# verses

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twenty gold basins worth a thousand drachmas, and two vessels of fine polished bronze, precious as gold.


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And I said to them, You are holy unto Jehovah; the articles are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto Jehovah the God of your fathers.


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Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites and heads of the fathers of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah.


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So the priests and the Levites accepted the silver and the gold by weight and the articles, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.


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Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road.


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Now on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the articles were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui;


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The children of those who had been carried away captive, who had come from the captivity, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering unto Jehovah.


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And they delivered the king's orders to the king's satraps and the governors in the region beyond the River. So they gave support to the people and the house of God.


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When these things were done, the rulers came to me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, with respect to the abominations of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.


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For they have taken some of their daughters for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the rulers and officials has been foremost in this treachery.


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So when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down astonished.


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Then everyone who trembled at the Words of the God of Israel assembled to me, because of the treachery of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice.


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At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to Jehovah my God.


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And I said: O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the Heavens.


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Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to shame of faces, to this day.


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And now for a little while grace has been shown from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage.


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For we were slaves; yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to set up the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.


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which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land, with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness.


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Now therefore, do not give your daughters for their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons; nor seek after their peace or prosperity forever, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.


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And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have held back from the bending down in punishment of our iniquities, and have given us such deliverance as this,


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should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people of these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had finished us off, so that there would be no remnant or escapee?


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O Jehovah the God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as refugees, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this!


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Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and falling prostrate before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel; for the people wept with a great weeping.


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And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and are dwelling with foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.


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Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to bring out all these women and those who have been born to them, according to the counsel of the Lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the Law.


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Then Ezra arose, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear an oath that they would do according to this word. So they swore.


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Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity.


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And they issued a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the sons of the captivity, to assemble at Jerusalem,


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and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the rulers and elders, all his property would be destroyed, and he himself would be excluded from the assembly of those from the captivity.


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So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth of the month; and all the people sat in the open square of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain.


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Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have transgressed and have dwelt with foreign women, adding to the guilt of Israel.


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Now therefore, make confession to Jehovah the God of your fathers, and do His will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women.


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But there are many people; it is the season for heavy rain, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor is this the work of one or two days, for there are many of us who have transgressed in this matter.


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Please, let our rulers be appointed out of the whole assembly; and let all those in our cities who have dwelt with foreign women come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until the fierce wrath of our God in this matter is turned away from us.


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Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah stood against this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.


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And the sons of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest set apart some of the men, heads of fathers, according to the houses of their fathers, each of them by name; and they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.


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By the first day of the first month they finished investigating all the men who had dwelt with foreign women.


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And among the sons of the priests who had dwelt with foreign women, the following were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.


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And they gave their hands that they would put away their women; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their sin.


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And others of Israel: of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Jeziah, Malchiah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah;


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of the sons of Pahath-Moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh;


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The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,


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that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.


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And they said to me, The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.


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So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for days; and was fasting and praying before the God of Heaven.


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And I said, I beseech You, O Jehovah the God of Heaven, O great and awesome Mighty God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and keep Your commandments:


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Let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned.


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We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.


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Remember, I beseech You, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations;


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but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though you were cast out to the ends of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place where I have chosen to establish My name.


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Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.


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O Lord, I beseech You, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who delight to fear Your name; and give Your servant success this day, and grant him mercy before this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.


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And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.


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Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid,


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and said to the king, May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?


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And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it.


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Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), How long shall your journey be? And when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.


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Furthermore I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me to the governors of the region beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through till I come to Judah;


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and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple which pertains to the house, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy. And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.


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Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.


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When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite, heard of it, it made them shudder over the great evil, that a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.


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And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode.


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And I went out by night through the Valley Gate, to the Serpent Spring and the Refuse Gate, and examined the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and its gates which had been consumed with fire.


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Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass.


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So I went up in the night by the river, and examined the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.


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And the rulers did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the rulers, or the others who did the work.


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Then I said to them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.


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And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. Then they said, Let us rise up and build. So they encouraged their hands for this good work.


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But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the servant the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?


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So I answered them, and said to them, The God of Heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem.


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Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and set up its doors. As far as the Tower of Meah, they consecrated it; even as far as the Tower of Hananel.


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Also the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors with its bolts and bars.


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And next to them Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz, made repairs. Next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs. Next to them Zadok the son of Baana made repairs.


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Next to them the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles did not put their necks to the work of their Lord.


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Moreover Jehoiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, with its bolts and bars.


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And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, and the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, repaired, to the throne of the governor of the region beyond the River.


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Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Also next to him Hananiah, the son of one of the perfumers, made repairs; and they left Jerusalem safe as far as the Broad Wall.


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Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs in front of his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabniah made repairs.


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Malchijah the son of Harim and Hashub the son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section, as well as the Tower of the Ovens.


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And next to him was Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem; he and his daughters made repairs.


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Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They built it, set up its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the Refuse Gate.


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Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccerem, repaired the Refuse Gate; he built it and set up its doors with its bolts and bars.


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Shallun the son of Col-Hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he built it, covered it, set up its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the King's Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the City of David.


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After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth Zur, made repairs as far as the place in front of the Tombs of David, to the pool that was made, and as far as the House of the Mighty.


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After him the Levites, under Rehum the son of Bani, made repairs. Next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, made repairs in his district.


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After him their brethren, under Bavai the son of Henadad, ruler of the other half of the district of Keilah, made repairs.


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And next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section in front of the ascent to the armory at the buttress.


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After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other section, from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.


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After him Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz, repaired another section, from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib.


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After them Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs across from their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs by his house.


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After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the buttress, even as far as the corner.


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Palal the son of Uzai made repairs across from the buttress, and on the tower which projects out from the king's upper house that was by the court of the prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh made repairs.


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Moreover the temple slaves who dwelt in Ophel made repairs from in front of the Water Gate toward the east, and on the projecting tower.


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After them the Tekoites repaired another section, next to the great projecting tower, even as far as the wall of Ophel.


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After them Zadok the son of Immer made repairs in front of his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs.


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After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah made repairs in front of his room.


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After him Malchijah, a son of one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple slaves and of the merchants, in front of the Miphkad Gate, and as far as the upper room at the corner.


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And between the upper room at the corner, as far as the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.


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But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews.


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And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish; stones that are burned?


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Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.


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Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach upon their own heads, and give them as spoils to a land of captivity.


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Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.


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So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a heart to work.


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And it came to pass, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem had been restored up and the gaps had begun to be closed, that they were greatly infuriated,


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Then Judah said, The strength of the laborers is stumbling, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.


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And our adversaries said, They will neither know nor see anything, till we have come into their midst and killed them and put an end to the work.


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So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, From whatever place you return, they will be upon us.


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Therefore I stationed men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the bare places; and I stationed the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.


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And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.


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And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had broken their counsel, that all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.


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So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants did the work, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.


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Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they did the work, and with the other held a weapon.


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Every one who was building had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the shofar was beside me.


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Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.


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So we did the work, and half of the men held the spears from the rising of the dawn until the stars came out.


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At the same time I also said to the people, Let each man and his servant lodge inside Jerusalem, that they may be a guard to us by night and workers by day.


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So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone sent them away for washing.


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For there were those who said, We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.


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There were also some who said, We have mortgaged our fields and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.


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There were also those who said, We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and vineyards.


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Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our fields and vineyards.


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After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, Each of you is exacting usury from his brother. So I appointed a great assembly against them.


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And I said to them, According to our ability we have redeemed our brothers, the Jews who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brothers? Or should they be sold to us? Then they were silenced and found nothing to answer.


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Then I said, What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?


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I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Now let us leave off this usury!


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Restore now to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.


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So they said, We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say. Then I called the priests, and caused them to swear that they would do according to this word.


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I also shook out empty the bosom of my garment and said, So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not carry out this word. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen! and praised Jehovah. Then the people did according to this word.


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Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers have eaten the food of the governor.


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But the former governors who had been before me were heavy on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God.


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Indeed, I also prevailed in the work of this wall, and we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work.


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And at my table were one hundred and fifty Jews and rulers, besides those who came to us from the nations around us.


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Now that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine. Yet in all of this I did not demand the food of the governor, because the labor was heavy on this people.


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Now it came to pass when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),


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that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do evil to me.


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So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?


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In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; for which reason, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king.


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And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah! Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together.


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Then I sent to him, saying, No such things as you say are being done, but you contrive them out of your own heart.


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For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.


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Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was under restraints; and he said, Let us gather in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will come to kill you.


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And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!


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Then I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he had spoken this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.


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For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and do accordingly and sin, to make for a bad reputation, that they might reproach me.


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My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these works of theirs, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who were terrifying me.


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And it came to pass when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work had been done by our God.


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Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and those from Tobiah came to them.


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For many in Judah were pledged to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken in marriage the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.


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They also reported his good deeds before me, and were delivering my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.


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Now it came to pass when the wall was built and I had set up the doors, when the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed;


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that I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.


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And I said to them, Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut and bar the doors; and appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each one at his post, each across from his house.


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Then my God put it into my heart to gather the nobles, the rulers, and the people, that they might be registered by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of those who had come up in the first return, and found written in it:


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These are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his city.


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Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:


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The gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-eight.


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And these were the ones who came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not declare their father's house nor their seed, whether they were of Israel:


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and of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Koz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name.


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These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy, but it was not found; therefore they were considered desecrated, and excluded from the priesthood.


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besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred and forty-five singing men and singing women.


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And some of the heads of the fathers gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury one thousand gold drachmas, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priestly garments.


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Some of the heads of the fathers gave to the treasury of the work twenty thousand gold drachmas, and two thousand two hundred silver minas.


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And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand gold drachmas, two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly garments.


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So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple slaves, and all Israel dwelt in their cities. When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.


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Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they commanded Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which Jehovah had charged Israel.


text:
So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.


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And he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.


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So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose; and beside him, at his right hand, stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Urijah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah; and at his left hand Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.


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And Ezra opened the book in the eyes of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.


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And Ezra blessed Jehovah, the great God. Then all the people answered, Amen, Amen! while lifting up their hands. And they bowed down and prostrated themselves before Jehovah with their faces to the ground.


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Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law; and the people stood in their place.


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So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.


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And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, This day is holy to Jehovah your God; do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the Words of the Law.


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Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of Jehovah is your refuge.


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And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the Words that had been declared to them.


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Now on the second day the heads of the fathers of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to have insight into the Words of the Law.


text:
And they found written in the Law, which Jehovah had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month,


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and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain, and bring olive foliage, foliage of oil trees, myrtle foliage, palm foliage, and foliage of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.


text:
Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on their roofs, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim.


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So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness.


text:
Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the prescribed manner.


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Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and earth upon them.


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Then the seed of Israel separated themselves from the children of the foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.


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And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of Jehovah their God for a fourth part of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and prostrated themselves before Jehovah their God.


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Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to Jehovah their God.


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And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said: Stand up and bless Jehovah your God forever and ever! Blessed is Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise!


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You alone are Jehovah; You have made the heavens, the Heaven of the heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all alive. The host of the Heavens bow down before You.


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You are Jehovah God, who chose Abram, and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and placed upon him the name Abraham;


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You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites; to give it to his seed. You have performed Your words, for You are just.


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You gave signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, upon all his servants, and upon all the people of his land. For You knew that they had acted proudly against them. So You made a name for Yourself, as it is this day.


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And You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and those pursuing them You threw into the deep, as a stone into the mighty waters.


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Moreover You led them by day with a cloudy pillar, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way which they should travel.


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You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from the heavens, and gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments.


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You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes and Laws, by the hand of Your servant Moses.


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You gave them bread from the heavens for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and intended for them to go in to possess the land which You had raised Your hand and sworn to give them.


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But they and our fathers acted presumptuously, hardened their necks, and did not heed Your commandments,


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and refused to obey, and they were not mindful of Your wonders that You did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion they appointed a leader to return to their bondage. But You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness; and did not forsake them.


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Even when they made a molten calf for themselves, and said, This is your god that brought you up out of Egypt, and worked great blasphemies;


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yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, to lead them on the road; nor the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way they should go.


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You also gave Your good Spirit to teach them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.


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Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.


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Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations, and divided them into districts. So they took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.


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You also multiplied their children as the stars of the heavens, and brought them into the land which You had commanded their fathers to go in and possess it.


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So the people went in and possessed the land; You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they pleased.


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And they captured strong cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and grew fat, and lived luxuriously in Your great goodness.


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Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against You, cast Your Law behind their backs and killed Your prophets, who testified against them to turn them to Yourself; and they worked great blasphemies.


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Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who distressed them; and in the time of their trouble, when they cried out to You, You heard from Heaven; and according to Your abundant mercies You gave them deliverers who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.


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But after they had rest, they returned to doing evil before You. Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them; yet when they returned and cried out to You, You heard from Heaven; and many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,


text:
and testified against them, that You might bring them back to Your Law. Yet they acted presumptuously, and did not heed Your commandments, but sinned against Your judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. And they shrugged their shoulders, stiffened their necks, and would not obey.


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Yet for many years You had patience with them, and testified against them by Your Spirit by the hand of Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.


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Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not annihilate them nor forsake them; for You are the Mighty God, gracious and merciful.


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Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and awesome Mighty God, who keeps covenant and mercy: Do not let all the trouble seem small before You that has found us, our kings and our rulers, our priests and our prophets, our fathers and all Your people, since the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.


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However You are just in all that has come upon us; for You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly.


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Neither our kings nor our princes, our priests nor our fathers, have kept Your Law, nor paid attention to Your commandments and Your testimonies, with which You testified against them.


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For they have not served You in their kingdom, nor in the great goodness that You gave them, nor in the large and rich land which You set before them; nor did they turn from their evil works.


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Here we are, servants this day! And the land that You gave to our fathers, to eat its fruit and its bounty; behold, we are servants in it.


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And it yields much increase to the kings You have set over us, because of our sins; also they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle at their pleasure; and we are in great distress.


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And because of all this, we are making a covenant in good faith, and writing it; sealed by our rulers, our Levites, and our priests.


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Now those who placed their seal on the document were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hachaliah, and Zedekiah,


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Now the rest of the people; the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple slaves, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding;


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these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law, which was given by the hand of Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of Jehovah our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes:


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If the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, nor on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year's produce and the tribute from every hand.


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Also we established a command for ourselves, to designate from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:


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for the Bread in Rows, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering of the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the set feasts; for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.


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We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for bringing the wood offering into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at the appointed times year by year, to burn on the altar of Jehovah our God as it is written in the Law.


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And to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of Jehovah;


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to bring the firstborn of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God;


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to bring the firstfruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tithes of our land to the Levites, that the Levites should receive the tithes in all the cities of our labor.


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And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms of the storehouse.


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For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil, to the rooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are; and we will not neglect the house of our God.


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Now the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities.


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These are the heads of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem. (But in the cities of Judah everyone dwelt in his own possession in their cities; Israelites, priests, Levites, temple slaves, and sons of Solomon's servants.)


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Also in Jerusalem dwelt some of the children of Judah and of the children of Benjamin. The sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the sons of Perez;


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and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Col-Hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of Shiloni.


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And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah;


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Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, was the ruler of the house of God.


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Their brethren who did the work of the house were eight hundred and twenty-two; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah,


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and his brethren, heads of the fathers, were two hundred and forty-two; and Amashai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,


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and their brethren, mighty men of valor, were one hundred and twenty-eight. Their overseer was Zabdiel the son of one of the great men.


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Also of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni;


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Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the heads of the Levites, had the oversight of the business outside of the house of God;


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Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the leader who began the thanksgiving with prayer; Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.


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Moreover the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren who kept the gates, were one hundred and seventy-two.


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And the rest of Israel, of the priests and Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance.


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Also the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha, of the sons of Asaph, the singers who were over the service of the house of God.


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For it was the king's command concerning them that there should be financial support for the singers, a quota for each day.


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Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people.


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And as for the villages with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt in Kirjath Arba and its villages, Dibon and its villages, Jekabzeel and its villages;


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Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; in Lachish and its fields; in Azekah and its villages. They dwelt from Beer-sheba to the Valley of Hinnom.


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Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,


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Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of Jeshua.


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Moreover the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who led the songs of praise, he and his brethren.


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Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of the fathers were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;


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During the reign of Darius the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levites and priests who had been heads of their fathers in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua.


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The sons of Levi, the heads of the fathers until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib, were written in the book of the chronicles.


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And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers next to them, to praise and give thanks, group next to group, according to the command of David the man of God.


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Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping the watch at the thresholds of the gates.


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These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.


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Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to attend to the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and singing, with cymbals and lutes and harps.


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And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the villages of Netophah,


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from the house of Gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem.


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So I brought the rulers of Judah up on the wall, and stationed two large thanksgiving choirs. One went to the right hand on the wall toward the Refuse Gate.


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and some of the priests' sons with trumpets; Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph,


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and his brethren, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the instruments of song of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them.


