the abundance of milk which they give, he will eat curds; for every one that is left in the land will eat curds and honey.


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In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns.


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and as for all the hills which used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.


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Then the LORD said to me, "Take a large tablet and write upon it in common characters, `Belonging to Ma'her-shal'al-hash-baz.'"


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And I got reliable witnesses, Uri'ah the priest and Zechari'ah the son of Jeberechi'ah, to attest for me.


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And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Ma'her-shal'al-hash-baz;


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for before the child knows how to cry `My father' or `My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Sama'ria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."


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"Because this people have refused the waters of Shilo'ah that flow gently, and melt in fear before Rezin and the son of Remali'ah;


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therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory; and it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks;


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and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Imman'u-el."


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Be broken, you peoples, and be dismayed; give ear, all you far countries; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be dismayed.


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Take counsel together, but it will come to nought; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.


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For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:


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"Do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.


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But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.


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And he will become a sanctuary, and a stone of offense, and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.


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And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the wizards who chirp and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?


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They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry; and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse their king and their God, and turn their faces upward;


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and they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness.


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But there will be no gloom for her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zeb'ulun and the land of Naph'tali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.


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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.


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Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased its joy; they rejoice before thee as with joy at the harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.


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For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as on the day of Mid'ian.


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For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.


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For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."


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Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.


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and all the people will know, E'phraim and the inhabitants of Sama'ria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:


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"The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place."


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The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.


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Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for every one is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.


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For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.


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Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no man spares his brother.


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They snatch on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours his neighbor's flesh,


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Manas'seh E'phraim, and E'phraim Manas'seh, and together they are against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.


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to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!


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What will you do on the day of punishment, in the storm which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?


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Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.


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Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.


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But he does not so intend, and his mind does not so think; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few;


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As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Sama'ria,


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When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride.


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For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and have plundered their treasures; like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.


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My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as men gather eggs that have been forsaken so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped."


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Shall the axe vaunt itself over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!


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Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.


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The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.


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The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the LORD will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.


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In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean upon him that smote them, but will lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.


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For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.


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Therefore thus says the Lord, the LORD of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they smite with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did.


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For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.


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And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a scourge, as when he smote Mid'ian at the rock of Oreb; and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.


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And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck." He has gone up from Rimmon,


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they have crossed over the pass, at Geba they lodge for the night; Ramah trembles, Gib'e-ah of Saul has fled.


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This very day he will halt at Nob, he will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.


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Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low.


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He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon with its majestic trees will fall.


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And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.


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And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;


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but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.


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The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.


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The cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.


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The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.


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They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.


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In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.


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In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.


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He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.


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The jealousy of E'phraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; E'phraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass E'phraim.


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But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.


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And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt; and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching wind, and smite it into seven channels that men may cross dryshod.


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And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant which is left of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.


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You will say in that day: "I will give thanks to thee, O LORD, for though thou wast angry with me, thy anger turned away, and thou didst comfort me.


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"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."


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And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name; make known his deeds among the nations, proclaim that his name is exalted.


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On a bare hill raise a signal, cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles.


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I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.


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Hark, a tumult on the mountains as of a great multitude! Hark, an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle.


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They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole earth.


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and they will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in travail. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.


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Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.


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For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light.


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I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.


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Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.


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And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, every man will turn to his own people, and every man will flee to his own land.


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Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.


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Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.


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Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.


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And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chalde'ans, will be like Sodom and Gomor'rah when God overthrew them.


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It will never be inhabited or dwelt in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.


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But wild beasts will lie down there, and its houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there satyrs will dance.


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Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.


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The LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and aliens will join them and will cleave to the house of Jacob.


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And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD's land as male and female slaves; they will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.


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When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,


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you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!


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that smote the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.


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The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, `Since you were laid low, no hewer comes up against us.'


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Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come, it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.


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All of them will speak and say to you: `You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!'


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Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are the bed beneath you, and worms are your covering.


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"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!


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You said in your heart, `I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north;


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Those who see you will stare at you, and ponder over you: `Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,


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but you are cast out, away from your sepulchre, like a loathed untimely birth, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the Pit, like a dead body trodden under foot.


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You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. "May the descendants of evildoers nevermore be named!


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Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities."


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"I will rise up against them," says the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the LORD.


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And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts."


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The LORD of hosts has sworn: "As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,


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that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains trample him under foot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder."


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This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.


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For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?


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"Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod which smote you is broken, for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying serpent.


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And the first-born of the poor will feed, and the needy lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant I will slay.


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Wail, O gate; cry, O city; melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks."


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What will one answer the messengers of the nation? "The LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge."


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An oracle concerning Moab. Because Ar is laid waste in a night Moab is undone; because Kir is laid waste in a night Moab is undone.


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The daughter of Dibon has gone up to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Med'eba Moab wails. On every head is baldness, every beard is shorn;


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in the streets they gird on sackcloth; on the housetops and in the squares every one wails and melts in tears.


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Heshbon and Ele-a'leh cry out, their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembles.


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My heart cries out for Moab; his fugitives flee to Zo'ar, to Eg'lath-shelish'iyah. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horona'im they raise a cry of destruction;


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the waters of Nimrim are a desolation; the grass is withered, the new growth fails, the verdure is no more.


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Therefore the abundance they have gained and what they have laid up they carry away over the Brook of the Willows.


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For a cry has gone round the land of Moab; the wailing reaches to Egla'im, the wailing reaches to Beer-e'lim.


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For the waters of Dibon are full of blood; yet I will bring upon Dibon even more, a lion for those of Moab who escape, for the remnant of the land.


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They have sent lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.


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Like fluttering birds, like scattered nestlings, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.


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"Give counsel, grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; hide the outcasts, betray not the fugitive;


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let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a refuge to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples under foot has vanished from the land,


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then a throne will be established in steadfast love and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness."


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We have heard of the pride of Moab, how proud he was; of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence-- his boasts are false.


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Therefore let Moab wail, let every one wail for Moab. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin-cakes of Kir-har'eseth.


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For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches, which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert; its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea.


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Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Ele-a'leh; for upon your fruit and your harvest the battle shout has fallen.


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And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field; and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no shouts are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; the vintage shout is hushed.


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And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.


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But now the LORD says, "In three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who survive will be very few and feeble."


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An oracle concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city, and will become a heap of ruins.