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And at the Fountain Gate across from them, they went up the stairs of the City of David, at the ascent of the wall above the house of David, as far as the Water Gate eastward.


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And the other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I followed behind them with half of the people on the wall, going past the Tower of the Ovens as far as the Broad Wall,


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and above the Gate of Ephraim, above the Old Gate, above the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, the Tower of Meah, as far as the Sheep Gate; and they stood still by the Gate of the Prison.


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and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Minjamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;


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also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang aloud with Jezrahiah as their overseer.


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Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even at a distance.


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And at the same time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered.


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Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God and the charge of the purification, according to the command of David and Solomon his son.


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For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were heads of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.


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In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the sons of Aaron.


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On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the ears of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should come into the assembly of God forever,


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because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.


text:
Now before this, Eliashib the priest, being entrusted with the rooms of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah,


text:
had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests.


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But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I had come to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king,


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and I came to Jerusalem and perceived the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.


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Then I commanded them to purify the rooms; and I brought back into them the utensils of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.


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I also perceived that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had fled to his field.


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So I contended with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and set them in their place.


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And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren.


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Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its services.


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In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I admonished them about the day on which they were selling food.


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Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, even in Jerusalem.


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Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, What evil thing is this that you do, profaning the Sabbath day?


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Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet you bring added wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath!


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So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens should be brought in on the Sabbath day.


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Then I warned them, and said to them, Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you! From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath.


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And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to consecrate the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy.


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And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the Jewish language, but according to the tongue of nation to nation.


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So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.


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Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin.


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Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, acting treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?


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And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I drove him from me.


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Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.


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Thus I cleansed them of everything foreign. I also appointed duties to the priests and the Levites, each to his service,


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and for the wood offering and the firstfruits at the appointed times. Remember me, O my God, for good!


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Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia),


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in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,


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that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants; the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the rulers of the provinces being before him;


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when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent greatness for many days, even one hundred and eighty days.


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And when these days were completed, the king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were found in Shushan the palace, from great to small, in the court of the garden of the king's palace.


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There were white and violet linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble pillars; and the couches were of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of red, turquoise, and pearl and black marble.


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And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel being different from the other, with royal wine in abundance, according to the hand of the king.


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In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; for so the king had ordered all the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man's pleasure.


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On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven officials who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,


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to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials; for she was beautiful in appearance.


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But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command brought by his officials; therefore the king was furious, and his rage burned within him.


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Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times (for this was the king's manner toward all who knew law and judgment,


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those closest to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven rulers of Persia and Media, who had access to the king's presence, and who sat first in the kingdom):


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What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to law, because she has not observed the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by the officials?


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And Memucan answered before the king and the rulers: Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the rulers, and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.


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For the queen's behavior will become known to all women, so that they will despise their husbands in their eyes, when they report, King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.


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And this day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say the same to all the king's officials, when they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus there will be more than enough contempt and wrath.


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If it please the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media, so that it shall not become obsolete, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal power to another woman who is better than she.


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And when the king's decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his empire (for it is great), all wives will honor their husbands, both great and small.


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Then he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province in its own writing, and to every people in their own language: That each man should rule in his own house; and that it should be spoken in the language of each nation.


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After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.


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Then the king's servants who ministered to him said: Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king;


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and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the palace, into the women's house, under the hand of Hegai the king's official, custodian of the women. And let cosmetics be given to them.


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Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king, and he did so.


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Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.


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Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.


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And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. And the young woman was of a beautiful figure and good appearance. At the death of her father and mother Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.


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So it was, when the king's command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the palace, under the hand of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king's house, into the hand of Hegai the custodian of the women.


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Now the young woman was good in his eyes, and she obtained his favor; so he rushed to supply her cosmetics, along with her other provisions. And seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king's house, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women.


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And every day Mordecai walked around in front of the court of the women's house, to learn of Esther's welfare and what was happening with her.


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Each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their beautification accomplished: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women.


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Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the women's house to the king's house.


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In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the hand of Shaashgaz, the king's official who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and summoned her by name.


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Now when the turn came for Esther (the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter), to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king's official, the custodian of the women, commanded. And Esther rose to favor in the eyes of all who saw her.


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So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal house, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.


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And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his presence more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.


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And the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his rulers and servants; and he instituted a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the hand of the king.


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Now Esther had not revealed her kindred nor her people, just as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him.


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In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's officials, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.


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And the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name.


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And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.


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After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the rulers who were with him.


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And all the king's servants who were in the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow nor pay homage.


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Then the king's servants who were in the king's gate said to Mordecai, Why do you transgress the king's command?


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Now it happened, when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew.


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But it was contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Therefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus; the people of Mordecai.


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In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman from day to day and month to month, until it fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.


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Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.


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If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king's treasuries.


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So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the one harassing the Jews.


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And the king said to Haman, The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.


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Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded; to the king's satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the rulers of all the people, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king's signet ring.


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And the letters were sent by runners into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to exterminate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions;


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a copy of the document to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day.


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The runners went out, hastened by the king's command; and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the palace. So the king and Haman sat down to drink. But the city of Shushan was perplexed.


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When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried out with a loud and bitter cry.


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He went as far as the front of the king's gate: for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.


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And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.


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So Esther's maids and officials came and reported it to her, and the queen was exceedingly distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them.


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Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king's officials whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai, to learn what and why this was.


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And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy the Jews.


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He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go in to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people.


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All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been summoned, has but one law: to put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Furthermore, I have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.


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And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: Do not think in your soul that you will escape in the king's house any more than all the other Jews.


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For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house shall perish. Yet who knows whether you have attained unto the kingdom for such a time as this?


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Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I have perished, I have perished!


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Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's house, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, in front of the gate of the house.


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So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his eyes, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.


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And the king said to her, What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you, even to half the kingdom.


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And Esther answered, If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.


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Then the king said, Summon Haman quickly, that he may do according to Esther's word. So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.


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At the banquet of wine the king said to Esther, What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? And it shall be done, even to half the kingdom.


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If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do according to the word of the king.


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So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was filled with indignation against Mordecai.


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Nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went to his house, and he sent and summoned his friends and his wife Zeresh.


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And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the rulers and servants of the king.


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Moreover Haman said, In addition to that, Queen Esther invited no one to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared, except me; and tomorrow I am again invited by her, along with the king.


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Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made, fifty cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it; then go joyfully with the king to the banquet. And these words were good to Haman; so he had the gallows made.


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That night sleep fled from the king. So it was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were recited before the king.


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And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officials, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.


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Then the king said, What honor or dignity has been bestowed upon Mordecai for this? And the king's servants who attended him said, Nothing has been done for him.


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So the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's house to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.


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The king's servants said to him, Behold, Haman is standing in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.


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So Haman came in, and the king said unto him, What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor? Now Haman thought in his heart, Whom would the king delight to honor more than myself?


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Let the royal apparel be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, and the royal crown which has been placed upon his head.


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Then let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble rulers, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then have him ride on horseback through the city square, and proclaim 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, Hurry! Take the apparel and the horse, just as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits in the king's gate! Do not fail to do any of all that you have spoken.


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So Haman took the apparel and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!


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Afterward Mordecai went back to the king's gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.


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When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you will not prevail against him but shall be thrown down and fall before him.


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While they were still talking with him, the king's officials came, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.


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And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? It shall be done, even to half the kingdom.


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


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For we have been sold, my people and I, to be annihilated, killed and destroyed. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept silent, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss.


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So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?


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And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this evil Haman! Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen.


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Then the king arose from the the banquet of wine in his wrath and went into the palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther, to request for his soul, for he perceived that evil was determined against him by the king.


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When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, Will he also violate the queen while I am in the house? As the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.


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Now Harbonah, one of the officials, said to the king, Behold, the gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on the king's behalf, is standing at the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him on it!


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So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath was pacified.


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On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the one harassing the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her.


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And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman.


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And Esther spoke again to the king, falling down at his feet, and implored him with tears to take away the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the plans which he had devised against the Jews.


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and said, If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor before him and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to exterminate the Jews who are in all the king's provinces.


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For how can I endure to see the evil that will meet my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?


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Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he has stretched out his hand against the Jews.


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You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as is good in your eyes, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's signet ring; for whatever is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's signet ring no one can revoke.


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So the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the rulers of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province in its own writing, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own writing and language.


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And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses bred from swift steeds.


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By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and take their stand for their souls; to exterminate, kill, and destroy all the forces of any people or province that would be hostile to them, even little children and women, and to plunder their possessions,


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on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.


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A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published for all people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.


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The couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king's command. And the decree was issued in Shushan the palace.


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So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of violet and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.


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And in every province and city, wherever the king's command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.


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Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, the time came for the king's command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them.


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The Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, because fear of them fell upon all the people.


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And all the rulers of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the king's work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.


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For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai proceeded on into greatness.


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Thus the Jews struck down all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them.


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the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews; they killed; but they did not lay a hand on the spoils.


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And the king said to Queen Esther, The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? It shall be done.


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Then Esther said, If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow according to today's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows.


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So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons.


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And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan; but they did not lay a hand on the spoils.


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The remainder of the Jews in the king's provinces gathered together and took a stand for their souls, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies; but they did not lay a hand on the spoils.


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


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But the Jews who were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day, as well as on the fourteenth; and on the fifteenth of the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.


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Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns made the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting, as a good day, and for sending portions to one another.


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And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus,


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to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar,


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as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending portions to one another and gifts to the needy.


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because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to exterminate them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot), to destroy them and to exterminate them;


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but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that this evil plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should return 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 name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them,


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the Jews established and took it upon themselves and their seed and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days year after year, according to the writing and according to the appointed time;


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that these days should be remembered and kept from generation to generation, by every family, in every province and every city, that these days of Purim should not pass away among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not cease among their seed.


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Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.


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And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,


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to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their seed, concerning the matters of their fasting and of their cry.


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Now all the acts of his authority and his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, 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 Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews and accepted by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the welfare of his people and speaking peace to all his seed.


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


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Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.


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And his sons went and prepared feasts in their houses, each on his appointed day, and sent and invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them.


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So it was, when the days of feasting had made the rounds, that 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 over time.


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


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And Jehovah said to Satan, From where do you come? So Satan answered Jehovah and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking about on it.


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Then Jehovah said to Satan, Have you set your heart on My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil?


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Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have flourished in the land.


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And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your hand; only do not stretch forth your hand upon him. So Satan went out from the presence of Jehovah.


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


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when the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away; indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and only I alone am escaped to tell you!


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While he was still speaking, another also came and said, The fire of God has fallen from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and only I alone am escaped to tell you!


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While he was still speaking, another also came and said, The Chaldeans formed three bands, rushed in upon the camels and took them away, yea, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and only I alone am escaped to tell you!


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While he was still speaking, another also came and said, Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the firstborn brother's house,


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and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and only I alone am escaped to tell you!


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Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell down upon the ground and prostrated himself;


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and he said: Naked I have come from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. Jehovah has given, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed is the name of Jehovah.


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


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Then Jehovah said to Satan, Have you set your heart on My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to swallow him up without cause.


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So Satan answered Jehovah and said, Skin for skin! Yea, all that a man has he will give for his soul.


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But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse You to Your face!


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So Satan went out from the presence of Jehovah, and struck Job with malignant inflammation from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.


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But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish ones speak. Shall we indeed receive good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? 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, each one came from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and show sympathy for him, and to comfort him.


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And when they lifted up their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted up their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the heavens.


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


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Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night in which it was said, A male child has been conceived.


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Let darkness and the shadow of death redeem it; let a cloud settle on it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.


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As for that night, let darkness take it away; 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 twilight be dark; let it look for light, but have none, and not see the eyelids of the dawn;


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


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even more so those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the grass!


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Behold, blessed is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.


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You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not be afraid of devastation when it comes.


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For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.


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


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Then I would still have comfort; though in anguish, I would leap for joy; let Him not spare; for I have not hidden the Words of the Holy One.


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To him who is despairing, kindness should be shown by his friend; but he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.


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They are disappointed because they had been confident, but when they had come there they were abashed.


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When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise from the long night? For I have had my fill of tossing until the twilight of the dawn.


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


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Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O Watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself?


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Why then do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and You shall seek me diligently, but I will no longer be.


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if you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you, and would have restored your righteous abode.


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Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; though I were perfect, it 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, then who is it?


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My soul loathes my life; I will leave behind my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.


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Has it been delightful to You that You oppress, that You despise the work of Your hands, and have shone on the counsel of the wicked?


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Remember, I beseech You, that You have made me like clay. And will You bring me back and return me to dust?


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If I have been wicked, woe to me! And if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head; I am full of disgrace. Pay attention to my affliction!


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You renew Your witnesses against me, and increase Your indignation toward me; changes and war are with me.


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a land of darkness and gloom, as the shadow of death, without any order; where it shines as darkness.


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Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one make you ashamed?


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that He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your wisdom. Know therefore that God forgets some of your iniquity.


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and your lifetime shall arise more than the brightness of the noonday. Though you were dark, you shall be like the morning.


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But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and their place of escape shall perish; and their hope, as the expiring of the soul!


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But I have a heart as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these?


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I am one as a laughingstock to his friends; one who called upon God, and He answered him; the just and whole one is a laughingstock.


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A lamp is despised in the thoughts of one who is at ease; it is made ready for those whose feet slip.


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The tents of plunderers prosper, and those who provoke the Mighty God are secure, as God brings into his hand.


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But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;


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He takes away the heart of the heads of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a wilderness with no path.


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Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass beyond it.


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


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so man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake nor be aroused from their sleep.


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O that You would hide me in Sheol, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is turned back, that You would appoint me a decree, and remember me!


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as waters wear away stones, and as floods wash away the dust of the earth; so You destroy the hope of man.


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His sons come to honor, and he does not recognize them; they are diminished, and he does not perceive it.


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The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, and the number of years is stored up for the ruthless.


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He wanders about for bread, saying, where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand.


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He shall not depart from darkness; the flame shall dry out his branches, and by the breath of His mouth he shall be removed.


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I also could speak as you do, if your soul were in the place of my soul. I could heap up words against you, and shake my head at you.


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He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; my adversary sharpens His eyes at me.


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They have gaped at me with their mouth, and struck me reproachfully on the cheek; they gather together against me.


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I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken hold on my neck, and dashed me to pieces; He has set me up for His target.


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You who tear yourself in anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place?


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Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him who does not know the Mighty God.


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Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their eyes.


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My breath is loathsome to my wife, and I must entreat the favor of children for the sake of my own body.


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Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not a stranger. O how my reins have been exhausted within me!


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fear for yourselves because of the sword; for wrath brings the punishment of the sword; that you may know there is judgment.


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I have heard the admonition against my reproaches, but the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.


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that the rejoicing of the wicked is near its end, and the mirth of the hypocrite is but for a moment?


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He shall fly away like a dream, and not be found; yea, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.


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He shall give back that for which he labored, and shall not swallow it down; He shall have no enjoyment from the exchanges of his wealth.


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When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast upon him the fury of His wrath, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.


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It has been drawn, and comes out the back; yea, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors come upon him;


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total darkness is his hidden treasure. An unfanned fire shall devour him; and any survivors in his tent shall tremble.


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How often is the lamp of the wicked put out! How often does their calamity come upon them, the sorrows God distributes in His anger!


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For you say, Where is the house of the noble one? And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the wicked?


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The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; everyone shall drag along after him, as countless ones before him.


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Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways perfect?


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For you have taken a pledge from your brother for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing.


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If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up; you shall remove injustice far from your tents.


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You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be confirmed for you; and light shall shine on your ways.


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When you have been made low, then you will say in your heart, It was pride. Then He will save the lowly of eyes.


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when He works on the left hand, I cannot see Him; when He turns to the right hand, I cannot perceive Him.


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I have not departed from the Commandment of His lips; I have treasured the Words of His mouth more than my prescribed food.


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But I have not been cut off by the face of darkness, and He has concealed the deep darkness from my face.


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They thrust away the needy out of the road; the poor of the land have been forced into hiding together.


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Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their young.


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Men groan from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out; yet God does not charge them with folly.


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The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and puts a covering over his face.


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In the dark they dig through into houses which they have marked for themselves by day; they do not know the light.


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They are swift on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; they do not turn into the way of the vineyards.


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The womb shall forget him, the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be remembered no more, and injustice shall be broken like a tree.


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They are exalted for a little while, then they are gone. They are brought low; they are all drawn together out of the way, and cut off like heads of grain.


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Lo, these are the extremities of His ways; yea, what a whisper of a word has been heard of Him! But the thunder of His might who can understand?


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As the Mighty God lives, who has taken away my justice, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,


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Far be it from me that I should say you are right. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.


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This is the portion of a wicked man with the Mighty God, and the heritage of the ruthless, received from the Almighty:


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If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword; and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.


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The torrent breaks out far from the sojourners; forgotten by the feet of men, they hang and swing to and fro.


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And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.


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I laughed at them when they did not believe it, and did not allow the light of my countenance to fall.


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I chose the way for them, and sat as chief; so I dwelt as a king among the troops, as one who comforts mourners.


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But now they mock at me, men younger than I, whose fathers I have refused to put with the dogs of my flock.


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At my right hand the brood arises; they push away my feet, and they raise against me their ways of destruction.


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Terrors are turned upon me; they pursue my honor as the wind, and my prosperity has vanished like a cloud.


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Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins. Behold, they cry out for help when He destroys it.


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I have walked about in the dark, not in the sun; I have stood up in the assembly and cried out for help.


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If my step has turned aside from the way, or my heart walked after my eyes, or if any blemish has clung to my hands,


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what then shall I do when the Mighty God rises up? When He reviews my case, what shall I answer Him?


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For calamity from the Mighty God is a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not do such things.


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this also would be a perversity deserving of judgment, for I would have denied the Mighty God above.


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then let me fear the great multitude, and let the contempt of families terrify me, and I will keep silent and not go out of the door.


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Oh, that I had one to hear me! Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, that the man complaining had written an indictment!


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then let thistles come forth instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are finished.


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Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job; his wrath was kindled because he was justifying his soul more than God.


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Also against his three friends his wrath was kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.


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And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said: I am young in years, and you are very old; therefore I have shrunk back, and out of respect for you, have not told my opinion.


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


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If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to declare for man his uprightness,


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then let Him be gracious to him and say, Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom.


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He shall pray unto God, and He will delight in him; he shall see His face with joy, for He restores to man His righteousness.


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Then he observes men and says, I have sinned, and perverted what was right; and it has not been equaled to me.


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Therefore listen to me, you men with heart: far be it from the Mighty God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do injustice.


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He is not partial to rulers, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands.


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In a moment they die, in the middle of the night; people convulse and pass away; the mighty are taken away without a hand.


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When He gives quietness, who then can condemn? And when He hides His face, who then can see Him? It might be against a nation or mankind altogether,


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Shall He recompense on your terms, just because you have rejected it? You must choose, and not I; therefore speak 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 the Mighty God.


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If you sin, what do you do against Him? Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?


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


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He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; but they are on the throne with kings, for He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.


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Indeed He would have brought you out of the mouth of distress, into a broad place where there is no constraint; and what is set on your table would be full of fatness.


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Behold, the Mighty God is great, and we cannot find Him out; nor can the number of His years be searched out.


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After it a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not hold back when His voice is heard.


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The Mighty God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.


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For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth; likewise to the showers of rain and the showers of heavy rain.


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and they swirl round about at His direction, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the world upon the earth.


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Even now men cannot look at the brilliance of the sunlight in the clouds, when the wind has passed and cleared them.


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As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him out; He is great in power, in justice and abundant righteousness; He does not afflict.


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Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have become acquainted with understanding.


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


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Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you keep watch for when the deer gives birth?


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Their young ones are healthy, they grow up with grain; when they have departed they do not return to them.


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He swallows the ground with rumbling and agitation; nor does he stand still at the sound of the shofar.


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Every time the shofar sounds he says, Aha! He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting.


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If the river becomes violent he is not alarmed; he is confident, though the Jordan bursts forth against his mouth.


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When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid; because of his crashings they are beside themselves.


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You asked, Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? So I have proclaimed what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.


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And so it was, after Jehovah had spoken these words to Job, that Jehovah said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath has been kindled against you and 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 for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job will pray for you; for I accept him; lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.


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So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as Jehovah commanded them; for Jehovah accepted Job.


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And Jehovah returned what had been taken captive from Job when he prayed for his friends. Indeed Jehovah gave Job twice as much as he had before.


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Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of money and each a ring of gold.


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So Jehovah blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.


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And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.


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In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.


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After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren to four generations.


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Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor has stood in the way of sinners, nor has sat in the seat of the scornful.


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And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not wither, and all that he does shall prosper.


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Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.


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The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Jehovah and against His anointed, saying,


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Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.


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Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.


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Arise, O Jehovah; deliver me, O my God; for You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.


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Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have enlarged me in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.


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O you sons of men, how long will you turn My glory into shame? Will you love vanity and seek after falsehood? Selah.


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There are many who say, Who will show us any good? Jehovah, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.


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You have put gladness in my heart, more than during the time when their grain and their wine increased.


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My voice shall You hear in the morning, O Jehovah; in the morning I will direct my prayer unto You, and I will look up.


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But as for me, I will come into Your house in the abundance of Your mercy; I will bow down in Your fear toward Your holy temple.


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Lead me, O Jehovah, in Your righteousness, because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face.


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For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.


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Declare them guilty, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against You.


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But let all those who put their trust in You rejoice; let them always shout for joy, because You defend them. And let those who love Your name be joyful in You.


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if I have repaid evil to one who was at peace with me, or if I have plundered my enemy without cause;


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let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; yea, let him trample down my life upon the earth and lay my honor in the dust. Selah.


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Arise, O Jehovah, in Your anger; lift up Yourself because of the rage of my enemies, and arouse Yourself for me to the judgment which You have commanded.


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Jehovah shall judge the people; judge me, O Jehovah, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity within me.


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O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just. For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.


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I will praise Jehovah according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of Jehovah Most High.


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O Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens!


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Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You might remove the enemy and the avenger.


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When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have established;


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You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked, You have blotted out their name forever and ever.


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The desolations of the enemy have come to an end forever, and You have destroyed the cities; the remembrance of them has perished with them.


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And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Jehovah, have not forsaken those who seek You.


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Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah; look upon my affliction from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death,


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so that I may declare all Your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in Your salvation.


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The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made; their own foot is caught in the net which they hid.


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Jehovah is known. He has executed judgment; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.


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The wicked in his pride persecutes the lowly; let them be caught in the plots that they have devised.


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For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire, and blesses those who plunder, whom Jehovah has spurned.


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Through the pride of his countenance the wicked do not seek after God; God is not in all his schemes.


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His ways are always twisted; Your judgments are high, out of his sight. As for all his enemies, he snorts at them.


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He has said in his heart, I shall not be moved; from generation to generation I shall not be in adversity!


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His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are trouble and wickedness.


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He sits in the lurking places of the villages; in the secret places he murders the innocent; his eyes are hidden against the unfortunate ones.


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He lies in wait secretly, like a lion in his den. He lies in wait to catch the poor; he catches the poor when he draws him into his net.


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But You have seen it, for You pay attention to trouble and provocation; to repay it with Your hand. The poor commits himself to You; You are the Helper of the fatherless.


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Jehovah, You have heard the desire of the lowly; You will prepare their heart, You will cause Your ear to hear,


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For lo, the wicked bend their bow; they make ready their arrow on the string, so that they may secretly shoot at the upright in heart.


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Jehovah is in His holy temple; Jehovah's throne is in Heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids examine the sons of men.


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Upon the wicked He will rain snares, fire and brimstone; and a horrible tempest shall be the portion of their cup.


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For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, I will now arise, says Jehovah; I will set him in the safety for which he pants.


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How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my inner being daily? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?


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The fool has said in his heart, There is no God! They are corrupt; they have done abominable works, there is no one who does good.


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Jehovah looked down from Heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there were any who understood and sought God.


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They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, no, not one.


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Have all the workers of iniquity not known, eating up My people as they eat bread? They have not called upon Jehovah.


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Oh that the salvation of Israel was out of Zion! When Jehovah brings back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.


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he who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;


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in whose eyes the reprobate is despised, but he honors those who fear Jehovah; he has sworn to his hurt, and does not change it;


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he has not put out his money at interest, nor has he taken a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.


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Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood; and I will not take up their names on my lips.


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You will make known to Me the way of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy. At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.


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Hear a just cause, O Jehovah; give attention to my cry, listen to my prayer; for it is not from deceitful lips.


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You have examined my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me, and found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.


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Concerning the works of men, by the Words of Your lips, I have kept from the paths of the destroyer.


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Set apart Your wonderful lovingkindness, O You who by Your right hand saves those who trust in You, from those who rise up against me.


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from men by Your hand, O Jehovah, from men of the world whose portion is in this life, and whose belly You fill with Your hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children, and leave an abundance to their infants.


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As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with the image of You.


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Jehovah is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my Mighty God, my rock wall, in whom I will trust; He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.


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In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, into His ears.


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Then the earth shook and trembled; and the foundations of the hills quaked and were shaken, because He was angry.


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He made darkness His secret place; His pavilion around Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.


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Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave forth His voice, hailstones and coals of fire.


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Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were uncovered at Your rebuke, O Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.


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Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has given back to me.


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Therefore Jehovah has given back to me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.


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With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a perfect man You will show Yourself perfect;


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As for the Mighty God, His way is perfect; the Word of Jehovah is tested; He is a shield to all those who trust in Him.


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You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; and Your right hand has held me up, and Your meekness has made me great.


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For You have clasped me with strength for the battle; You bowed down under me those who rose up against me.


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They cried out for help, but there was no one to deliver; even to Jehovah, but He did not answer them.


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You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; You have made me the head of the nations; a people whom I have not known shall serve me.


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He delivers me from my enemies; yea, You lift me up above those who rise up against me; You have delivered me from the violent man.


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who gives great deliverance to His king, and deals mercy to His anointed, to David and to his seed forevermore.


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Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. In them He has set a tent for the sun,


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going forth from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the ends of it. And there is nothing hidden from its heat.


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The Law of Jehovah is perfect, converting the soul; the Testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.


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The Statutes of Jehovah are upright, rejoicing the heart; the Commandments of Jehovah are pure, illuminating the eyes.


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The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of Jehovah are true and altogether just,


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restrain Your servant from arrogance; do not let them rule over me. Then I shall be perfect, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.


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Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer.


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May Jehovah answer you in the day of distress, and the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high,


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We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up banners; may Jehovah fulfill all your petitions.


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Now I know that Jehovah saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy Heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.


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The king shall rejoice in Your strength, O Jehovah; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!


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For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him rejoice with gladness in Your presence.


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You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your presence; Jehovah will swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them.


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For You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your strings against their faces.


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My Mighty God, My Mighty God, why have You forsaken Me, and are far from My deliverance, and from the words of My groaning?


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I am poured out like water, and all My bones are separated; My heart is like wax, it has melted within Me.


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My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; and You have brought Me into the dust of death.


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For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked have enclosed Me. They have pierced My hands and My feet.


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You who fear Jehovah, praise Him! All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him all you seed of Israel!


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For He has not despised nor detested the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him; but when he cried out to Him, He heard.


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My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will make good My vows before those who fear Him.


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The lowly shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Jehovah shall praise Him; your heart shall live forever.


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All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Jehovah; and all the families of the nations shall bow down before You.


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All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him, for no one can keep alive his own soul.


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They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness to a people that shall yet be born, that He has done this.


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Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.


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You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.


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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 Jehovah forever.


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He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.


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Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of Glory shall come in.


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Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of Glory shall come in.


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Yea, let none who wait upon You be ashamed; let them be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.


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Lead me in Your truth, and teach me; for You are the God of my salvation; upon You do I wait all day long.


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Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me for Your goodness' sake, O Jehovah.


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Judge me, O Jehovah, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in Jehovah; I shall not slip.


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Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?


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Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I have confidence.


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One thing I have desired from Jehovah, that I will seek after: That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in His temple.


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For in the time of evil He shall hide me in His den, in the secrecy of His tent He shall hide me; He shall lift me up upon a rock.


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And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; and I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tent. I will sing; yea, I will make music unto Jehovah.


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Hide not Your face from me; turn not Your servant away in anger. You have been my help; do not leave me, nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.


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Do not deliver me over to the will of my enemies; for false witnesses have risen up against me, and such as breathe out violence.


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I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living.


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Wait upon Jehovah; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, upon Jehovah!


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I will cry unto You, O Jehovah my Rock: Do not be silent to me, lest, if You be deaf to me, I become like those who go down into the pit.


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Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry out to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your Holy of Holies.


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Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, yet evil is in their hearts.


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Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their practices; give them according to the work of their hands; give back to them what they deserve.


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Because they do not consider the works of Jehovah nor the works of His hands, He shall destroy them and not build them up.


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Jehovah is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in Him, and I have been helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him.


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The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the Mighty God of Glory thunders; Jehovah is over many waters.


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The voice of Jehovah causes the deer to give birth, and lays bare the forests; and in His temple they all say, Glory!


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I will exalt You, O Jehovah, for You have lifted me up, and have not allowed my foes to rejoice over me.


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O Jehovah, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the Pit.


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For His anger is but for a moment; in His favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.


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O Jehovah, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.


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What profit is there in my blood, in going down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth?


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You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; You have loosened my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,


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so that my glory may make music unto You, and not be silent. O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks unto You forever.


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I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy; for You have looked upon my affliction; You have known the distress of my soul,


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Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am in trouble; my eye has wasted away with grief; even my soul and my belly.


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For my life has been spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones have wasted away.


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I was a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and an object of dread to my friends; those who saw me outside have fled from me.


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For I have heard the slander of many; fear is on every side; while they take counsel together against me, they have plotted to take away my life.


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Let me not be ashamed, O Jehovah; for I have called upon You. Let the wicked be ashamed; let them be silent in Sheol.


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Let the lying lips be put to silence; the lips which speak with arrogance, haughtiness and contempt against the just.


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How great is Your goodness, which You have treasured up for those who fear You, which You have done for those who trust in You before the sons of men!


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You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the snares of man; You shall hide them in a shelter away from the strife of tongues.


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For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before Your eyes; but indeed You heard the voice of my supplications, when I cried out to You.


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O love Jehovah, all you His saints; for Jehovah preserves the faithful, and abundantly recompenses the proud doer.


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For by day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my sap was turned into the drought of summer. Selah.


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I declared my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgression to Jehovah, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.


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For this let everyone who is godly pray unto You, in a time when You may be found; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near him.


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You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from distress; You shall enclose me with shouts of deliverance. Selah.


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Do not be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, so that they do not come near you.


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Jehovah brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He restrains and frustrates the devices of the people.


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The king is not delivered by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not rescued by much strength.


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The face of Jehovah is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.


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Plead my case, O Jehovah, against those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.


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Also draw out the spear and close up the way against those who pursue me; say to my soul, I am your salvation.


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Let those who seek after my soul be put to shame and dishonored; let those who devise evil against me be turned back and abashed.


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For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit; without cause they have dug for my soul.


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Let destruction come upon him before he knows it, and let his net which he has concealed catch him; let him fall into that very destruction.


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All my bones shall say, Jehovah, who is like You, who delivers the lowly from him who is too strong for him; yea, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?


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But when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fastings; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.


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As a friend, as to my brother, I walked about; as one who mourns for a mother, I was bowed down in gloom, mourning.


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But at my stumbling they gathered themselves together and rejoiced; and before I knew it the attackers gathered themselves against me; they tore at me and were not still;


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O Jehovah, how long will You look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, my only one from the lions.


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Let not those who are my deceitful enemies rejoice over me, nor let those who hate me without cause wink with the eye.


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Give judgment for me, O Jehovah my God, according to Your righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.


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Let them be ashamed and abashed together, those who rejoice over my adversity. Let them be clothed with shame and reproach who magnify themselves against me.


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Let those who delight in my justification shout and rejoice; and let them say continually, Let Jehovah be magnified, who delights in the welfare of His servant.


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He devises wickedness on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not despise evil.


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Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Jehovah, You deliver man and beast.


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How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the sons of men take refuge under the shadow of Your wings.


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They shall be satisfied with the fatness of Your house; and You shall make them drink of the river of Your pleasures.


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O continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.


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Rest in Jehovah, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret over him who prospers in his way, because of him who works out wicked devices.


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For yet a little while, and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you shall diligently consider his place, and it shall be no more.


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The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to slaughter those who walk uprightly.


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But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of Jehovah shall be as prized lambs; they are consumed; like smoke they vanish.


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I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.


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For Jehovah loves justice and does not forsake His Godly ones; they are preserved forever; but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.


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Wait upon Jehovah and keep His way, and He will lift you up to inherit the earth; when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.


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And Jehovah will help them and deliver them; He will deliver them from the wicked and save them, because they have trusted in Him.


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And those who seek my life lay snares for me; and those who seek my hurt speak of destruction, and devise treachery all day long.


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For I said, Hear me, lest they rejoice over me; lest, when my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.


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I said, I will take heed to my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle while the wicked are before me.


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O Jehovah, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.


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Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadth, and my age is as nothing before You. Surely every man, even though standing tall, is total vanity. Selah.


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Surely every man walks about like a shadow! Surely they are stirred up in vain. He heaps up the produce, and does not know who shall gather it.


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You correct a man for iniquity with rebukes, and you make his desires vanish away like a moth. Surely every man is vanity. Selah.


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Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear to my cry. Do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were.


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He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and secured my steps.


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And He has put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God; many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in Jehovah.


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Blessed is the man who makes Jehovah his trust and has not turned to the proud, nor to such as turn aside to lies.