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Her cities will be deserted for ever; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.


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The fortress will disappear from E'phraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, says the LORD of hosts.


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And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Reph'aim.


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Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten-- two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, says the LORD God of Israel.


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they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the Ashe'rim or the altars of incense.


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In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.


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For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and set out slips of an alien god,


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though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow; yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.


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Ah, the thunder of many peoples, they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations, they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!


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The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.


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At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who plunder us.


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which sends ambassadors by the Nile, in vessels of papyrus upon the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation, tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide.


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All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear!


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For thus the LORD said to me: "I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."


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For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he will hew away.


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They shall all of them be left to the birds of prey of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth. And the birds of prey will summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon them.


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At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of hosts.


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An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.


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And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, every man against his brother and every man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;


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and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their plans; and they will consult the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the wizards;


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and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master; and a fierce king will rule over them, says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.


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and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.


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There will be bare places by the Nile, on the brink of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up, be driven away, and be no more.


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The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets upon the water.


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The princes of Zo'an are utterly foolish; the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings"?


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Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you and make known what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.


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The princes of Zo'an have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.


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The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion; and they have made Egypt stagger in all her doings as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.


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In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand which the LORD of hosts shakes over them.


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And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; every one to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose which the LORD of hosts has purposed against them.


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In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.


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In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border.


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It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the LORD because of oppressors he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver them.


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And the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them.


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And the LORD will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will heed their supplications and heal them.


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In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.


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whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage."


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In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and took it,--


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at that time the LORD had spoken by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take off your shoes from your feet," and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot--


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the LORD said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,


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so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians captives and the Ethiopians exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.


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And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, `Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?'"


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The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.


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A stern vision is told to me; the plunderer plunders, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam, lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.


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Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in travail; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear, I am dismayed so that I cannot see.


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My mind reels, horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.


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They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes, oil the shield!


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When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on asses, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently."


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Then he who saw cried: "Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.


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And, behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!" And he answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of her gods he has shattered to the ground."


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O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.


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The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Se'ir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?"


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The watchman says: "Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again."


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For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.


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For thus the Lord said to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end;


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and the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken."


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The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops,


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you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.


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All your rulers have fled together, without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.


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Therefore I said: "Look away from me, let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people."


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For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.


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He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest,


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and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many, and you collected the waters of the lower pool,


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You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.


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In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called to weeping and mourning, to baldness and girding with sackcloth;


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and behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."


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The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: "Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you till you die," says the Lord GOD of hosts.


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Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him:


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What have you to do here and whom have you here, that you have hewn here a tomb for yourself, you who hew a tomb on the height, and carve a habitation for yourself in the rock?


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and whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there shall be your splendid chariots, you shame of your master's house.


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and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.


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And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.


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And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.


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And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.


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In that day, says the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken."


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The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or haven! From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.


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and were on many waters; your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.


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Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: "I have neither travailed nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up virgins."


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Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?


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The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth.


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He has stretched out his hand over the sea, he has shaken the kingdoms; the LORD has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.


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And he said: "You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, pass over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest."


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Behold the land of the Chalde'ans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild beasts. They erected their siegetowers, they razed her palaces, they made her a ruin.


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In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:


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"Take a harp, go about the city, O forgotten harlot! Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered."


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At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her hire, and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.


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Her merchandise and her hire will be dedicated to the LORD; it will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD.


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Behold, the LORD will lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.


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And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.


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The earth mourns and withers, the world languishes and withers; the heavens languish together with the earth.


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The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.


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Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.


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The mirth of the timbrels is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled.


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There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has reached its eventide; the gladness of the earth is banished.


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For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the vintage is done.


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They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west.


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Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.


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From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, "I pine away, I pine away. Woe is me! For the treacherous deal treacherously, the treacherous deal very treacherously."


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He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit; and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.


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The earth staggers like a drunken man, it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.


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On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.


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They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.


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Then the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his elders he will manifest his glory.


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O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.


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For thou hast made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt.


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For thou hast been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the blast of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,


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like heat in a dry place. Thou dost subdue the noise of the aliens; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.


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On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined.


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And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.


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He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken.


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It will be said on that day, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."


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For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.


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And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim; but the LORD will lay low his pride together with the skill of his hands.


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And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, even to the dust.


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In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.


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For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust.


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In the path of thy judgments, O LORD, we wait for thee; thy memorial name is the desire of our soul.


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My soul yearns for thee in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks thee. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.


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If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals perversely and does not see the majesty of the LORD.


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O LORD, thy hand is lifted up, but they see it not. Let them see thy zeal for thy people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for thy adversaries consume them.


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They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end thou hast visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.


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But thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation; thou art glorified; thou hast enlarged all the borders of the land.


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Like a woman with child, who writhes and cries out in her pangs, when she is near her time, so were we because of thee, O LORD;


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we were with child, we writhed, we have as it were brought forth wind. We have wrought no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.


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Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For thy dew is a dew of light, and on the land of the shades thou wilt let it fall.


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Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the wrath is past.


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For behold, the LORD is coming forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed upon her, and will no more cover her slain.


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In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.


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I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest any one harm it, I guard it night and day;


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I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would set out against them, I would burn them up together.


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In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots, and fill the whole world with fruit.


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Has he smitten them as he smote those who smote them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?


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Measure by measure, by exile thou didst contend with them; he removed them with his fierce blast in the day of the east wind.


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Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Ashe'rim or incense altars will remain standing.


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For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes, there he lies down, and strips its branches.


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When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, he that formed them will show them no favor.


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In that day from the river Euphra'tes to the Brook of Egypt the LORD will thresh out the grain, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel.


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And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.


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Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of E'phraim, and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!


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Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he will cast down to the earth with violence.


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and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when a man sees it, he eats it up as soon as it is in his hand.


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In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people;


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and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.


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These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are confused with wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.


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"Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?


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For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."


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to whom he has said, "This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose"; yet they would not hear.


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Therefore the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.


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Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement; when the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter";


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therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: `He who believes will not be in haste.'


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And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter."


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Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through you will be beaten down by it.


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As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.


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For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in it.


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For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Pera'zim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; to do his deed-- strange is his deed! and to work his work-- alien is his work!


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Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord GOD of hosts upon the whole land.


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When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cummin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and spelt as the border?


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Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cummin; but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cummin with a rod.


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Does one crush bread grain? No, he does not thresh it for ever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it.


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Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.


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And I will encamp against you round about, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you.


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Then deep from the earth you shall speak, from low in the dust your words shall come; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.


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But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,


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you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.


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And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.


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As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.


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Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor, blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!


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For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.


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And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."


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And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote;


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therefore, behold, I will again do marvelous things with this people, wonderful and marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hid."


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Woe to those who hide deep from the LORD their counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"


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You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay; that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?


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Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?


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In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.


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The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.


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For the ruthless shall come to nought and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,


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who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.


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Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.


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For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.


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And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."


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"Woe to the rebellious children," says the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not mine; and who make a league, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin;


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who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my counsel, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!


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Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.


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every one comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace."


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An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and the flying serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of asses, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.


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And now, go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness for ever.


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who say to the seers, "See not"; and to the prophets, "Prophesy not to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,


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Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them;


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therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a break in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant;


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and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel which is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a sherd is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern."


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For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." And you would not,


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but you said, "No! We will speed upon horses," therefore you shall speed away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds," therefore your pursuers shall be swift.


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A thousand shall flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.


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Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you; therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.


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Yea, O people in Zion who dwell at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.


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And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.


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And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.


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Then you will defile your silver-covered graven images and your gold-plated molten images. You will scatter them as unclean things; you will say to them, "Begone!"


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And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your cattle will graze in large pastures;


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and the oxen and the asses that till the ground will eat salted provender, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.


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And upon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.


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Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.


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Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;


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his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.


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You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.


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And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones.


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And every stroke of the staff of punishment which the LORD lays upon them will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres; battling with brandished arm he will fight with them.


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For a burning place has long been prepared; yea, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.


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Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!


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And yet he is wise and brings disaster, he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.


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The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.


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For thus the LORD said to me, As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called forth against him is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.


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Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it, he will spare and rescue it.


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For in that day every one shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.


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"And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor.


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His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic," says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.


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Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.


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The mind of the rash will have good judgment, and the tongue of the stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.


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For the fool speaks folly, and his mind plots iniquity: to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink.


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The knaveries of the knave are evil; he devises wicked devices to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right.


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In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the vintage will fail, the fruit harvest will not come.


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Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.


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for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers; yea, for all the joyous houses in the joyful city.


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For the palace will be forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;


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until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.


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And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever.


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Woe to you, destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed; you treacherous one, with whom none has dealt treacherously! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of dealing treacherously, you will be dealt with treacherously.


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O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for thee. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.


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and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is his treasure.


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The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases. Covenants are broken, witnesses are despised, there is no regard for man.


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The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.


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The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: "Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?"


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He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil,


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he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him, his water will be sure.


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Your mind will muse on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?"


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You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech which you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue which you cannot understand.


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Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.


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But there the LORD in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor stately ship can pass.


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Your tackle hangs loose; it cannot hold the mast firm in its place, or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will take the prey.


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And no inhabitant will say, "I am sick"; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.


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Draw near, O nations, to hear, and hearken, O peoples! Let the earth listen, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it.


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For the LORD is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host, he has doomed them, has given them over for slaughter.


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Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood.


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All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.


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For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have doomed.


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The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood, it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.


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Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their soil made rich with fat.


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And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into brimstone; her land shall become burning pitch.


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Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up for ever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.


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But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plummet of chaos over its nobles.


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Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.


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And wild beasts shall meet with hyenas, the satyr shall cry to his fellow; yea, there shall the night hag alight, and find for herself a resting place.


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There shall the owl nest and lay and hatch and gather her young in her shadow; yea, there shall the kites be gathered, each one with her mate.


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Seek and read from the book of the LORD: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the LORD has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.


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He has cast the lot for them, his hand has portioned it out to them with the line; they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.


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The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus


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it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.


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Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you."


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then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;


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the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.


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And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not err therein.


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No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.


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And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


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In the fourteenth year of King Hezeki'ah, Sennach'erib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.


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And the king of Assyria sent the Rab'shakeh from Lachish to King Hezeki'ah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field.


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And there came out to him Eli'akim the son of Hilki'ah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Jo'ah the son of Asaph, the recorder.


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Behold, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.


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But if you say to me, "We rely on the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezeki'ah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar"?


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Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.'"


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Then Eli'akim, Shebna, and Jo'ah said to the Rab'shakeh, "Pray, speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall."


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But the Rab'shakeh said, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?"


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Then the Rab'shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!


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Do not let Hezeki'ah make you rely on the LORD by saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."


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Do not listen to Hezeki'ah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water of his own cistern;


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until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.


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Beware lest Hezeki'ah mislead you by saying, "The LORD will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?


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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharva'im? Have they delivered Sama'ria out of my hand?


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Who among all the gods of these countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"


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And he sent Eli'akim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, clothed with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.


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They said to him, "Thus says Hezeki'ah, `This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.


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It may be that the LORD your God heard the words of the Rab'shakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"


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Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.'"


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The Rab'shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.


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Now the king heard concerning Tirha'kah king of Ethiopia, "He has set out to fight against you." And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezeki'ah, saying,


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"O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.


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Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennach'erib, which he has sent to mock the living God.


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So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou alone art the LORD."


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Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezeki'ah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennach'erib king of Assyria,


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this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: `She despises you, she scorns you-- the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you-- the daughter of Jerusalem.


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`Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!


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By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon; I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I came to its remotest height, its densest forest.


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`Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins,


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while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown.


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Because you have raged against me and your arrogance has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.'


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"And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same; then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.


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for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.


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"Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it.


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And the angel of the LORD went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.


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And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adram'melech and Share'zer, his sons, slew him with the sword, and escaped into the land of Ar'arat. And E'sar-had'don his son reigned in his stead.


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In those days Hezeki'ah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover."


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and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in thy sight." And Hezeki'ah wept bitterly.


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"Go and say to Hezeki'ah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.


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Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps." So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.


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I said, In the noontide of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.


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I said, I shall not see the LORD in the land of the living; I shall look upon man no more among the inhabitants of the world.


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My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night thou dost bring me to an end;


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I cry for help until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night thou dost bring me to an end.


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Like a swallow or a crane I clamor, I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be thou my security!


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But what can I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. All my sleep has fled because of the bitterness of my soul.


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O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh, restore me to health and make me live!


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Lo, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but thou hast held back my life from the pit of destruction, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.