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O Jehovah my God, many are the wonderful works which You have done, and Your thoughts which are toward us; they cannot be recounted to You if I were to declare and speak of them, for they are more than can be numbered.


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Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You have not asked.


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I have preached righteousness in the great assembly; lo, I have not restrained My lips, O Jehovah, You know.


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I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not hidden Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.


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Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Jehovah; let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually keep watch over me.


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For evils without number have encompassed me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me.


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Let them be ashamed and abashed together, those who seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to dishonor, those who wish me evil.


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Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You, and the ones who love your salvation always say, Let Jehovah be magnified.


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But I am poor and needy; yet Jehovah will have regard for me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.


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Jehovah will watch over him and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed on the earth; and You will not deliver him to the soul of his enemies.


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And when he comes to see me, he speaks vanity; his heart gathers iniquity to itself; he goes out and speaks of it.


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They say, A wicked thing is poured out upon him, and now that he lies down, he shall rise up no more.


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When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me; for I had gone with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping the feast.


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Why are you cast down, O my soul, and murmur within me? Hope in God; for I shall praise Him for the deliverance coming from His presence.


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O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember You from the land of Jordan, from the summits of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.


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Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and Your billows have gone over me.


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Jehovah will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, my prayer to the Mighty God of my life.


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I will say to God my Rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?


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As with a shattering of my bones, my enemies have reproached me, while they say daily to me, Where is your God?


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Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why do you murmur within me? Hope in God; for I still praise Him for the deliverance coming from the presence of my God.


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Judge for me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.


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For You are the God of my strength; why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning under the oppression of the enemy?


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O send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill, and to Your tabernacle.


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Then I will go to the altar of God, the Mighty God, my exceeding joy; yea, on the harp I will give thanks to You, O God, my God.


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We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work which You did in their days, in the days of old.


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You drove out the nations with Your hand, and planted them; You brought evil upon peoples and cast them out.


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For they did not take the land into possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.


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Through You we will push our enemies; through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.


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My heart has been stirred over a good matter; I speak of my works regarding the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.


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You are the fairest of the sons of men; grace is poured into Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever.


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And ride prosperously in Your majesty, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.


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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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All Your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.


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Kings' daughters are among Your precious ones; on Your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.


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Listen, O daughter, consider and extend your ear; forget your own people also, and your father's house.


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And the daughter of Tyre shall come with a gift; even the rich among the peoples shall entreat your face.


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She shall be brought to the King in clothing of needlework; the virgins, her companions who follow, shall be brought to You.


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I will make Your name to be remembered from generation to generation; therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.


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Therefore we will not fear when the earth changes, when mountains are slipping into the midst of the seas.


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There is a river whose streams cause rejoicing in the city of God, the consecrated place of the tabernacle of the Most High.


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who makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots in the fire.


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Be still, and know that I am God! I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!


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The nobles of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted.


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Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness.


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Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the Great King.


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As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of Jehovah of Hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. Selah.


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According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness.


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set your heart on its bulwarks, pass by its fortress; so that you may recount it to the following generation.


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For he sees wise men die; likewise the fool and the brutish ones perish, and leave their wealth to others.


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Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, and their dwelling places from generation to generation; they call their lands after their own names.


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Like sheep they are appointed to the grave; death shall shepherd them, and the upright shall have the rule over them in the morning; their form is consumed; Sheol is their home.


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The Mighty God Jehovah has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down.


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Our God comes, and He is not silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very stormy all around Him.


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I will not reprove you for your sacrifices, or your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me.


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But to the wicked God says, What is it you do, to declare My Statutes, and to take up My Covenant in your mouth;


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When you saw a thief, then you were pleased to be with him, and have been a partaker with adulterers.


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These things you have done, and I have kept silent; you thought that I was like yourself; but I will rebuke you, and set in order before your eyes.


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Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his way, I will show the salvation of God.


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Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.


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Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight; that You might be found just when You speak, and pure when You judge.


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Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom.


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Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue shall shout aloud of Your righteousness.


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The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.


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Then shall You be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.


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The Mighty God will likewise destroy you forever; He will take you away, and pluck you out of your tent, and has rooted you out of the land of the living. Selah.


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Behold, the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and was strong in his wickedness.


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I will give thanks to You forever, because You have done it; and in the presence of Your saints I will wait upon Your name, for it is good.


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The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; there is no one who does good.


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God looked down from Heaven upon the children of mankind to see if any was circumspect, seeking God.


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Every one of them has turned back; they have all together become corrupt; not one is doing good, no, not even one.


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Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? They eat up my people as they eat bread; they have not called upon God.


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There they fear with dread, where there was no dread, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you; you have put them to shame because God has rejected them.


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Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.


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For strangers have risen up against me, and terrible men seek after my soul; they have not set God before them. Selah.


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because of the voice of the enemy, from the oppression of the wicked; for they drop down trouble upon me, and in wrath they hate me.


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For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it. It is not one who hates me who magnified himself against me, or I would hide myself from him;


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Let death seize them, and let them go down alive into Sheol; for evil is among them and in their dwellings.


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He has delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me; for there were many against me.


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The Mighty God will hear and testify to them, even He who abides from of old. Selah. Because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God.


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His flattery has been with forked tongue, and war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.


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Cast your burden upon Jehovah, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to totter.


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But You, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction; bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in You.


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You have kept an account of my wanderings; O put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your Book.


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for You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of the living?


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Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me; for my soul trusts in You. Yea, in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities pass by.


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He will send from Heaven, and deliver me from the reproaches of him who would swallow me up. Selah. God will send forth His mercy and His truth.


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My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men who are on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.


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They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have dug a pit before me, they have fallen into it. Selah.


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I will give thanks unto You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will make music unto You among the nations.


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Let them flow away like waters that move along. When he bends his bow to shoot arrows, let them be as though they were cut off.


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


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And man shall say, Truly, there is a reward for the righteous; truly, there is a God who judges in the earth.


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For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul; the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Jehovah.


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They run and prepare themselves though there is no fault in me. Awake to meet me, and pay attention!


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You therefore, O Jehovah the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, awake and punish all the nations; do not be merciful to any wicked traitors. Selah.


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Do not kill them, lest my people forget; scatter them by Your power and bring them down, O Lord our shield.


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Let them be taken in their pride for the sin of their mouth and the word of their lips, along with the cursing and the lying which they speak.


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Consume them in wrath, consume them, so that they may not be; and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah.


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But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my stronghold and refuge in the day of my distress.


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God has spoken in His holiness: I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem and measure out the valley of Succoth.


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From the ends of the earth I cry out to You when my heart is faint; lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.


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How long will you assail a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a bowing wall and a tottering fence.


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Surely they have plotted to cast him down from his high position; they delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.


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Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.


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Surely the sons of men are a vapor; men are a lie; if they were to climb up into the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor.


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Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.


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O God, You are my Mighty God. I will seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You, as in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.


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My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips,


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But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory; but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.


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who sharpen their tongue like a sword. They have bent their bows to shoot their arrows; even bitter words,


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so that they may shoot at the perfect one from a hiding place; suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.


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They encourage themselves in an evil plan; they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, Who shall see them?


text:
They devise injustice; they have finished searching out a plot. Yea, the inward part of man and the heart are unfathomable.


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And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall prudently comprehend His works.


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The righteous shall be glad in Jehovah, and shall trust in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.


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Blessed is the one whom You choose, and cause to draw near You. He shall dwell in Your courts; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, of Your holy temple.


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By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation; You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth and the sea, of those far away.


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And those who dwell in the remotest regions are afraid of Your signs; You make the goings forth of the morning and evening rejoice.


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You visit the earth and water it; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, for in this way You have prepared it.


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You water its furrows with water; You deepen its ridges; You make it soft with showers; You bless the sprouting of it.


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The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with grain; they shout for joy and sing.


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Say unto God, How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies cower before You.


text:
He rules by His power forever; His eyes keep watch over the nations; let not the rebels lift themselves up and exalt. Selah.


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You have allowed men to ride over our heads; we have gone through fire and through water, but You have brought us out into plenty.


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I will offer to You burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bulls with goats. Selah.


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O let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah.


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


text:
Sing unto God, make music unto His name; exalt Him who rides in the wilderness by His name YAH, and rejoice before Him.


text:
God causes those who are alone to live in households; He delivers those who are bound into prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.


text:
The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.


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When you lie down among the sheepfolds, you shall be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and its pinions with yellow gold.


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Why do you gaze in envy, O mountain peaks, at the mountain where God desires to dwell? Yes, Jehovah will abide in it forever.


text:
The chariots of God are a vast innumerable number, thousands of thousands; the Lord is among them as at Sinai, in the Holy Place.


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You have gone up on high; You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts for men, yes, even for the rebellious; that YAH God might dwell among them.


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The Lord said, I will bring back from Bashan; I will bring back My people from the depths of the sea;


text:
The singers went before, then those playing instruments followed; among them were the maidens playing the timbrels.


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There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the leaders of Judah and their multitude, the leaders of Zebulun, and the leaders of Naphtali.


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Rebuke the beasts of the reeds, the community of the bullheaded with the calves of the peoples, trampling with pieces of silver. Scatter the people who delight in war.


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To Him who rides on the Heavens of heavens from antiquity; lo, He sends out His voice, a mighty voice.


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O God, You are awesome out of Your sanctuary; the Mighty God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to the people. Blessed is God.


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I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods have overflowed me.


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They who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; my deceitful enemies who would destroy me are mighty. I am made to bring back what I did not take away.


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Do not let those who wait upon You, O Lord Jehovah of Hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel,


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For the zeal of Your house has eaten Me up; and the reproaches of those who reproached You have fallen upon Me.


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But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Jehovah, in a favorable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercies hear me, in the truth of Your salvation.


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Rescue me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be rescued from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.


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Do not let the flood of waters overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut its mouth upon me.


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Hear me, O Jehovah, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.


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Reproach has broken My heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for someone to show pity, but there was no one; and for comforters, but I found none.


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For they have persecuted the ones whom You have stricken, and they talk to the grief of those You pierced.


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For God will deliver Zion, and will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.


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Let them be ashamed and abashed, those who seek after my soul; let them be turned backward and dishonored, those who desire my hurt.


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Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and let those who love Your salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.


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But I am lowly and needy; make haste to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Jehovah, do not delay!


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Be a rock of refuge for me, to which I may continually go; You have given command to save me, for You are my Rock and my Fortress.


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Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.


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Upon You I have been supported from the womb; You are He who took me out of my mother's belly; my praise shall continually be of You.


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Let them be ashamed; let those who are enemies of my soul be consumed; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, who seek my hurt.


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My mouth shall recount Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day; for I do not know their number.


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I will go in the strength of the Lord Jehovah; I will keep in remembrance Your righteousness; Yours alone.


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And now when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not leave me, until I have declared Your strength to this generation, and Your power to everyone who is to come.


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Your righteousness also, O God, is very high, You who have done great things. O God, who is like You,


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who has shown me great and evil distresses. You will revive me again, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth.


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I will also give thanks unto You with the lute, O my God, for Your faithfulness. To You I will make music with the harp, O Holy One of Israel.


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My tongue also shall meditate on Your righteousness all day long; for those who seek evil upon me are abashed; they are brought to shame.


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He shall execute justice for the lowly of the people; He shall save the children of the needy, and shall crush in pieces the oppressor.


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The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.


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He shall redeem their soul from oppression and violence; and their blood shall be precious in His sight.


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And He shall live, and to Him shall be given the gold of Sheba; and prayer shall continually be made for Him; He shall be blessed daily.


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There shall be an abundance of grain in the earth on the top of the mountains; its fruit shall shake like Lebanon, and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.


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His name is eternal; His name shall continue and increase before the sun; and men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed.


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And blessed is His glorious name forever; let all the earth be filled with His glory! Amen and Amen.


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How have they been brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are fully brought to an end with destruction,


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For lo, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who go whoring away from You.


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But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord Jehovah, to declare all Your works.


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Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the scepter of Your inheritance which You have redeemed; this mount Zion in which You have dwelt.


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Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations, even all the evil the enemy has done in the sanctuary.


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They have set fire to Your sanctuary; they have defiled to the ground the dwelling place of Your name.


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They said in their hearts, Together let us violently oppress them. They have burned up all the meeting places of the Mighty God in the land.


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We do not see our signs; there is no prophet any more; neither is there among us any who knows how long.


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Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? From your bosom, draw it out of Your bosom and exterminate them.


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You have divided the sea by Your strength; You have broken the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.


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You have crushed the heads of leviathan, and given him to be food to the people living in the wilderness.


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Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Jehovah, and that the foolish people have blasphemed Your name.


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O do not deliver the soul of Your turtle dove to the beasts; forget not the community of Your lowly forever.


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Forget not the voice of Your enemies; the roar of those who rise up against You continually increases.


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Unto You, O God, we have given thanks, unto You we have given thanks; for Your wondrous works have declared that Your name is near.


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For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed; and He pours out from it; but the dregs of it, all the wicked of the earth shall drain its dregs and drink.


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The stouthearted were plundered; they have become drowsy and fallen asleep; and none of the mighty men have found their hands.


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Vow unto Jehovah your God, and make good; let all who are around Him bring presents to Him who is to be feared.


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In the day of my distress I sought the Lord; my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted.


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I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search.


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The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.


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We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the following generation the praises of Jehovah, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.


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For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a Law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should declare them to their children;


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that the following generation might know them, the children who would be born, that they might arise and recount them to their children,


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that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of the Mighty God, but keep His commandments;


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and might not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit has not been faithful to the Mighty God.


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Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide flesh for His people?


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Therefore Jehovah heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel,


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the wrath of God came upon them, and killed the fattest of them, and struck down the choice men of Israel.


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When He killed them, then they sought after Him; and they returned and sought earnestly for the Mighty God.


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But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; yea, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath;


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He made a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague,


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And He brought them to the border of His sanctuary, this mountain which His right hand had acquired.


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He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them an inheritance by a surveyor's line, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.


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but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.


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For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.


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from following the ewes nursing their young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.


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So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.


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O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps.


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The dead bodies of Your servants they have given as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.


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Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that have not known You, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon Your name.


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Oh, do not remember our former iniquities against us! Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us, for we have been brought very low.


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Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; and rescue us, and make atonement for our sins, for Your name's sake!


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Why should the nations say, Where is their God? Let it be known among the nations in our sight, the avenging of the blood of Your servants which has been shed.


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Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You; according to the greatness of Your power preserve alive the children of death;


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and return upon our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.


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So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, will continually give You thanks; we will show forth Your praise from generation to generation.


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Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!


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Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself.


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This He has ordained in Joseph as a testimony, when He went throughout the land of Egypt, where I heard a language I did not understand.


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You called in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah


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I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.


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He would have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock I would have satisfied you.


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They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.


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They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.


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My soul longs, yea, is spent for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living Mighty God.


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Even the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young; even Your altars, O Jehovah of Hosts, my King and my God.


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As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings.


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


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For Jehovah God is a sun and shield; Jehovah will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk in integrity.


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I will hear what Jehovah the Mighty God will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly.


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For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abounding in mercy unto all those who call upon You.


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All nations whom You have made shall come and bow down before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name;


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O God, the proud have risen against me, and the company of violent men have sought after my soul, and have not set You before them.


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But You, O Lord, are a Mighty God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.


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O turn to me, and have mercy upon me! Give Your strength to Your servant, and deliver the son of Your handmaid.


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Show me a sign for good, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because You, Jehovah, have helped me and comforted me.


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I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know me; behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia: this one was born there.


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And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man have been born in her; and the Most High shall establish her.


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free among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and who have been cut off from Your hand.


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You have removed my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot go out;


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my eye has become faint because of affliction. Jehovah, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands unto You.


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I will sing of the mercies of Jehovah forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.


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For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the heavens.


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And the heavens shall confess Your wonders, O Jehovah; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints.


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For who in the clouds can be compared to Jehovah? Who among the sons of the gods can be likened unto Jehovah?


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The Mighty God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him.


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You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain; You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.


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Blessed are the people who know the shouts of joy! They walk, O Jehovah, in the light of Your countenance.


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Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, and said: I have placed help upon a mighty one; I have exalted a chosen one out of the people.


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Remember, O Lord, the reproaches of Your Servant, which I bear in My bosom, of all the many peoples,


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with which Your enemies have reproached, O Jehovah, with which they have reproached the heel of Your Anointed.


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Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are the Mighty God.


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You carry them away like a flood; they are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up:


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The days of our years are seventy years; and if by reason of vigor they are eighty years, yet their boast is toil and wickedness; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.


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Make us glad according to the days in which we have been afflicted, the years in which we have seen evil.


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And let the beauty of Jehovah our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yea, establish the work of our hands.


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He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.


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A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.


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You shall tread upon the lion and the viper, the young lion and the dragon you shall trample underfoot.


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Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.


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He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.


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When the wicked spring up like grass, and when all the workers of iniquity blossom, it is that they may be destroyed forever.


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For lo, Your enemies, O Jehovah, for lo, Your enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.


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My eye also shall see my desire upon my enemies; my ears shall hear my desire upon the wicked who rise up against me.


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Jehovah reigns, He is clothed with majesty; Jehovah is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. The world also is established, so that it cannot be shaken.


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The streams have lifted up, O Jehovah, the streams have lifted up their sound; the streams lift up their waves.


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O Jehovah, Mighty God, to whom vengeance belongs; O Mighty God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!


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Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?


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He brings upon them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own evil; Jehovah our God shall cut them off.


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For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice:


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For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.


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Say among the nations, Jehovah reigns; the world also is firmly established, it shall not be shaken; He shall judge the peoples with equity.


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let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forests shall rejoice before Jehovah.


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For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth.


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Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.


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The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Jehovah, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.


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Let all be put to shame who serve graven images, who boast of idols. Bow down before Him, all you gods.


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Zion has heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of Your judgments, O Jehovah.


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You who love Jehovah, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.


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O sing unto Jehovah a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have given Him the victory.


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Jehovah has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has laid bare in the eyes of the nations.


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He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.


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for He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity.


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The King's strength also loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.


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Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel was among those who called upon His name; they called upon Jehovah, and He answered them.


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You answered them, O Jehovah our God; You were to them the Mighty God who forgives, though You took vengeance on their deeds.


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Know that Jehovah, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.


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Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.


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I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.


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I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.


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Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, I will annihilate; the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, I will not endure.


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My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way shall serve me.


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He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not be established in my sight.


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Early will I destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the doers of wickedness from the city of Jehovah.


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Hide not Your face from me in the day of my distress; extend Your ear to me; in the day that I call, answer me speedily.


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For He has looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from Heaven Jehovah has looked upon the earth,


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I said, O my Mighty God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; Your years are from generation to generation.


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They shall perish, but You will endure; yea, they shall all grow old like a garment; like clothing You will change them, and they shall be changed;


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But the mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children,


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Bless Jehovah, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His Word, heeding the voice of His Word.


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Bless Jehovah, O my soul. O Jehovah my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty,


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who lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds His chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind,


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They went up over the mountains; they went down into the valleys, to the place which You have founded for them.


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He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth,


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and wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart.


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O Jehovah, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions;


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this great and wide sea, in which are innumerable creeping things, living things both small and great.


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You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.


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Let sinners be consumed from off the earth, and the wicked be no more. Bless Jehovah, O my soul! Praise YAH!


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that I may see the good of Your elect, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance.


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Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea; the Red Sea.


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He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.


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He delivered them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.


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Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His elect stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, so that He should not destroy them.


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and shed 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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Therefore the wrath of Jehovah was kindled against His people, so that He abhorred His own inheritance.


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Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.


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and remembered His covenant toward them, and was moved to compassion according to the abundance of His mercies.


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Deliver us, O Jehovah our God, and gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise.


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Blessed is Jehovah the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen! Praise YAH!


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and gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.


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Oh, that men would give thanks unto Jehovah for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the sons of men!


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because they rebelled against the Words of the Mighty God, and despised the counsel of the Most High;


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I will give thanks unto You, O Jehovah, among the peoples, and I will make music unto You among the nations.


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God has spoken in His holiness: I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth.


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For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.


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Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before Jehovah, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.


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because he did not remember to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, even to kill the disheartened.


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As he loved cursing, so let it come upon him; as he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.


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As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, so let it enter his body like water, and like oil into his bones.


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Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, and for a girdle with which he girds himself continually.


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But You, O Jehovah the Lord, deal with me for Your name's sake; because Your mercy is good, rescue me.


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Let them curse, but You will bless; when they arise, let them be ashamed, but let Your servant rejoice.


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Let my adversaries be clothed with disgrace, and let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a cloak.


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Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; in the splendor of holiness, from the womb of the dawn, You have the dew of Your youth.


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Jehovah has sworn and will not regret it: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.


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He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill them with dead bodies; He shall greatly shatter the heads over the earth.


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Praise YAH! I will praise Jehovah with my whole heart, in the council of the upright and in the congregation.


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He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever; holy and awesome is His name.


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The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise stands eternally.


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Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.


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He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness stands forever; his horn shall be exalted with honor.


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The wicked shall see and be indignant; he shall gnash his teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked shall perish.


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Not unto us, O Jehovah, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth.


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they have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they utter through their throat.


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Jehovah 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 bands of death have encompassed me, and the distress of Sheol has fallen upon me; I found trouble and sorrow.


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O Jehovah, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid; You have loosed my bonds.


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They have surrounded me, yea, they have surrounded me; but in the name of Jehovah I will destroy them.


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They have surrounded me like bees. They have been quenched like a fire of thorns, for in the name of Jehovah I will destroy them.


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The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of Jehovah works with might.


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The Mighty God is Jehovah, who shines upon us. Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.


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My hands also will I lift up to Your Commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate on Your Statutes.


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JOD: Your hands have made me and formed me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your Commandments.


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I beseech You, let Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your Word to Your servant.


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Let the proud be ashamed, for they have dealt perversely with deception; but I will meditate on Your Precepts.


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You have lightly tossed aside all those who stray from Your Statutes, for their deception is treachery.


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I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your Commandments.


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Jehovah shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.


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where the tribes go up, the tribes of YAH, unto the Testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of Jehovah.


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Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon Jehovah our God, until He shall have mercy upon us.


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Our soul has more than enough of the derision of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud who oppress us.


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Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.


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As the mountains are around Jerusalem, so Jehovah is around His people from this time forth and forever.


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For the scepter of the wicked shall not rest upon the land allotted to the righteous, that the righteous not reach out their hands to iniquity.


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As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, Jehovah shall lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon 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, Jehovah has done great things for them.


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He who goes forth with weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.


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Unless Jehovah builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless Jehovah guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.


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It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep.


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Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.


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Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine inside your house, your children like olive plants around your table.


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Neither let those who pass by them say, The blessing of Jehovah be upon you; we bless you in the name of Jehovah.


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My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning; yea, more than those who watch for the morning.


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O Israel, hope in Jehovah; for with Jehovah there is mercy, and with Him redemption is greatly multiplied.


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Jehovah, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in things beyond my understanding.


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Surely my soul has been calm and quiet, like a child weaned by his mother; my soul is like a weaned child.


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Jehovah has sworn in truth unto David; He will not turn from it: I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.


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If your sons will keep My Covenant and My Testimony which I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne continually.


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It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down to the edge of his garments.


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It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there Jehovah commanded the blessing; life forevermore.


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He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His storehouses.


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For there those who took us captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion!


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If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.


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Remember, O Jehovah, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation!


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O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, blessed is the one who rewards you as you have dealt out to us.


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I will bow down toward Your holy temple, and give thanks unto Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your Word above all Your name.


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All the kings of the earth shall give thanks unto You, O Jehovah, when they hear the Words of Your mouth.


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Though Jehovah is on high, yet He gives attention to the lowly; but the proud He recognizes from afar.


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Though I walk in the midst of distress, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will deliver me.


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Jehovah will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Jehovah, is eternal; do not forsake the works of Your hands.


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yea, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.


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I will give thanks unto You, for I am awesomely and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.


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My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.


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Your eyes saw my embryo, and in Your book I was enrolled, and all my days had been preordained, when as yet there was nothing.


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Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked; guard me against violent men, who have devised to overthrow my steps.


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The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have laid the bait for me. Selah


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Do not grant, O Jehovah, the desires of the wicked; do not promote his evil plans, lest they be exalted. Selah


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let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again.


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Let not a man who speaks evil be established in the earth; evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.


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Let not my heart be inclined to evil speech, to practice wicked deeds with men who do iniquity; and let me not eat of their delicacies.


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Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; it shall be as choicest oil; let my head not refuse it. For still my prayer is against the evil.


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Their judges have been overthrown by the hand of our Rock; they have heard my words, for they have been sweet.


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But my eyes are upon You, O Lord Jehovah; in You I have taken refuge; do not leave my soul destitute.


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When my spirit was faint within me, then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk they have hidden a snare for me.


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Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has vanished from me; no one cares for my soul.


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I cried out unto You, O Jehovah: I said, You are my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.


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Give attention to my cry, for I am brought very low; rescue me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I.


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Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks unto Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me.


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Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness and righteousness answer me.


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For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me dwell in darkness, like those long dead.


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Answer me speedily, O Jehovah; my spirit wastes away! Do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit.


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Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, for in You do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto You.


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Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me into the land of uprightness.


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Revive me, O Jehovah, for Your name's sake! For Your righteousness'sake bring my soul out of distress.


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my goodness and my stronghold, my refuge and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I trust, who subdues my people under me.


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Jehovah, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?


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Extend Your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of the sons of foreigners,


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I will sing a new song unto You, O God; upon a lute and an instrument of ten strings I will make music unto You,


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Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of the sons of foreigners, whose mouth speaks vanity, and whose right hand is a right hand of deception;


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that our sons may be as plants brought up in their youth; that our daughters may be like corner stones, carved in the form of a palace;


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that our granaries may be full, furnishing kind to kind; and our flocks may bring forth thousands and ten thousands outside;


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that our oxen may be laden; that there be no breaking in or going out; that there be no outcry in our streets.


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My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah, and all flesh shall bless His holy name forever and ever.


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who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. Jehovah lets loose the prisoners.


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Jehovah opens the eyes of the blind; Jehovah raises those who are bowed down; Jehovah loves the righteous.


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Jehovah watches over the sojourners; He relieves the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked He turns upside down.


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who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains.


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Let them praise the name of Jehovah, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and the heavens.


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He has also exalted the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints, of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him. Praise YAH!


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If they say, Walk with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause,


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How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity; and those who scorn desire their scorning; and fools hate knowledge?


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Turn back at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you; I will make my words known to you.


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when your terror comes like a storm; and your devastation arrives like a tempest, when distress and anguish come upon you.


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Then they shall call upon me, and I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.


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But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and those who act deceitfully shall be rooted out of it.


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Let not mercy and truth forsake you; tie them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart;


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She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you can desire are not to be compared with her.


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When you lie down, you shall not be in dread; yea, you shall lie down and your sleep shall be sweet.


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Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come back again, and tomorrow I will give, when you have it with you.


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For they do not sleep unless they have done evil, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause someone to fall.


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But the path of the just is as the brightness of dawn, that keeps getting brighter until it is fully daytime.


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as a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and always be intoxicated in her love.


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My son, do this then, and deliver yourself when you come into the hand of your friend: go humble yourself and entreat your friend.


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Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.


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When you go, it shall lead you; when you sleep, it shall watch over you; and when you awake, it will speak with you.


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For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life,


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For on account of a promiscuous woman, a man comes to a loaf of bread; for the man's wife hunts for the precious soul.


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In an instant he goes after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool goes to correction in fetters;


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till an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare; and does not realize that it is for his soul.


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Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips shall be right things.


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The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth.


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when He gave to the sea its limit, that the waters should not pass beyond His command; when He engraved the foundations of the earth,


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then I was at His side, like a master workman; and I was His delight day by day, being in merriment before Him at all times;


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Blessed is the man who gives heed to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.


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He who reproves a scorner gets shame to himself; and he who rebukes a wicked man gets himself a blemish.


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But he does not know that the spirits of the dead are there; the ones she summons are in the depths of Sheol.


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The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son makes a father rejoice, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother.


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Jehovah will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry, but He thrusts away the desire of the wicked.


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Wisdom is found in the lips of him who has discernment, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks heart.


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In the abundance of words there is no end of transgression, but he who restrains his lips is prudent.


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The righteousness of the perfect shall make his way right, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.


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In the death of a wicked man, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of the wicked shall perish.


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Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to Jehovah, but the perfect in their way are His delight.


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Though hand join to hand, the wicked shall not be held innocent, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.


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There is one who scatters, yet increases more; but the one who withholds more than is right, tends to poverty.


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A woman of strength is a crown to her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.


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The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood; but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.


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A man shall be commended according to his wisdom, but he who is of a perverse heart shall be despised.


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A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hands shall be returned to him.


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The slothful does not roast his game taken in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious.


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There are those who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing; and those who act poor, yet have great riches.


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Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he who gathers with the labor of his hands shall increase.


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Poverty and shame shall be to him who ignores correction, but he who heeds reproof shall be honored.


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A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is treasured up for the just.


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There is much food in the cultivated land of the poor, but when there is no justice, it is snatched away.


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In the multitude of people is the king's honor, but in the lack of people is the ruin of the prince.


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Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, but that which is within fools is made known.


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A fool despises his father's instruction, but he who restrains himself because of reproof is prudent.


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The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.


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Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to Jehovah; though hand join in hand, he shall not go unpunished.


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It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness; for the throne is established by righteousness.


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How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver!


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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 wise servant shall have rule over a son who causes shame, and shall share in the inheritance among the brothers.


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The beginning of strife is like letting out water; therefore leave off contention, before it breaks out.


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He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah.


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Even a fool, when he is silent, is counted wise; and he who shuts his lips, as a man of understanding.


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A man's belly shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; he shall be satisfied with the produce of his lips.


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All the brothers of the poor man hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him? He pursues them with words, yet they are nowhere to be found.


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He who has pity upon the poor lends to Jehovah, and He will make compensation for what he has given.


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Strike a scorner, and the simple will beware; reprove one who has understanding, and he will understand knowledge.


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He who assaults his father and chases away his mother is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.


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The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion; whoever stirs him up to anger sins against his own soul.


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The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenty; but the thoughts of everyone who is hasty only to poverty.


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When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise; and when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.


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The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the spirits of the dead.


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The eyes of Jehovah have preserved knowledge, and He overthrows the words of those who deal treacherously.


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He who oppresses the poor to make increase for himself, and he who gives to the rich, shall surely come to poverty.


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that I might make you know the verity of the words of truth; that you may answer words of truth to those who send to you?


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Do you see a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before insignificant men.


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Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle into the heavens.


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for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink! he says to you, but his heart is not with you.


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The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice; and he who begets a wise child shall be glad because of him.


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Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?


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Do not look upon the wine when it is red, when it gives off bubbles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly.


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Yes, you shall be as one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as one who lies upon the top of a mast, saying:


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They struck me, but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When I awake, I will ask for more; to do it again.


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if you say, Behold, we did not know it; does not He who ponders the heart consider it? And the Keeper of your soul, does He not know it? And shall He not repay to a man according to his deeds?


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So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; when you have found it, then there shall be a reward, and your expectation shall not be cut off.


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O wicked one, do not lie in wait at the dwelling of the righteous; do not assault his resting place;


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Prepare your work outside, and make ready for yourself in the field; and afterwards build your house.


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and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face of it, and its stone wall was broken down.


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Do not claim honor for yourself in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of the great;


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for it is better that it should be said to you, Come up here, than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince whom your eyes have seen.


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Do not be quick to start a quarrel, lest you know not what to do in the end of it, when your neighbor has put you to shame.


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Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the soul of his masters.


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Have you found honey? Eat only as much as is enough for you, lest you be filled to excess and vomit it.


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Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, and like vinegar on soda, so is he who sings songs to a heavy heart.


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He who passes by, and crosses over into a quarrel that is not his own, is like one who takes a dog by the ears.


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Ointment and perfume make the heart glad; so does the sweetness of advice from the soul of one's friend.


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Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend, nor go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity; better is a neighbor that is near than a brother afar off.


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He who blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.


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Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with the grain, his foolishness will not depart from him.


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And you shall have enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household, and the sustenance of your maidens.


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Because of the transgression of a land, many are its rulers; but a reign is prolonged by a man of discernment and knowledge.


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Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.


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Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, he himself shall fall into his own pit; but the one who is perfect shall possess the good.


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A ruler lacking understanding is abundant in extortions; he who hates unjust gain shall prolong his days.


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Whoever walks in integrity shall be delivered; but he who is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.


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He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who pursues vanities shall have poverty enough.


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A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich shall not be found innocent.


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He who robs his father or his mother and says, It is no transgression, is a companion to a man who destroys.


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An unjust man is an abomination to the just; and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.


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Who has gone up into Heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound 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 vanity and lying words; give me neither poverty or riches, provide for me my prescribed portion of food;


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lest I be full and deny You and say, Who is Jehovah? Or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.


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There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaw teeth like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.


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The leech has two daughters, crying, Give, give! Three things are never satisfied, yea, four things never say, Enough!


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Sheol, and the barren womb, the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire; these have not said, Enough!


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The eye that mocks his father and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.


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The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a virgin.


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This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no wickedness.


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If you have done foolishly in exalting yourself, or if you have devised evil, lay your hand over your mouth.


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Surely the churning of milk yields butter, and the squeezing of the nose brings forth blood; so the wringing of wrath brings forth strife.


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She also rises while it is still night, and prepares food for her household, and portions for her maidservants.