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For Sheol cannot thank thee, death cannot praise thee; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for thy faithfulness.


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The living, the living, he thanks thee, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children thy faithfulness.


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The LORD will save me, and we will sing to stringed instruments all the days of our life, at the house of the LORD.


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At that time Mer'odach-bal'adan the son of Bal'adan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezeki'ah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.


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And Hezeki'ah welcomed them; and he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezeki'ah did not show them.


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Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezeki'ah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And whence did they come to you?" Hezeki'ah said, "They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon."


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He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezeki'ah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."


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Then said Hezeki'ah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."


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Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.


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A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.


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Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.


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And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."


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A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.


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The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people is grass.


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Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"


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Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.


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He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.


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Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?


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Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?


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Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust.


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All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.


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The idol! a workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.


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He who is impoverished chooses for an offering wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skilful craftsman to set up an image that will not move.


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Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?


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It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;


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Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.


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Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.


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Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hid from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?


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Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable.


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but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.


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Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment.


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Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings under foot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow.


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Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He.


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The coastlands have seen and are afraid, the ends of the earth tremble; they have drawn near and come.


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The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good"; and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.


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you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off";


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fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.


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Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.


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You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.


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For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I will help you."


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Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I will help you, says the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.


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Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff;


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You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the LORD; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.


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When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.


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I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.


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I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together;


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that men may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.


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Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come.


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Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified.


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I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call on my name; he shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay.


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Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, and beforetime, that we might say, "He is right"? There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words.


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But when I look there is no one; among these there is no counselor who, when I ask, gives an answer.


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Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations.


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a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.


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He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.


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Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:


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"I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,


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to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.


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Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."


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Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth! Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.


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Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.


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The LORD goes forth like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his fury; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.


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For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in travail, I will gasp and pant.


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I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbage; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.


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And I will lead the blind in a way that they know not, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.


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They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in graven images, who say to molten images, "You are our gods."


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Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD?


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But this is a people robbed and plundered, they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become a prey with none to rescue, a spoil with none to say, "Restore!"


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Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?


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So he poured upon him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire round about, but he did not understand; it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.


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But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.


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When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.


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For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.


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Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.


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Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you;


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I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth,


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Let all the nations gather together, and let the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to justify them, and let them hear and say, It is true.


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"You are my witnesses," says the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.


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I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," says the LORD.


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"I am God, and also henceforth I am He; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work and who can hinder it?"


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Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon and break down all the bars, and the shouting of the Chalde'ans will be turned to lamentations.


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who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:


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Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.


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The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,


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You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.


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You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.


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Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary, I delivered Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.


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Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshu'run whom I have chosen.


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For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.


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This one will say, `I am the LORD's,' another will call himself by the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, `The LORD's,' and surname himself by the name of Israel."


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Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.


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Who is like me? Let him proclaim it, let him declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be.


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Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any."


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All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.


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Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are but men; let them all assemble, let them stand forth, they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together.


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The ironsmith fashions it and works it over the coals; he shapes it with hammers, and forges it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint.


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The carpenter stretches a line, he marks it out with a pencil; he fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.


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He cuts down cedars; or he chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.


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Then it becomes fuel for a man; he takes a part of it and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread; also he makes a god and worships it, he makes it a graven image and falls down before it.


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Half of it he burns in the fire; over the half he eats flesh, he roasts meat and is satisfied; also he warms himself and says, "Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!"


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And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol; and falls down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for thou art my god!"


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They know not, nor do they discern; for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their minds, so that they cannot understand.


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No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half of it I burned in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted flesh and have eaten; and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?"


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He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"


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Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you, you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.


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I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.


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Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.


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Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth-- Who was with me?--


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who frustrates the omens of liars, and makes fools of diviners; who turns wise men back, and makes their knowledge foolish;


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who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, `She shall be inhabited,' and of the cities of Judah, `They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins';


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who says of Cyrus, `He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfil all my purpose'; saying of Jerusalem, `She shall be built,' and of the temple, `Your foundation shall be laid.'"


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Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:


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"I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut asunder the bars of iron,


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I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.


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For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.


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I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me,


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that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.


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I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the LORD, who do all these things.


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"Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I the LORD have created it.


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"Woe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it, `What are you making'? or `Your work has no handles'?


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Woe to him who says to a father, `What are you begetting?' or to a woman, `With what are you in travail?'"


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Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands?


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I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.


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I have aroused him in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward," says the LORD of hosts.


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Thus says the LORD: "The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabe'ans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours, they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will make supplication to you, saying: `God is with you only, and there is no other, no god besides him.'"


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But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.


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For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other.


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I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, `Seek me in chaos.' I the LORD speak the truth, I declare what is right.


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"Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.


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Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.


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By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: `To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.'


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"Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed, all who were incensed against him.


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Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are on beasts and cattle; these things you carry are loaded as burdens on weary beasts.


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"Hearken to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb;


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even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.


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Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship!


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They lift it upon their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.


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remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,


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declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, `My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'


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calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.


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I bring near my deliverance, it is not far off, and my salvation will not tarry; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory."


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Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chalde'ans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate.


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Take the millstones and grind meal, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.


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Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no man.


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Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chalde'ans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.


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I was angry with my people, I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand, you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.


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You said, "I shall be mistress for ever," so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.


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Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children":


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These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.


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You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me."


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But evil shall come upon you, for which you cannot atone; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able to expiate; and ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing.


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Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed, perhaps you may inspire terror.


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You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons predict what shall befall you.


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Behold, they are like stubble, the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before!


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Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have trafficked with you from your youth; they wander about each in his own direction; there is no one to save you.


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Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the loins of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD, and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right.


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For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name.


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"The former things I declared of old, they went forth from my mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them and they came to pass.


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I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, `My idol did them, my graven image and my molten image commanded them.'


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"You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I make you hear new things, hidden things which you have not known.


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They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, `Behold, I knew them.'


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You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and that from birth you were called a rebel.


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"For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.


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For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.


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My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.


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"Assemble, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chalde'ans.


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Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit.


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Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.


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O that you had hearkened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;


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your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me."


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Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chalde'a, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!"


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They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he cleft the rock and the water gushed out.


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Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.


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He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away.


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But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God."


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And now the LORD says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength--


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he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."


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Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."


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Thus says the LORD: "In a time of favor I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages;


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saying to the prisoners, `Come forth,' to those who are in darkness, `Appear.' They shall feed along the ways, on all bare heights shall be their pasture;


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they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.