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The wind goes toward the south, and it turns around to the north; it whirls around continually; and the wind returns according to its circuits.


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All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; to the place from where the rivers come, there they return again.


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All things are full of labor; man is not able to utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.


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That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.


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Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been in the days of antiquity, which were before us.


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There is no remembrance of former things, and also no remembrance of following things of what will be; nor a remembrance of those things by those who follow afterwards.


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And I have given my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that which is done under the heavens. It is an evil task which God has given to the sons of men to be busied with.


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I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and striving of spirit.


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I spoke within my own heart, saying, Lo, I have become great and have gathered more wisdom than all who have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart has seen much of wisdom and knowledge.


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And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I have perceived that this also is striving of spirit.


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I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore regard pleasure; and this was vanity.


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I sought in my heart to gratify my flesh with wine, while leading my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until I might find out what was good for the sons of men to do under the heavens all the days of their life.


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I have bought slaves and maids, and had servants born in my house; I also had more livestock, herds and flocks, than all were before me in Jerusalem.


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I also gathered silver and gold to myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got men singers and women singers for myself, and the delights of the sons of men, wives and concubines.


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I was great and increased more than all that 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 did not withhold my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my share from all my labor.


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Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and striving of spirit; and there was no profit under the sun.


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And I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king, when it has already been done?


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The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness; and I also considered that one event happens to them all.


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Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.


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For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever, since that which is now shall all be forgotten in the days to come. And how does the wise man die? Same as the fool!


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Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is evil to me; for all is vanity and striving of spirit.


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Yes, I hated all my labor which I had done under the sun; because I must leave it to the man who shall come after me.


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And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he shall have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and acted wisely under the sun. This also is vanity.


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For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and with success; yet he shall leave it as inheritance to a man who has not labored in it. This also is vanity and a great evil.


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For what has man from all his labor, and from the striving of his heart, in which he has labored under the sun?


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For all his days are sorrows, and his task grief; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. This also is vanity.


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Is it not good for a man to eat and drink and make his soul behold the good in his labor. This also, I saw, that it was from the hand of God.


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For God gives wisdom, and knowledge, and joy to a man who is good in His sight. But to the sinner He gives labor, to collect and gather, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and striving of spirit.


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a time to throw 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 set eternity in their hearts, so that no man can find out the work that God has made from the beginning to the end.


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And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor; it is the gift of God.


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I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God does it so that men should fear before Him.


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That which has been, is now; and that which is to be, already has been; and God exacts what is pursued.


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Moreover I saw under the sun in the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.


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I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.


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I said in my heart concerning the manner of the sons of men, that God tests them, that they might see that they themselves are beasts.


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For that which happens to the sons of men also happens to beasts, even one thing happens to them. As this one dies, so that one dies; yea, they all have one breath; so that a man has no advantage over a beast; for all is vanity.


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Who knows the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the beast that goes downward to the earth?


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Therefore I have seen that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion; for who can bring him to see what shall be after him?


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So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold the tears of the oppressed ones, and they had no comforter! And on the side of those who oppressed them there was power, but they had no comforter.


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Yea, better than both is he who has never existed, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.


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Again, I considered all labor, and every successful work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and striving of spirit.


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There is one alone, without a second; indeed, he has neither son nor brother; yet there is no end to all his labor; and his eyes are not satisfied with riches; and he does not ask, For whom do I labor and deprive my soul of good? This also is vanity; indeed, it is an evil task.


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For if they fall, the one will lift up his companion; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he does not have another to help him up.


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There is no end of all the people, of all who have been before them; they also who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and striving of spirit.


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Guard your feet when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they do not know that they are doing evil.


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Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be hasty to say a word before God. For God is in Heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.


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When you vow a vow to God, do not hesitate to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you have vowed.


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Do not permit your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; 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 the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, do not be astonished at the matter; for He who is higher than the highest watches; so there are those higher than they.


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He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with gain. This also is vanity.


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When the goods increase, those who eat it increase; what profit is it, then, to its owners, except to see it with their eyes?


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The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.


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As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked he shall return, to go as he came. And from his labor he shall take away nothing that he may carry in his hand.


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And this also is a sore evil, that in all, as he came, so shall he go; and what profit does he have who has labored for the wind?


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Behold that which I have seen: It is good and right for one to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labor that he labors under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him; for it is his portion.


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Also every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.


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For he does not excessively dwell on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy in the joy of his heart.


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A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner devours it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.


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If a man begets a hundred, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with goodness, and there is also for him no burial; I say, a miscarriage is better than he;


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Yea, though he lives twice a thousand years, yet he has seen no goodness. Do not all go to one place?


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For what has the wise more than the fool? What does the poor have, who knows how to walk before the living?


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Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This is also vanity and striving of spirit.


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That which one is, he has been named already, and it is known that he is man. And he is not able to contend with Him who is mightier than he.


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For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall 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 that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart.


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Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.


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For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense; but the excellence of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to those who have it.


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In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity take note that God also has ordained the one next to the other, in order that man should not find anything after him.


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I have seen everything in the days of my vanity: There is a just one who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked one who prolongs life in his wickedness.


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It is good that you should grasp this; yea, also from this do not withdraw your hand; for he who fears God shall come forth out from them all.


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I set my heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness;


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and I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands like fetters. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be captured by her.


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which my soul still seeks, but I find not. One man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all those I have not found.


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Who is as the wise? And who knows the explanation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the strength of his face is changed.


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Do not be hasty to leave his presence. Do not take a stand in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him;


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Whoever keeps the command shall experience no evil decree; and a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment.


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No one has power over the spirit to restrain the spirit; nor power in the day of death; and there is no discharge from that war; nor shall wickedness deliver its owners.


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All this I have seen, and I gave my heart to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.


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And so I saw the wicked buried, they who had come and gone from the consecrated place. And they were forgotten in the city where they had done so. This also is vanity.


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Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.


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Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.


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But it shall not be well with the wicked, nor shall he prolong his days, which are like a shadow; because he does not fear before God.


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There is a vanity which is done on the earth: There are just ones to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked ones to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.


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Then I praised gladness, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be glad; for that shall remain with him of his labor for the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.


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When I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth, not seeing sleep with the eyes, day or night;


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then I looked at all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun; because though a man labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Moreover, though a wise one speaks of knowing, yet he shall not be able to find it.


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For all this I took to heart, in order to explain it: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knows, whether by love or hatred, all that is before them.


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All happens alike to everyone; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him who sacrifices, and to him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner. He who swears is as he who fears an oath.


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This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.


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For whoever is chosen, of all those living, there is confidence; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.


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For the living know that they shall die; but the dead do not know anything, nor do they have any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.


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Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, have now perished; nor do they ever any longer have a part in anything that is done under the sun.


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Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.


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Look on life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life, which He has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity. For that is your share in this life, and in your labor which you labor under the sun.


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Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no work nor reasoning nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol where you go.


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I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.


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For man also does not know his time; as the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly 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, and built huge bulwarks against it.


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And a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no one remembered that poor man.


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And I said, Wisdom is better than strength; but the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.


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As dead flies cause the perfumer's ointment to stink and ferment; so does a little folly to one esteemed for wisdom and honor.


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If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, remain quietly where you are; for quietness heals great offenses.


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If the iron is blunt, and he does not whet the edge, then he must exert more strength. But wisdom gives excellent success.


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A fool also multiplies words; a man does not know what shall be; and who can tell him what shall be after him?


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Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your rulers eat at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!


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Do not curse the king, not even in your thoughts; and do not curse the rich, not even in your bedroom; for a bird of the air may carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.


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If the clouds are full of rain, they empty upon the earth; and if the tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall be.


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As you do not know what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones grow in the womb of a pregnant woman; even so you do not know the works of God who makes everything.


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In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which shall be blessed, either this or that, or whether they both alike shall be good.


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But if a man lives many years, and rejoices in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that has come is vanity.


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Rejoice in your youth, young man; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment.


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Therefore remove vexation from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for childhood and black hair of youth are vanity.


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Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, so that the evil days do not come, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them.


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While the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain;


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in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men bow down, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened,


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and the doors are shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are silenced;


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also they are afraid of the heights, and terrors along the way, and the almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper is a burden, and desire fails; because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets;


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or before the silver cord is loosed, 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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And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.


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The words of the wise are like goads, and as nails from the collection, fastened by the Master, given from one Shepherd.


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And further, by these, my son, be admonished: The making of many books has no end, and much study is a weariness to the flesh.


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Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is for every man.


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Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, your name is ointment poured forth; therefore the virgins love you.


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Draw me away! Daughters of Jerusalem: We will run after you. Shulamite: The king has brought me into his chambers. Daughters of Jerusalem: We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine. Shulamite: Rightly do they love you.


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I am black, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.


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Do not look upon me, because I am black, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.


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To Her Beloved: Tell me, O you whom I love, where you feed your flock, where you make it rest at noon. For why should I be as one who veils herself by the flocks of your companions?


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The Beloved: If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, follow in the footsteps of the flock, and feed your young goats beside the tents of the shepherds.


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Shulamite: Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.


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To the Daughters of Jerusalem: He brought me into the house of wine, and his banner over me was love.


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I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, that you do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.


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Shulamite: The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.


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My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; he is looking through the windows, gazing 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 ripens her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away!


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O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your form, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your appearance is beautiful.


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Her Brothers: Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.


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To Her Beloved: Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether.


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Shulamite: By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but I did not find him.


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I will rise now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the broad places I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.


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Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I took hold of him and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the room of her who conceived me.


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Shulamite: Who is this coming out of the wilderness like columns of smoke, like the smoke of sacrifices of myrrh and frankincense, of all the fragrant powders of the merchant?


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They all hold swords, being expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night.


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He made its pillars of silver, its support of gold, its seat of purple; its interior paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.


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Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, the day of the gladness of his heart.


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The Beloved: Behold, you are beautiful, my love! Behold, you are beautiful! You have dove's eyes behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats lying down at Mount Gilead.


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Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep which have come up from the washing, every one of which bears twins, and none is barren among them.


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Your lips are like a strand of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like a piece of pomegranate.


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Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory, on which hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.


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Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.


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Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.


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You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; you have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with the pendant around your neck.


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How beautiful is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, and the scent of your ointments than all spices!


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Your lips, O my spouse, drip as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue; and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.


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spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief balsam;


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Shulamite: Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its excellent fruits.


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The Beloved: I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. To His Friends: Eat, O friends! Drink, yes, get drunk, O beloved ones!


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Shulamite: I sleep, but my heart is awake; it is the sound of my beloved! He knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is covered with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.


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I have stripped off my gown; how shall I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how shall I dirty them?


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I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the lock.


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I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone. My soul went forth when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.


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The watchmen who went about the city found me. They struck me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took my veil away from me.


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Daughters of Jerusalem: What is your beloved more than any other beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than any other beloved, that you charge us so?


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His cheeks are like a bed of spices, like grown herbs. His lips are like lilies, dripping flowing myrrh.


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His hands are like folds of gold filled with precious stones. His torso is smooth as ivory overlaid with sapphires.


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His legs are like pillars of marble set on bases of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.


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His mouth is most sweet. Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.


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Daughters of Jerusalem: Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with you?


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Shulamite: My beloved has gone to his garden, to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens, and to gather lilies.


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The Beloved: O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners!


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Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats lying down in Gilead.


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Your teeth are like a flock of ewes which have come up from the washing; every one bears twins, and not one is barren among them.


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But my dove, my perfect one, is the one, the only one of her mother, the pure of the one who bore her. The daughters saw her and called her blessed, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.


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Who is she who looks forth as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?


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Shulamite: I went down to the garden of nuts to see the greenery of the valley, to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranates had bloomed.


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The Beloved and His Friends: Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may gaze upon you! Shulamite: What would you see in the Shulamite; as it were, the dancing of two armies?


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The Beloved: How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince's daughter! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skilled artist.


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Your navel is like a round goblet; it lacks no mixed wine. Your belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.


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Your neck is like an ivory tower, your eyes like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.


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Your head is like Carmel, and the hair of your head is like purple; the king is held captive in its tresses.


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I said, I will go up into the palm tree, I will grasp its stalk. Let now your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your nose like apples,


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and the roof of your mouth like excellent wine. Shulamite: The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding gently over the lips into sleep.


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Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms are open, and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give my love to you.


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At our door all manner of excellent fragrances for love, new and old, I have treasured up for you, my beloved.


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Oh, that you were like my brother, who nursed at my mother's breasts! If I should find you outside, I would kiss you; I would not be despised.


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I would lead you and bring you into my mother's house, to teach me; I would cause you to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.


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A Relative: Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother travailed with you; there she travailed with you and bore you.


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Shulamite to Her Beloved: Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as Sheol; its flames are flames of fire, a flame of YAH.


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Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the rivers overflow it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be despised with contempt.


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Relatives: We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in 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; and if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.


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Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon; he leased the vineyard to keepers; everyone was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.


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To Solomon: My own vineyard is before me. You, O Solomon, may have a thousand, and those who tend its fruit two hundred.


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Shulamite: Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.


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The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.


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Give heed, O heavens, and hear, O earth! For Jehovah has spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, but they have rebelled against Me.


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The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's manger, but Israel does not know; My people have not discerned.


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Woe, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who corrupt! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have scorned the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged backward.


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Why will you be stricken any more? Will you rebel more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.


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From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it; only wounds and bruises and fresh stripes; they have not been closed nor bound up, nor has it been softened with oil.


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Your land is a desolation; your cities burned with fire. Strangers devour your land before you; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.


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And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.


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Hear the Word of Jehovah, you rulers of Sodom. Give heed to the Law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.


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What good to Me are your many sacrifices, says Jehovah? I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of well-fed cattle; nor do I delight in the blood of bulls, of lambs, or he goats.


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Bring no more vain sacrifices; its incense is an abomination to Me. I cannot endure the new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies, and the wicked festivals.


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My soul hates your new moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.


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And when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you. Even though you multiply prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.


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Learn to do good, seek justice, set straight the oppressor, judge for the orphan, plead for the widow.


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Come now and let us reason together, says Jehovah: Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.


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But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.


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Oh how the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it; but now, murderers!


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Your rulers are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe, and pursues rewards. They do not judge for the orphan, nor does the cause of the widow come before them.


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Therefore says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah! I will be eased of My adversaries, and avenge Myself of My enemies.


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And I will turn back My hand upon you, and refine your dross, as with lye, and remove all your alloy.


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And I will return your judges as at the first; and your advisers, as at the beginning; then you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.


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And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together. And those who forsake Jehovah shall be consumed.


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For they shall be ashamed of the mighty trees which you desired; and you shall be ashamed of the gardens that you have chosen.


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And the strong shall be as tinder, and the work as a spark; and they both shall burn together; and no one shall quench them.


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And it shall come to pass in the end times, that the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.


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And many people shall go and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion the Law shall go forth, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.


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And He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore.


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For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they have been consecrated from the east, and are fortunetellers like the Philistines, and they clap hands in worship with children of foreigners.


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Their land is also filled with silver and gold. There is no end to their treasures. And their land is full of horses, neither is there any end to their chariots.


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Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.


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Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty.


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The lofty eyes of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; but Jehovah, He alone, shall be exalted in that day.


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For the day of Jehovah of Hosts shall come upon all the proud and lofty ones, and upon all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low;


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And the pride of man shall be bowed down; and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.


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And they shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, for the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty; when He rises up to make the earth tremble.


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In that day a man shall throw his idols of silver and gold, which they made each man to bow down to, to the moles and to the bats;


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to go into the crevices of the rocks, and into the clefts of the cliffs, from the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty; when He rises up to make the earth tremble.


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For behold, the Lord Jehovah of Hosts takes away the support and the staff from Jerusalem and from Judah; the whole support of bread and the whole support of water;


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the commander of fifty and the honorable man; the counselor and the skilled magician; and the expert enchanter.


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And the people shall be oppressed, man against man, every man by his neighbor. The youth will be insolent against the elder, and the dishonorable against the honorable.


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When a man shall take hold of his brother, in his father's house, saying, You have clothing! Come, you be our ruler; let this ruin be under your power.


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In that day he shall lift himself up and say, I cannot be one who binds up; for there is neither bread nor clothing in my house; do not make me a ruler of the people.


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For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen; because their tongue and their deeds are rebellion toward Jehovah and against the eyes of His glory.


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The expression of their faces witnesses against them; they have declared their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have recompensed evil upon themselves.


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As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people, those leading you cause you to go astray, and they swallow the way of your paths.


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Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of His people, and their rulers. For you have eaten up the vineyard, the plunder of the poor is in your houses.


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What do you mean that you crush My people, and grind the faces of the poor? says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.


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Furthermore Jehovah says, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched out necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and make a tinkling with their feet;


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therefore Jehovah will attach scabs to the top of the head of the daughters of Zion; and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.