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Lo, these shall come from afar, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene."


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Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.


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"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.


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Lift up your eyes round about and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall put them all on as an ornament, you shall bind them on as a bride does.


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"Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land-- surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.


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The children born in the time of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: `The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in.'


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Then you will say in your heart: `Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; whence then have these come?'"


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Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.


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Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame."


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Surely, thus says the LORD: "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.


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I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the LORD your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."


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Thus says the LORD: "Where is your mother's bill of divorce, with which I put her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was put away.


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Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water, and die of thirst.


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The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary. Morning by morning he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.


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I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.


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For the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;


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he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.


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Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.


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Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the LORD and relies upon his God?


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Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who set brands alight! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the brands which you have kindled! This shall you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.


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"Hearken to me, you who pursue deliverance, you who seek the LORD; look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were digged.


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Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him and made him many.


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For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.


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"Listen to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go forth from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples.


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My deliverance draws near speedily, my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope.


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Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be for ever, and my deliverance will never be ended.


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"Hearken to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of men, and be not dismayed at their revilings.


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For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my deliverance will be for ever, and my salvation to all generations."


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Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the dragon?


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Was it not thou that didst dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that didst make the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?


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"I, I am he that comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,


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and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?


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He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the Pit, neither shall his bread fail.


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For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name.


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And I have put my words in your mouth, and hid you in the shadow of my hand, stretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, `You are my people.'"


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Rouse yourself, rouse yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl of staggering.


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There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; there is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up.


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These two things have befallen you-- who will condole with you?-- devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you?


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Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.


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Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: "Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;


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and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, `Bow down, that we may pass over'; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over."


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Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.


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Shake yourself from the dust, arise, O captive Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.


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For thus says the Lord GOD: My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.


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Now therefore what have I here, says the LORD, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail, says the LORD, and continually all the day my name is despised.


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Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I."


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How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."


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Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.


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Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.


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The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.


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Depart, depart, go out thence, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the LORD.


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For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.


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As many were astonished at him-- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men--


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so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand.


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For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.


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He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.


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Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.


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But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.


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All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


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He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.


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By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?


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And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.


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Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;


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he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.


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Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


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"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in travail! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.


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Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; hold not back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.


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For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.


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"Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.


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For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.


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For the LORD has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.


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In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the LORD, your Redeemer.


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"For this is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you.


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For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you.


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"O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.


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I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.


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In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.


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If any one stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you.


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Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy;


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no weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, says the LORD."


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"Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.


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Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness.


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Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.


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Behold, you shall call nations that you know not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.


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let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.


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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.


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"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,


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so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.


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"For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.


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Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off."


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Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.


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Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."


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Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree."


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For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,


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I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off.


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"And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, every one who keeps the sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant--


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these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.


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Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered."


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His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.


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The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. The shepherds also have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.


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"Come," they say, "let us get wine, let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure."


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The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity,


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Of whom are you making sport? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and put out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit,


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you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree; who slay your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?


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Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they, are your lot; to them you have poured out a drink offering, you have brought a cereal offering. Shall I be appeased for these things?


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Behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your symbol; for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed, you have gone up to it, you have made it wide; and you have made a bargain for yourself with them, you have loved their bed, you have looked on nakedness.


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You journeyed to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far off, and sent down even to Sheol.


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You were wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say, "It is hopeless"; you found new life for your strength, and so you were not faint.


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Whom did you dread and fear, so that you lied, and did not remember me, did not give me a thought? Have I not held my peace, even for a long time, and so you do not fear me?


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When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them off, a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.


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And it shall be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people's way."


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For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.


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For I will not contend for ever, nor will I always be angry; for from me proceeds the spirit, and I have made the breath of life.


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Because of the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, I smote him, I hid my face and was angry; but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.


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I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and requite him with comfort, creating for his mourners the fruit of the lips.


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"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.


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Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.


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`Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.


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Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.


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Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?


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"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?


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Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?


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Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.


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Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. "If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,


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if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.


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And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.


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And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.


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"If you turn back your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;


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then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."


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Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;


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but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you so that he does not hear.


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For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness.


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No one enters suit justly, no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.


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They hatch adders' eggs, they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one which is crushed a viper is hatched.


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Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.


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Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their highways.


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The way of peace they know not, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked, no one who goes in them knows peace.


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Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we look for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.


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We grope for the wall like the blind, we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.


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We all growl like bears, we moan and moan like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.


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For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:


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transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.


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Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth has fallen in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.


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Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.


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He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intervene; then his own arm brought him victory, and his righteousness upheld him.


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He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle.


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According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render requital.


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So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives.


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"And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.


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"And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: my spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your children, or out of the mouth of your children's children, says the LORD, from this time forth and for evermore."


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For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.


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Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.


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Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.


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A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Mid'ian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.


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All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you, the rams of Nebai'oth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify my glorious house.


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For the coastlands shall wait for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.


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Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I smote you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.


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Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession.


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For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.


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The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.


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The sons of those who oppressed you shall come bending low to you; and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


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Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic for ever, a joy from age to age.


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You shall suck the milk of nations, you shall suck the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.


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Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.


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Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.


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The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.


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Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.


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Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land for ever, the shoot of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.


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The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it.


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The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;


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to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;


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to grant to those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.


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They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.


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but you shall be called the priests of the LORD, men shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you shall glory.


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Instead of your shame you shall have a double portion, instead of dishonor you shall rejoice in your lot; therefore in your land you shall possess a double portion; yours shall be everlasting joy.


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For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.


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Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.


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I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.


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For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.


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For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her vindication goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.


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The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the LORD will give.


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You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My delight is in her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.


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For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.


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Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest,


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The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: "I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored;


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but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary."


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Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up an ensign over the peoples.


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Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him."


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And they shall be called The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought out, a city not forsaken.


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Who is this that comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he that is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save."


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"I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment.


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I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me victory, and my wrath upheld me.


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I trod down the peoples in my anger, I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."


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I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel which he has granted them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.


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In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.


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But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.


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Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is he who brought up out of the sea the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his holy Spirit,


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who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name,


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Like cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So thou didst lead thy people, to make for thyself a glorious name.


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Look down from heaven and see, from thy holy and glorious habitation. Where are thy zeal and thy might? The yearning of thy heart and thy compassion are withheld from me.


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For thou art our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; thou, O LORD, art our Father, our Redeemer from of old is thy name.


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O LORD, why dost thou make us err from thy ways and harden our heart, so that we fear thee not? Return for the sake of thy servants, the tribes of thy heritage.


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We have become like those over whom thou hast never ruled, like those who are not called by thy name.


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O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence--


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as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make thy name known to thy adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at thy presence!


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When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence.


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From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.


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Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways. Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?


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We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.


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There is no one that calls upon thy name, that bestirs himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.


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Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou art our potter; we are all the work of thy hand.


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Be not exceedingly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity for ever. Behold, consider, we are all thy people.


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Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.


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I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here am I, here am I," to a nation that did not call on my name.


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I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;


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a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks;


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who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;


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who say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am set apart from you." These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.


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Behold, it is written before me: "I will not keep silent, but I will repay, yea, I will repay into their bosom


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their iniquities and their fathers' iniquities together, says the LORD; because they burned incense upon the mountains and reviled me upon the hills, I will measure into their bosom payment for their former doings."


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Thus says the LORD: "As the wine is found in the cluster, and they say, `Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,' so I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all.


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I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.


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Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.


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But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;


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I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter; because, when I called, you did not answer, when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes, and chose what I did not delight in."


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;


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behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit.


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You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord GOD will slay you; but his servants he will call by a different name.


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So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hid from my eyes.


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"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.


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But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.


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I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.


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No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.


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They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.


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They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their children with them.


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The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the LORD."


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Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?


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All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD. But this is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.


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"He who slaughters an ox is like him who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like him who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a cereal offering, like him who offers swine's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like him who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations;


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I also will choose affliction for them, and bring their fears upon them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight."


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Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: "Your brethren who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake have said, `Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy'; but it is they who shall be put to shame.


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"Hark, an uproar from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD, rendering recompense to his enemies!


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Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her sons.


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Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD; shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb? says your God.


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"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her;


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that you may suck and be satisfied with her consoling breasts; that you may drink deeply with delight from the abundance of her glory."


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For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip, and dandled upon her knees.


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You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and it shall be known that the hand of the LORD is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies.


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"For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the stormwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.


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For by fire will the LORD execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many.


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"Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, says the LORD.


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"For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory,


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and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.


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And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.


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"For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the LORD; so shall your descendants and your name remain.


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From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.


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"And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."


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The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilki'ah, of the priests who were in An'athoth in the land of Benjamin,


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to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josi'ah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.


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It came also in the days of Jehoi'akim the son of Josi'ah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedeki'ah, the son of Josi'ah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.


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"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."


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But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, `I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak.


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Then the LORD put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.


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See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."


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And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see a rod of almond."


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The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north."


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Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.


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For, lo, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah.


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And I will utter my judgments against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.


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But you, gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.


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And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.


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They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you."


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"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.


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Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; evil came upon them, says the LORD."


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Thus says the LORD: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?


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They did not say, `Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?'


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And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.


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The priests did not say, `Where is the LORD?' Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Ba'al, and went after things that do not profit.


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"Therefore I still contend with you, says the LORD, and with your children's children I will contend.


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For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing.


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Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.


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for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.


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The lions have roared against him, they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.


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And now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphra'tes?


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Your wickedness will chasten you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.


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"For long ago you broke your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, `I will not serve.' Yea, upon every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down as a harlot.


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Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?


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Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord GOD.


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How can you say, `I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba'als'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done--a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,


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a wild ass used to the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind! Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her.


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Keep your feet from going unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, `It is hopeless, for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.'


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"As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed: they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,


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who say to a tree, `You are my father,' and to a stone, `You gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, `Arise and save us!'


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But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah.


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In vain have I smitten your children, they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.


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And you, O generation, heed the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, `We are free, we will come no more to thee'?


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Can a maiden forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.


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"How well you direct your course to seek lovers! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways.


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Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things


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you say, `I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.' Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, `I have not sinned.'


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How lightly you gad about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.


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From it too you will come away with your hands upon your head, for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them.


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"If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the harlot with many lovers; and would you return to me? says the LORD.


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Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile harlotry.


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Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have a harlot's brow, you refuse to be ashamed.


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will he be angry for ever, will he be indignant to the end?' Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."


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The LORD said to me in the days of King Josi'ah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot?


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And I thought, `After she has done all this she will return to me'; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it.


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She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the harlot.


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Because harlotry was so light to her, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.


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Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says the LORD."


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Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, `Return, faithless Israel, says the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, says the LORD; I will not be angry for ever.


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Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.


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Return, O faithless children, says the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.


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"`And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.


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And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; it shall not be made again.


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At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.


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In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.


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"`I thought how I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beauteous of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.


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Surely, as a faithless wife leaves her husband, so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.'"


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A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.


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"Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to thee; for thou art the LORD our God.


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Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.


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"But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.


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Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."


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"If you return, O Israel, says the LORD, to me you should return. If you remove your abominations from my presence, and do not waver,


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and if you swear, `As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."


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For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.


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Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your doings."


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Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, `Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!'


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Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring evil from the north, and great destruction.


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A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.


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For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us."


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"In that day, says the LORD, courage shall fail both king and princes; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded."


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Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, surely thou hast utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, `It shall be well with you'; whereas the sword has reached their very life."


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At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse,


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Behold, he comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles-- woe to us, for we are ruined!


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O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?


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Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, "Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah.


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Like keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she has rebelled against me, says the LORD.


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Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart."


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My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.


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Disaster follows hard on disaster, the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment.


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"For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but how to do good they know not."


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I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.


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For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back."


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At the noise of horseman and archer every city takes to flight; they enter thickets; they climb among rocks; all the cities are forsaken, and no man dwells in them.


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And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.


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For I heard a cry as of a woman in travail, anguish as of one bringing forth her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, "Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers."


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Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth; that I may pardon her.


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O LORD, do not thy eyes look for truth? Thou hast smitten them, but they felt no anguish; thou hast consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.


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Then I said, "These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the law of their God.


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I will go to the great, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, the law of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.


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Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities, every one who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.


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"How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of harlots.


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Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?


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"Go up through her vine-rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD's.


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They have spoken falsely of the LORD, and have said, `He will do nothing; no evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.


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Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: "Because they have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.


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Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the LORD. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.


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They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall destroy with the sword."


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And when your people say, `Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, `As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'"


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"Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.


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Do you not fear me? says the LORD; Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the bound for the sea, a perpetual barrier which it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it.


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They do not say in their hearts, `Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'


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For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.