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In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and their headbands, and their crescents of the moon,


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And it shall be, instead of a smell of perfume, there shall be an odor of decay. And instead of a belt, a rope. And instead of well set hair, baldness. And instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.


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And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothing; only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.


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In that day shall the Branch of Jehovah be beautiful and honorable, and the fruit of the earth excellent and glorious for those who have escaped from Israel.


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And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem;


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


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And Jehovah will create over all the foundation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a canopy.


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And there shall be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from storm and rain.


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Now I will sing to my Beloved a song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard. My Beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.


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And He fenced it, and cleared out its stones, and planted it with choice vines, and built a tower in its midst, and hewed out a winepress in it; and He looked for it to produce grapes, but it produced rotten grapes.


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What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield rotten grapes?


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And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down;


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and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug; but briers and thorns shall come up. And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.


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For the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold an outcry!


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Woe to those who join house to house, laying field to field, until there is no more space for you to dwell alone in the midst of the earth!


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Jehovah of Hosts said in my ears, Truly many big and pleasant houses shall be laid waste, without inhabitant.


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Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to pursue strong drink; remaining until the evening while wine inflames them!


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And the lute, and the harp, the tambourine, and pipe, and wine, are at their feasts; but they do not regard the work of Jehovah, neither do they give attention to the work of His hands.


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For this My people have gone into captivity without knowledge, and their honorable men into famine, and their multitude dried up with thirst.


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Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their tumult, and he who exults, shall go down into it.


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And people are prostrated, and great men are brought low and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.


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But Jehovah of Hosts is exalted in justice, and the Mighty God, the Holy One, is sanctified in righteousness.


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Then shall the lambs feed in their pastures, and the waste places of the fat ones shall sojourners eat.


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who say, Let Him hurry and hasten His work, so that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, so 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 fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be like rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up like dust, because they have cast away the Law of Jehovah of Hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel.


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Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them, and has stricken them; and the hills trembled, and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.


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And He will lift up a banner to distant nations, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth; and behold, they shall come with speed, swiftly.


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No one shall be weary nor stumble among them; no one shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the waistband of their loins be loosened, nor the thong of their sandals be broken;


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whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hooves seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.


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Their roaring shall be like a lion; they shall roar like young lions; and they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and no one shall deliver it.


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And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one looks to the land, behold darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by clouds.


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In the year that King Uzziah died I then saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.


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Above it stood the seraphim; each one 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 cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts; the whole earth full of His glory!


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Then I said, Woe is me! for I am undone! 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, Jehovah of Hosts.


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Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar.


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And he applied it to my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.


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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 tell this people, You listen to hear, but do not understand; you look to see, but do not perceive.


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Make the heart of this people fat, and make 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 back, and be healed.


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Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities have been smashed to ruins without inhabitant, and the houses without a man, and the land is left devastated,


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But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and be consumed like the terebinth and like the oak when it is cut down, whose stump remains. The holy seed is its stump.


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And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it.


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And it was told to the house of David, saying, Syria is allied with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are swayed by the wind.


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Then Jehovah said to Isaiah, Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field.


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And say to him, Take care and be quiet. Do not fear, nor be softhearted because of the two tails of these smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin from Syria, and of the son of Remaliah;


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Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and break through the wall for ourselves, and set a king in the midst of it, the son of Tabeel.


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For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken so that it shall not be a people.


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And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.


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And He said, Hear now, O house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?


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Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.


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For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you loathe shall be forsaken by both its kings.


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Jehovah shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father's house, days that have not come since the days that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.


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And it shall come to pass in that day that Jehovah shall whistle for the fly at the ends of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.


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And they shall come, and all of them shall rest in the steep valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and on all the thorns, and on all the pastures.


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In the same day the Lord shall shave with a hired razor, with those beyond the River, with the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet, and it shall also snatch away the beard.


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so it will be that, from the abundance of milk which they shall give, that He shall eat butter; for everyone who is left in the land shall eat butter and honey.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines, worth a thousand pieces of silver, it shall even be for briers and thorns.


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With arrows and with bows, men shall come there, because all the land shall become briers and thorns.


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And all hills which were hoed with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be a place to turn the ox loose, and for sheep to trample.


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And Jehovah said to me, Take a large scroll and write in it with a man's pen: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. (which means, Hurry to the plunder! Make haste to the spoils!)


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And I took to myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.


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And I went in to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then Jehovah said to me, Call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.


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For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and, My mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.


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Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;


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therefore behold, the Lord brings up upon them the waters of the River, strong and abundant, even the king of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks.


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And he shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over; he shall reach to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.


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Suffer evil, O people, and be broken! Give ear, all you from distant lands. Gird yourselves and be broken. Gird yourselves and be broken!


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Take counsel and make plans, but they will be frustrated. Speak a word, but it shall not stand; for the Mighty God is with us.


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For Jehovah spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and warned me against walking in the way of this people, saying,


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Do not say, A conspiracy! to everything which this people calls, A conspiracy! And do not be afraid with their fear, nor be terrified.


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And He shall be a sanctuary for you; but a stone of stumbling, and a rock of falling to both the houses of Israel; and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah has given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel, from Jehovah of Hosts who dwells in Mount Zion.


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And when they say to you, Consult the sorcerers and fortunetellers who peep and mutter; should not a people inquire of their God, rather than the living of the dead?


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To the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.


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And they shall pass through it, hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, that they shall be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward.


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And they shall look to the land; and behold, trouble and darkness and gloom of anguish! And they shall be thrust into darkness.


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Nevertheless the gloom shall not be upon her who was in distress, as in the former time when He brought contempt upon the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali. For afterwards He will glorify the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations.


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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light has shined.


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You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy. They rejoice before You according to the joy at harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoils.


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For You have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his taskmaster, as in the day of Midian.


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For every trembling boot of the warrior, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be fuel for burning in the fire.


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For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Strong and Mighty God, The Eternal Father, The Prince of Peace.


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Of the increase of His government and peace upon the throne of David there will be no end; and upon His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on, even forever. The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will accomplish this.


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And all the people shall know; Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and insolence of heart,


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The bricks have fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will use cedars instead.


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the Syrians in front and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.


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Therefore the Lord shall not rejoice over their young men, nor shall He have mercy on their orphans and widows; for everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks foolishness. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.


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For wickedness burns like the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall billow up in a column of smoke.


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Through the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire; no man shall have compassion on his brother.


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And he shall cut off on the right hand and be hungry; and he shall devour on the left, and they shall not be satisfied. Each man shall eat the flesh of his own arm;


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Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and together they shall be against Judah. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.


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to thrust aside the needy from judgment, and to rob the right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may plunder the orphans!


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And what will you do in the day of judgment, and in destruction when it comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?


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Without Me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. In all this His hand is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.


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I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of My wrath. I will command him to draw out the plunder, and to seize the spoils, and to trample them like the mud of the streets.


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Yet he does not plan this, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off not a few nations.


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As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria;


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And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, I will punish the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his haughty looks.


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For he says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am discerning. And I have removed the borders of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.


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And my hand has found, as a nest, the riches of the people; and as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; and there was no one who moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.


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Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Shall the saw magnify itself against him who moves it? As if the rod could swing itself at those who lift it up! As if a staff could rise up, as though it were not wood!


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Therefore the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, shall send leanness among his fat ones; and under his glory He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.


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And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and His Holy One as a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.


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And it shall burn up the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a sick one faints.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob, shall never again lean on him who struck them; but will truly lean on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel.


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For though Your people Israel are like the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the completion which is decreed shall overflow with righteousness.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria. He shall strike you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, in the way of Egypt.


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But yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease, and My anger shall be for their destruction.


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And Jehovah of Hosts shall stir up a scourge upon him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as His staff was on the sea, so shall He lift it up in the way of Egypt.


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And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil.


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they have gone over the pass; they have taken lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid, Gibeah of Saul has fled.


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Yet he shall remain at Nob that day; he shall shake his fist against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.


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Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, shall lop off the bough with terror; and those exalted high shall be chopped down, and the haughty shall be humbled.


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And He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by the Mighty One.


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And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.


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And He shall savor the fear of Jehovah. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.


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But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and shall decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike 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 also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.


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And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.


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And the nursing child shall play near the hole of the adder, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper's den.


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They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.


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And in that day there shall be the Root of Jesse, standing as a banner for the people; to Him the nations shall resort; and His resting place shall be glorious.


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And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall again set His hand the second time to recover the remnant of His people who remain, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.


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And He shall lift up a banner for the nations, and shall gather the outcasts of Israel and gather together the scattered ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth.


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And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not distress Ephraim.


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But they shall swoop down upon the shoulders of the Philistines to the west; they shall plunder the children of the east together; they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.


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And Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; and with His scorching wind He shall shake His fist over the River, and shall strike it into seven streams, and make men tread it dry-shod.


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And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, those left as survivors from Assyria; as it was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.


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And in that day you shall say, O Jehovah, I will praise You; though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.


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Behold, the Mighty God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for YAH JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.


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And in that day you shall say, Praise Jehovah! Call upon His name; declare His doings among the people, make mention that His name is exalted.


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Lift up a banner on the bare mountain, raise the voice to them; wave the hand, so that they may enter the gates of the nobles.


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I have commanded My consecrated ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger, those who rejoice in My majesty.


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The sound of a multitude in the mountains, as of many people! A tumultuous sound of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! Jehovah of Hosts musters the army for battle.


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They come from a distant land, from the ends of the heavens; Jehovah and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land.


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and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall writhe like a woman giving birth. They shall be amazed at one another; their faces like flames.


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Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, cruel and with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land waste; and He shall destroy its sinners out of it.


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For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not shine its light.


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And I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the tyrants.


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Thus I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger.


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And it shall be as a hunted gazelle, and as a sheep that no man takes up; each man shall turn to his own people, and everyone flee into his own land.


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Everyone who is found shall be thrust through; and everyone who is captured shall fall by the sword.


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Their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.


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Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not value silver; and they shall not delight in gold.


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Their bows shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.


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And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the majestic beauty of Chaldea, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.


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It shall nevermore be inhabited, nor shall it be lived in from generation to generation; nor shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; nor shall the shepherds make their flocks lie down there.


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But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of howling creatures; and young owls shall dwell there, and wild goats shall skip about.


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And howling beasts shall respond from desolate places, and dragons in the delightful palaces. Indeed, her time will soon come to pass, and her days shall not be prolonged.


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For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel and settle them in their own land; and the sojourner shall be joined with them, and they shall cling to the house of Jacob.


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And the people shall take them and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for servants and maids. And they shall make captives of their captors; and they shall rule over their oppressors.


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And it shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard service with which you were worked,


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that you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say, How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!


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who struck peoples in wrath, strokes without letup, ruling the nations in anger, a persecution without restraint.


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Yea, the noble trees rejoice over you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you have been laid down, no woodcutter comes up against us.


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Sheol from below is excited over you, to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, all the chief of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.


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Your arrogance is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of your lutes. The maggot is spread under you, and the worms cover you.


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How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!


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For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of the Mighty God; I will also sit on the mount of the appointed assembly, in the recesses of the north.


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Those who see you shall stare at you and consider diligently, saying, Is this the man who made the earth to tremble; who shook kingdoms;


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who made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed its cities; who did not open the house for his prisoners?


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But you are cast out of your grave like an abhorred branch, and like the apparel of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; like a carcass trampled under foot.


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You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you destroyed your land and killed your people; the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.


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Prepare slaughter for his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, so that they may not rise nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.


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For I will rise up against them, says Jehovah of Hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and offspring, and posterity, says Jehovah.


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I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog, and marshes of muddy water; and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says Jehovah of Hosts.


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Jehovah of Hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so it shall come to pass; and as I have purposed, so it shall stand;


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to break Assyria in My land, and on My mountains to trample him under foot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden shall be taken from off their shoulders.


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This is the purpose that is purposed upon all the earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.


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For Jehovah of Hosts has purposed, and who shall annul it? And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?


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Rejoice not, all you of Philistia, because the rod that struck you is broken; for a viper comes forth from the root of the serpent, and his offspring shall be a fiery flying serpent.


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And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and he shall slay your remnant.


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Howl, O gate! Cry, O city! O Philistia, all of you are melted away; for from the north a smoke comes, with no straggler in his ranks.


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What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah has founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.


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The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste; it is cut off; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste; it is cut off.


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One has gone up to the house, even to Dibon, the high places, to weep. Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba; baldness shall be on all their heads, and every beard cut off.


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In the streets they shall clothe themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses and in their streets everyone shall howl, weeping bitterly.


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And Heshbon and Elealeh shall cry for help; their voice shall be heard as far as Jahaz. So the armed soldiers of Moab shall shout; he trembles for his life.


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My heart shall call out to Moab; his fugitives flee to Zoar like a three year old heifer. He goes up the ascent to Luhith with weeping; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up an outcry of destruction.


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For the waters of Nimrim are desolate; for the grass has dried up and the new grass fails; there is nothing green.


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Therefore they shall carry off the abundance they have produced and stored, over to the Brook of the Willows.


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For the cry has gone around all the borders of Moab, its howling even to Eglaim; its howling even to Beer-elim.


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For the waters of Dimon are full of blood, for I will lay more upon Dimon; upon the escapees of Moab, lions, even upon the remnant of the land.


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Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela of the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.


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For it shall be as a fluttering bird cast out of the nest; so it shall be for the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon.


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Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as night in the middle of the day; hide the outcasts; do not betray the one who flees.


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Let My outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be a shelter to them from the face of the destroyer; for the extortioner is at an end, the destroyer ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.


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And in mercy the throne shall be established; and One shall sit on it in truth in the tent of David, judging and seeking swift justice in righteousness.


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We have heard of the pride of Moab; very proud; even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his rage; but it is all empty talk.


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Therefore Moab shall howl for Moab, everyone shall howl. You shall mourn for the foundations of Kir-hareseth; surely they are stricken.


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For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have beat down its choice plants which have come to Jazer, and wandered in the wilderness; her branches are stretched out, they have crossed over the sea.


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Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah with the weeping of Jazer. I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for the shouting for your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen short.


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Gladness and joy are removed out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there is no singing and no shouting. The treader shall tread out no wine in the presses; I have made their shouting to cease.


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And it shall come to pass when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not have enough strength.


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But now Jehovah has spoken, saying, Within three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be disgraced with all that great multitude; and the little remnant shall be few, not mighty.


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The burden against Damascus: Behold, Damascus is removed from being a city, and it shall be a heap of ruins.


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The cities of Aroer are forsaken; now they are for flocks which lie down, and no one makes them afraid.


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And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the rest of Syria. They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, says Jehovah of Hosts.


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And it shall come to pass in that day that the glory of Jacob shall be laid low, and the fatness of his flesh shall be made lean.


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And it shall be as the gathering of grain at harvest, and his arm reaps the heads of grain. And it shall be as he who gathers heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.


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Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, like the shaking of an olive tree, where two or three ripe olives are in the top of the uppermost branch, with four or five in the fruitful branches of it, says Jehovah the God of Israel.


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In that day a man shall look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.


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And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, nor respect that which his fingers have made, neither the groves nor idols.


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In that day his strong cities shall be like a forsaken branch, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel; and it shall become a desolation.


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Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, therefore you shall plant pleasant plants and shall set strange shoots.


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In the day you shall fence in your planting; and in the morning you shall make your seed sprout. But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of sickness and incurable pain.


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Woe to the multitude of many people, who make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations who make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!


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The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far away, and shall be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the tempest.


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At evening time, behold, terror! Before the morning, he is no more! This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.


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which sends ambassadors by sea, even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying, Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people to be feared until now and onward; a mighty nation, treading underfoot; whose land the rivers have divided!


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All you inhabitants of the world and you dwelling on the earth, you see when he lifts up a banner on the mountains. And you hear when he blows the shofar.


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For thus Jehovah said to me, I will take My rest, and I will look on from My dwelling place, like radiant heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.


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For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.


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They shall be left together to the birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the birds shall summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.


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In that time the present shall be brought to Jehovah of Hosts from a nation tall and smooth, from a people to be feared until now and onward; a mighty nation, treading underfoot; whose land the rivers have divided; to the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts, Mount Zion.


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The burden against Egypt: Behold, Jehovah rides on a swift cloud and comes into Egypt. And the idols of Egypt shall tremble at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in its midst.


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And I will set Egyptians against Egyptians; and they shall fight each man against his brother, and each against his neighbor; city against city, kingdom against kingdom.


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And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of it, and I will destroy their counsel. And they shall inquire of the idols, and the sorcerers, and the mediums, and the fortunetellers.


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And I will give Egypt over into the hand of a cruel master; and a fierce king shall rule over them, says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts.


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And rivers shall be odious from the stench; the Nile of Egypt will languish and dry up; the reeds and the rushes shall wither.


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Bare places by the Nile, by the mouth of the Nile; and everything sown by the Nile shall dry up, be driven away, and be no more.