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Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich,


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they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.


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Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?"


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the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?


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Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Teko'a, and raise a signal on Beth-hacche'rem; for evil looms out of the north, and great destruction.


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Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her, they shall pasture, each in his place.


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"Prepare war against her; up, and let us attack at noon!" "Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen!"


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For thus says the LORD of hosts: "Hew down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city which must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.


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As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me.


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Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land."


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Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape-gatherer pass your hand again over its branches."


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To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn, they take no pleasure in it.


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Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. "Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the old folk and the very aged.


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Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD.


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"For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely.


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Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown," says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, `We will not walk in it.'


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I set watchmen over you, saying, `Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, `We will not give heed.'


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Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not given heed to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.


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To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.


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Therefore thus says the LORD: `Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.'"


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Thus says the LORD: "Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.


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They lay hold on bow and spear, they are cruel and have no mercy, the sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride upon horses, set in array as a man for battle, against you, O daughter of Zion!"


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We have heard the report of it, our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in travail.


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Go not forth into the field, nor walk on the road; for the enemy has a sword, terror is on every side.


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O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.


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They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron, all of them act corruptly.


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The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed.


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"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place.


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Do not trust in these deceptive words: `This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'


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if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt,


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Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Ba'al, and go after other gods that you have not known,


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and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, `We are delivered!'--only to go on doing all these abominations?


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Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, says the LORD.


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Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.


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And now, because you have done all these things, says the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,


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therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.


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"As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you.


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The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched."


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.


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For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.


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But this command I gave them, `Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'


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But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.


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From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day;


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yet they did not listen to me, or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.


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"So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.


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And you shall say to them, `This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.


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Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'


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"For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD; they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.


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And they have built the high place of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.


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And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them away.


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And I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.


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"At that time, says the LORD, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs;


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and they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped; and they shall not be gathered or buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.


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Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts.


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"You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?


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Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return.


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I have given heed and listened, but they have not spoken aright; no man repents of his wickedness, saying, `What have I done?' Every one turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.


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Even the stork in the heavens knows her times; and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming; but my people know not the ordinance of the LORD.


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"How can you say, `We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.


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The wise men shall be put to shame, they shall be dismayed and taken; lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD, and what wisdom is in them?


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Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest every one is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest every one deals falsely.


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Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the LORD.


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When I would gather them, says the LORD, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them."


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Why do we sit still? Gather together, let us go into the fortified cities and perish there; for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish, and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.


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"The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it.


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For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you," says the LORD.


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Hark, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: "Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" "Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with their foreign idols?"


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For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.


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Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?


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O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!


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O that I had in the desert a wayfarers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.


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They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the LORD.


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Let every one beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother; for every brother is a supplanter, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.


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Every one deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people?


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Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peaceably to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.


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"Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.


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I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."


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Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?


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And the LORD says: "Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accord with it,


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but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Ba'als, as their fathers taught them.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them poisonous water to drink.


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I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them."


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Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skilful women to come;


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let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush with water.


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For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: `How we are ruined! We are utterly shamed, because we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.'"


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Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge.


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For death has come up into our windows, it has entered our palaces, cutting off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.


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Speak, "Thus says the LORD: `The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves after the reaper, and none shall gather them.'"


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Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches;


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but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the LORD."


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"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised but yet uncircumcised--


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Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert that cut the corners of their hair; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."


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Thus says the LORD: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,


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for the customs of the peoples are false. A tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.


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Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good."


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Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations? For this is thy due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like thee.


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Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men.


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But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.


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Thus shall you say to them: "The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens."


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It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.


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When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.


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Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.


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Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.


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For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it."


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Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, "Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it."


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My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again, and to set up my curtains.


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For the shepherds are stupid, and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.


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Hark, a rumor! Behold, it comes!--a great commotion out of the north country to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.


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I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.


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Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the peoples that call not on thy name; for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.


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You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not heed the words of this covenant


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which I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,


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that I may perform the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day." Then I answered, "So be it, LORD."


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And the LORD said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them.


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For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.


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Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but every one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not."


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Again the LORD said to me, "There is revolt among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.


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Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am bringing evil upon them which they cannot escape; though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.


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Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble.


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For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to burn incense to Ba'al.


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"Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.


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What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done vile deeds? Can vows and sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?


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The LORD once called you, `A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit'; but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed.


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The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil which the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by burning incense to Ba'al."


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But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more."


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But, O LORD of hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance upon them, for to thee have I committed my cause.


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Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of An'athoth, who seek your life, and say, "Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand"--


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therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, I will punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;


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and none of them shall be left. For I will bring evil upon the men of An'athoth, the year of their punishment."


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Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I complain to thee; yet I would plead my case before thee. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?


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Thou plantest them, and they take root; they grow and bring forth fruit; thou art near in their mouth and far from their heart.


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But thou, O LORD, knowest me; thou seest me, and triest my mind toward thee. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.


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How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it the beasts and the birds are swept away, because men said, "He will not see our latter end."


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"If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you fall down, how will you do in the jungle of the Jordan?


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For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; they are in full cry after you; believe them not, though they speak fair words to you."


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"I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.


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My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest, she has lifted up her voice against me; therefore I hate her.


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Is my heritage to me like a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Go, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.


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Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my portion, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.


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They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to heart.


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Upon all the bare heights in the desert destroyers have come; for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other; no flesh has peace.


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They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns, they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the LORD."


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Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage which I have given my people Israel to inherit: "Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.


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And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land.


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And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, `As the LORD lives,' even as they taught my people to swear by Ba'al, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.


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Thus said the LORD to me, "Go and buy a linen waistcloth, and put it on your loins, and do not dip it in water."


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"Take the waistcloth which you have bought, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphra'tes, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock."


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And after many days the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphra'tes, and take from there the waistcloth which I commanded you to hide there."


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Then I went to the Euphra'tes, and dug, and I took the waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistcloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.


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This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this waistcloth, which is good for nothing.


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For as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.


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"You shall speak to them this word: `Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "Every jar shall be filled with wine."' And they will say to you, `Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?'


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Then you shall say to them, `Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, says the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.'"


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Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.


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But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.


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Say to the king and the queen mother: "Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head."


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The cities of the Negeb are shut up, with none to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.


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"Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?


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What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Will not pangs take hold of you, like those of a woman in travail?


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And if you say in your heart, `Why have these things come upon me?' it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up, and you suffer violence.


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Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.


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This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, says the LORD, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.


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I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your lewd harlotries, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?"


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"Judah mourns and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.


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Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns, they find no water, they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads.


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Because of the ground which is dismayed, since there is no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed, they cover their heads.


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The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no herbage.


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"Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for thy name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee.


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O thou hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why shouldst thou be like a stranger in the land, like a wayfarer who turns aside to tarry for a night?


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Why shouldst thou be like a man confused, like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not."


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Thus says the LORD concerning this people: "They have loved to wander thus, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins."


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Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence."


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Then I said: "Ah, Lord GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, `You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'"


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And the LORD said to me: "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.


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Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, `Sword and famine shall not come on this land': By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.


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And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them--them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.


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"You shall say to them this word: `Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is smitten with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.


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If I go out into the field, behold, those slain by the sword! And if I enter the city, behold, the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land, and have no knowledge.'"


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Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Does thy soul loathe Zion? Why hast thou smitten us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.


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We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against thee.


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Do not spurn us, for thy name's sake; do not dishonor thy glorious throne; remember and do not break thy covenant with us.


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Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Art thou not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on thee, for thou doest all these things.


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Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!


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And when they ask you, `Where shall we go?' you shall say to them, `Thus says the LORD: "Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity."'


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"I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the LORD: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.


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And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manas'seh the son of Hezeki'ah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.


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"Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will bemoan you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?


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You have rejected me, says the LORD, you keep going backward; so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you;--I am weary of relenting.


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I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them, I have destroyed my people; they did not turn from their ways.


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I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly.


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She who bore seven has languished; she has swooned away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD."


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Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.


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So let it be, O LORD, if I have not entreated thee for their good, if I have not pleaded with thee on behalf of the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress!


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"Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory.


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I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever."


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O LORD, thou knowest; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In thy forbearance take me not away; know that for thy sake I bear reproach.


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Thy words were found, and I ate them, and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called by thy name, O LORD, God of hosts.


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I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because thy hand was upon me, for thou hadst filled me with indignation.


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Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Wilt thou be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?


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Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.


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And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the LORD.


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For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who begot them in this land:


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They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.


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"For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament, or bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the LORD, my steadfast love and mercy.


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Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them.


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No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead; nor shall any one give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will make to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.


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"And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, `Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'


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then you shall say to them: `Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the LORD, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,


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and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me;


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therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.'


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"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, `As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'


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but `As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land which I gave to their fathers.


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"Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the LORD, and they shall catch them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.


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For my eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.


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And I will doubly recompense their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations."


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O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: "Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.


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"Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the LORD."


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"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars,


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while their children remember their altars and their Ashe'rim, beside every green tree, and on the high hills,


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on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your sin throughout all your territory.


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You shall loosen your hand from your heritage which I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever."


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Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the LORD.


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He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.


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He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."


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"I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."


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Like the partridge that gathers a brood which she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by right; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.


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O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake thee shall be put to shame; those who turn away from thee shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.


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I have not pressed thee to send evil, nor have I desired the day of disaster, thou knowest; that which came out of my lips was before thy face.


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Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed; bring upon them the day of evil; destroy them with double destruction!


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Thus said the LORD to me: "Go and stand in the Benjamin Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,


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and say: `Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.


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Thus says the LORD: Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.


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And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath or do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.


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Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.


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"`But if you listen to me, says the LORD, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but keep the sabbath day holy and do no work on it,


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then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited for ever.


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And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places round about Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephe'lah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, cereal offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.


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But if you do not listen to me, to keep the sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.'"


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And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.


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"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? says the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.


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If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,


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and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it.


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and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it.


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Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: `Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.'


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"But they say, `That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'


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"Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations, who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing.


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Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Si'rion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?


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But my people have forgotten me, they burn incense to false gods; they have stumbled in their ways, in the ancient roads, and have gone into bypaths, not the highway,


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making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at for ever. Every one who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.


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Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity."


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Then they said, "Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not heed any of his words."


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Is evil a recompense for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.


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Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword, let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be slain by the sword in battle.


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May a cry be heard from their houses, when thou bringest the marauder suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me, and laid snares for my feet.


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Yet, thou, O LORD, knowest all their plotting to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from thy sight. Let them be overthrown before thee; deal with them in the time of thine anger.


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Thus said the LORD, "Go, buy a potter's earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests,


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and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.


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You shall say, `Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon this place that the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle.


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Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by burning incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents,


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and have built the high places of Ba'al to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Ba'al, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind;


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therefore, behold, days are coming, says the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter.


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And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth.


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And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; every one who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.


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And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and every one shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.'


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and shall say to them, `Thus says the LORD of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury.


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The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah--all the houses upon whose roofs incense has been burned to all the host of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods--shall be defiled like the place of Topheth.'"


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Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the LORD's house, and said to all the people:


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"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words."


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Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.


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Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the LORD.


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On the morrow, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on every side.


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For thus says the LORD: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.


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Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them, and seize them, and carry them to Babylon.


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And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity; to Babylon you shall go; and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely."


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O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; thou art stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; every one mocks me.


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For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.


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If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.


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For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! "Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" say all my familiar friends, watching for my fall. "Perhaps he will be deceived, then we can overcome him, and take our revenge on him."


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But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.


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O LORD of hosts, who triest the righteous, who seest the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance upon them, for to thee have I committed my cause.


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Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.


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Let that man be like the cities which the LORD overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon,


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because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb for ever great.


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This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when King Zedeki'ah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchi'ah and Zephani'ah the priest, the son of Ma-asei'ah, saying,


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"Inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon is making war against us; perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds, and will make him withdraw from us."


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"Thus you shall say to Zedeki'ah, `Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chalde'ans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them together into the midst of this city.


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I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.


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And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence.


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Afterward, says the LORD, I will give Zedeki'ah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not pity them, or spare them, or have compassion.'


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"And to this people you shall say: `Thus says the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.


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He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chalde'ans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war.


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For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.'


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O house of David! Thus says the LORD: "`Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of your evil doings.'"


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"Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, says the LORD; you who say, `Who shall come down against us, or who shall enter our habitations?'


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I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the LORD; I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her."


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and say, `Hear the word of the LORD, O King of Judah, who sit on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.


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Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.


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For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people.


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But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.


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For thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: "`You are as Gilead to me, as the summit of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a desert, an uninhabited city.


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I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons; and they shall cut down your choicest cedars, and cast them into the fire.