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The fishermen also shall mourn, and all who drop a hook into the Nile shall lament, and those who spread nets on the waters shall grow feeble.


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Surely the rulers of Zoan are fools; the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?


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Where are they? Where are your wise men? And let them tell you now, and let them know what Jehovah of Hosts has advised against Egypt.


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The rulers of Zoan have become fools, the rulers of Noph are deceived; they have also misled Egypt, the chief of her tribes.


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Jehovah has mixed a perverse spirit in its midst; and they have caused Egypt to err in all its work, like a drunkard staggers in his vomit.


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In that day Egypt shall be like women; and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of Hosts, which He shakes over it.


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And the land of Judah shall be a terror to Egypt; everyone who mentions it shall be afraid in himself because of the counsel of Jehovah of Hosts which He has devised against it.


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In that day five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan and swear to Jehovah of Hosts; one shall be called the City of Destruction.


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In that day there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at its border.


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And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of Hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry unto Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a deliverer, even a great one, and shall deliver them.


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And Jehovah shall be known to Egypt, and Egypt shall know Jehovah in that day, and shall offer sacrifice and offering; and they shall vow a vow unto Jehovah, and make good.


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And Jehovah shall strike Egypt; He shall strike and heal; and they shall return to Jehovah, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.


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In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria shall come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt shall serve with Assyria.


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In that day Israel shall be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth;


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whom Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be My people Egypt, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.


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In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and fought against Ashdod and took it;


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at that time Jehovah spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loosen the sackcloth off your loins, and take your sandal off your foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.


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And Jehovah said, Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years, as a sign and wonder to Egypt and Ethiopia;


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so shall the king of Assyria lead away Egypt as captives, and Ethiopia as exiles, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with buttocks stripped bare, to the indecent exposure of Egypt.


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And the inhabitant of this region shall say in that day, Behold our confidence to which we have fled for help, to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And now, how shall we escape?


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The burden against the wilderness of the sea: As tempests in the south pass through, so it comes from the wilderness, from a dreadful land.


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An intense vision is declared to me: The deceiver deals treacherously, and the plunderer devastates. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media! I have caused all her sighing to cease.


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Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have taken hold on me like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am bent over from hearing it; I am dismayed from seeing it.


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My heart has wandered, terror overwhelms me; the twilight I longed for He has turned into trembling.


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Prepare the table, keep watch in the watchtower, eat, drink. Arise, you rulers, and anoint the shield.


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And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, a chariot of an ass, and a chariot of a camel. And he paid attention and listened with great diligence.


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And he cried out, A lion! My lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day, and I am stationed at my post all the nights.


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And behold, here comes a chariot with a man, and a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And all the graven images of her gods He has smashed to the ground.


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O my threshing, and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.


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The burden against Dumah: He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?


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The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night; if you will inquire, inquire; come, return.


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The burden against Arabia: You shall lodge in the forest of Arabia, O traveling companies of Dedanites.


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The people of the land of Tema have brought water to him who was thirsty; they have met him who fled with their bread.


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For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the vehemence of war.


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For Jehovah has said to me, Within a year, according to the year of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail;


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and the rest of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished; for Jehovah the God of Israel, has spoken.


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The noisy city, the joyous city, is filled with turbulence. Your slain ones are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.


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All your rulers have fled together; they have been captured without the bow; all who are found in you have been captured together; they have fled from afar.


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Therefore I said, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly; do not insist on comforting me because of the devastation of the daughter of my people.


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For it is a day of trouble, and of trampling down, and of perplexity by Jehovah of Hosts in the Valley of Vision; of breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.


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And it shall come to pass that your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots; and the horsemen shall surely be set in array at the gate.


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And he uncovered Judah's covering, and you looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest.


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You have also seen the breaks in the city of David, that they are many; and you gathered the waters of the lower pool.


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And you have counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you have broken down the houses to fortify the wall.


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You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool; but you have not looked to its Maker, nor had regard for Him who formed it long ago.


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And in that day Jehovah of Hosts called for weeping and mourning, and for baldness, and for girding with sackcloth.


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But behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!


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And it was revealed in my ears by Jehovah of Hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be atoned until you die, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.


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Thus says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, Depart, go to this steward, to Shebna who is over the house, and say,


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What have you here? And who is here with you, that you have hewn out a tomb for yourself here, as one who proudly hews for himself a tomb, who carves out a dwelling place for himself in a rock?


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He will wind up and whirl you like a ball into a large land; there you shall die, and there the chariots of your glory shall be the shame of your master's house.


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and I will clothe him with your robe, and will strengthen him with your sash, and I will entrust your rule into his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.


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And the key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open.


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And I will fasten him as a peg in a firm place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.


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And they shall hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the offshoots, all insignificant vessels, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of jars.


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In that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, the peg that is fastened in the firm place shall be removed, and be cut down and fall. And the burden that was on it shall be cut off; for Jehovah has spoken.


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The burden against Tyre: Howl, ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.


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Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, merchants of Sidon, who pass over the sea. They have filled you.


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And by great waters, the seed of Sihor and the harvest of the River was her revenue; and she is a marketplace for the nations.


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Be ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the strength of the sea, saying, I have not travailed nor brought forth. I have not nourished young men nor raised up virgins.


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Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is from ancient days; whose feet carried it to distant lands to sojourn?


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Who has advised this against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are rulers, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?


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Jehovah of Hosts has counseled it, to dishonor the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.


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He stretched out His hand over the sea; He shook the kingdoms. Jehovah has given a command against the merchant city, to destroy its strongholds.


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And He said, You shall rejoice no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim; there also you shall have no rest.


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Behold the land of the Chaldeans, this people which did not exist. Assyria founded it for those who live in the desert. They set up their siege-towers; they stripped its palaces; they made it a ruin.


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And in that day Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it shall be for Tyre as the song of a harlot.


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Take a harp, go about the city, O harlot who has been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs so that you may be remembered.


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And it shall be after the end of seventy years that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her hire and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.


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And her goods and her wages shall be set apart to Jehovah. It shall not be treasured nor laid up, for her goods shall be for those who dwell before Jehovah, to eat enough, and for fine clothing.


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Behold, Jehovah empties the earth and makes it bare, and distorts its face, and scatters its inhabitants.


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And as it is with the people, so it shall be with the priest; as with the servant, so with the master; as with the maid, so it is 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 fades away; the world droops and fades away; the haughty people of the earth grow feeble.


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The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and have broken the perpetual covenant.


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Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are held guilty; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.


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For so it is in the midst of the land among the people. It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, and as gleanings of grapes when the vintage has been finished.


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They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of Jehovah, they shall cry aloud from the sea.


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Therefore glorify Jehovah in the light of the fire, the name of the Lord Jehovah of Israel from the seashores.


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From the ends of the earth we have heard songs, glory to the righteous. But I said, Leanness to me! Leanness to me! Woe to me! Deceivers deceive, even with treachery. Deceivers deceive!


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And it shall be that he who flees from the sound of terror shall fall into the pit. And he who comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth quake.


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The earth has been badly broken! The earth is split open and cracked through! The earth has shaken greatly and is tottering!


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Like a drunkard the earth is staggering back and forth! And it sways to and fro like a hut! Its transgressions have been heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again.


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And it shall come to pass in that day that Jehovah will punish the host of the haughty ones on high; and on earth, the kings of the earth.


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And they shall be gathered, as prisoners are gathered in a dungeon. And they shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days they shall be visited.


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Then the moon shall be abashed, and the sun shall be ashamed, when Jehovah of Hosts shall reign on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, and before His elders, in splendor.


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O Jehovah, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name; for You have done wonders; Your counsels of old are steadfast faithfulness.


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For You have made a city into a heap; a fortified city into a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be rebuilt.


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For You are a refuge to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the ruthless ones is like a storm against the wall.


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You shall subdue the roaring of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud. The shouting of the terrible ones shall be pruned away.


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And on this mountain Jehovah of Hosts will make a feast of fatness for all the people, a feast of the dregs of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of the dregs of refined wine.


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And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering wrapped over all people, and the veil that is woven over all nations.


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He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from all faces. And He will take away from all the earth the rebuke of His people. For Jehovah has spoken.


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And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.


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For the hand of Jehovah shall rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled under Him, even as straw is trampled in the water of a dung pit.


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And He shall spread out His hands in their midst, as he who swims strokes to swim. And He will bring down their pride along with the deceit of their hands.


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And the fortress of the high fort of your walls He will lay low, bring down to the ground, to the dust.


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In that day this song shall be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; He sets up salvation as our walls and bulwarks.


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For He brings down those who dwell on high; He lays low the lofty city; He lays it low, even to the ground; He brings it down to the dust.


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Yea, in the way of Your judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited for You; for the desire of our soul is Your name and the remembrance of You.


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With my soul I have desired You in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.


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Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah.


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Jehovah, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy toward the people. Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.


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O Jehovah our God, masters besides You have had the rule over us; but by You only will we make mention of Your name.


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Those who are dead do not live; spirits of the dead do not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, and made all memory of them to perish.


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You have increased the nation, O Jehovah, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have extended it to the ends of the earth.


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Jehovah, in trouble they have visited You; they have poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.


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As a woman with child draws near to giving birth, she writhes and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in Your sight, O Jehovah.


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We have conceived; we have writhed in pain; but we have given birth (as it were) to wind. We have not produced any salvation in the earth; nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen out in birth.


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Your dead ones shall live, together with My dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is as the dew of the light, and the earth shall cast out the dead.


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Come, my people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors behind you; hide (as it were) for a few moments, until the indignation has passed.


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For behold, Jehovah comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.


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In that day Jehovah with His great and fierce and strong sword shall punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent; Leviathan, that twisted serpent; and He shall kill the dragon in the sea.


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Fury is not in Me; who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would march through them; I would burn them together.


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Or let them take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.


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He shall cause those who come from Jacob to take root; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.


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Has He struck him, as He struck those who struck Him? Is He slain according to the slaughter of those slain by Him?


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In driving and sending her away, you contend with her. He removes His fierce wind, in the day of the east wind.


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Therefore by this shall the iniquity of Jacob be atoned; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in pieces, the groves and idols shall not stand.


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Yet the fortified city shall be desolate, and the dwelling forsaken and left like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall it lie down and finish off its branches.


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When its branches are dried up, they shall be broken off; the women come and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, and He who formed them will show them no favor.


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And it shall be in that day that Jehovah will thresh from the flowing stream to the river of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O children of Israel.


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And it shall be in that day that the great shofar shall be blown, and those about to perish in the land of Assyria shall come, along with the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall bow down to Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.


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Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the lush valleys of those who are overcome with wine!


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Behold, the Lord is a mighty and strong one, like a hailstorm, a destroying storm; like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, He casts down to the earth with the hand.


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and the glorious beauty at the head of the lush valley shall be a fading flower, and as the first-ripe fruit before the summer; which, the one looking at it swallows up while it is yet in his hand.


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In that day Jehovah of Hosts shall be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty to the rest of His people,


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and for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.


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But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink have gone astray. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up by wine; they have gone astray through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.


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To whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand the message? Those weaned from the milk and removed from the breasts.


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For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little;


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To whom He said, This is the rest; cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing. Yet they were not willing to hear.


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But the Word of Jehovah was to them, Precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.


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Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and we have made an agreement with Sheol; when the overflowing scourge shall have gone and passed through, it shall not come upon us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.


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Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I have founded in Zion a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure Foundation; he who trusts in It shall not be anxious.


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Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.


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And your covenant with death shall be covered over, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overwhelming scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trampled down by it.


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From the time that it goes out it shall take you; for morning by morning it shall pass over, by day and by night; and it shall be a terror just to understand the report.


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For Jehovah shall rise up as at Mount Perazim; He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, so that He may do His deeds, His strange deeds; and bring to pass His works, His unusual works.


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So then do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of Hosts that an annihilation is decreed upon the whole earth.


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When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter the black cumin and sprinkle the cumin, and plant the wheat in rows and mark off the barley and spelt in their boundaries?


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For the black cumin is not threshed with a threshing instrument, nor is a cart wheel turned on cumin; but the black cumin is beaten out with a stick and the cumin with a rod.


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Bread flour is ground. But one does not continue treading and threshing it; nor does he destroy it with his cart wheel; nor pulverize it with his horse.


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This also comes forth from Jehovah of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excels in sound wisdom.


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Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Snatch away year after year; let the feasts come around.


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Then I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be to me as Ariel.


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And I will encamp against you all around, and will lay siege against you with a mount, and I will raise siege works against you.


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And you shall be brought down; you shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be like a medium out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.


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And the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away; yea, it shall be in an instant, suddenly.


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You shall be visited by Jehovah of Hosts with thunder, and with earthquake and loud sounds, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.


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And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, shall be like a dream of a night vision.


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It shall even be as when a hungry one dreams, and behold, he eats, but he awakes and his soul is still empty; or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks, but he awakes, and behold, he is still faint and his soul craves. So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations who fight against mount Zion.


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Wait and wonder! Smear your eyes shut, blind! They have become drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.


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For Jehovah has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; He has covered the prophets and your heads, the seers.


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And the vision of all has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one who is literate saying, Please read this; and he says, I cannot, for it is sealed.


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And the book is delivered to him who is not literate, saying, Please read this; and he says, I am not literate.


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Therefore Jehovah said, Whereas this people draw near with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men;


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therefore, behold, I will again do among this people something extraordinary and wonderful. For the wisdom of their wise ones shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent ones shall be hidden.


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Woe to those who are profound to hide their counsel from Jehovah! And their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? And, Who knows us?


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O your perversity! Shall the former be esteemed as the potter's clay; for shall the product say of him who made it, He did not make me? Or shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, He has had no understanding?


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Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest.


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And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of their gloom and darkness.


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And the meek shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.


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For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scorner is destroyed, and all who look after iniquity are cut off;


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those who induce a man to sin by a word, and lay a snare for the judge in the gate, and turn aside the just for vanity.


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Therefore thus says Jehovah, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now become pale.


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But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.


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Woe to the rebellious children, says Jehovah, who take counsel, but not of Me; and who pour out drink offerings, but not of My Spirit; that they sweep away sin after sin;


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who set out to go down to Egypt and have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the refuge of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!


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Therefore the refuge of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your reproach.


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They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them, nor be a help nor gain, but a shame and also a reproach.


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The burden concerning the beasts of the south. Into the land of trouble and anguish, from where the lioness and the lion come; the viper, and the fiery flying serpent; they carry their riches on the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.


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For Egypt helps in vain, and unto emptiness. Therefore I have proclaimed concerning this, Their arrogance will be to sit still.


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Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it in a book, so that it may be for time to come forever and ever,


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who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deception;


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turn away from the path, thrust aside from the way, desist from the Holy One of Israel from before us.


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Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you have despised this Word, and trust in oppression and perversity, and lean on them;


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therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose crashing comes suddenly in an instant.


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And He shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces. He shall not spare, so that there shall not be found in the fragments of it a shard with which to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the cistern.


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For thus says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved; and in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you were not willing.


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But you said, No; for we will flee on horses. Therefore you shall flee. And you said, We will ride on the swift; therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.


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One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five you shall flee, until you are left as a beacon on the top of a mountain, and as a sign on a hill.


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And so Jehovah waits to be gracious to you. And therefore He is exalted, that He may have mercy on you; for Jehovah is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for Him.


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For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears it, He will answer you.


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And though Jehovah gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers.


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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 hand and when you turn to the left.


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You shall also defile the covering of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away like a menstruous cloth. You shall say to them, Get away!


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Then He shall give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground. And the bread of the produce of the earth also shall be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle shall feed in large pastures.


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Also the oxen and the young asses that plow the ground shall eat cured fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.


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And there shall be on every high mountain, and on every high hill, rivers, streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.


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And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah binds up the breach of His people and heals the stroke of their wound.


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Behold, the name of Jehovah comes from afar, burning with His anger, and the burden of it is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue like a devouring fire.


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And like an overflowing stream, His breath shall reach up to the middle of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity. And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to go astray.


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You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is consecrated; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Mighty One of Israel.


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And Jehovah shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall cause to be seen the bringing down of His arm, with raging anger and flame of a devouring fire, with driving storm, cloudburst and hailstones.


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And in every place where the appointed staff shall pass, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, it shall be with tambourines and harps. In war with brandishing He will engage the battle.


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For Tophet was arranged in order of old; yea, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large. He makes a fire with much wood. The breath of Jehovah kindles it like a torrent of brimstone.


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Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and lean on horses and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are so very strong; but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor do they seek Jehovah!


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Yet He also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back His Words, but will arise against the house of evildoers and against the help of those who work iniquity.


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Now Egypt is a man, and not the Mighty God; and their horses are flesh, and not Spirit. When Jehovah shall stretch out His hand, both he who helps shall fall, and he who is helped shall fall down, and they shall all be finished together.


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For thus has Jehovah spoken to me: As the lion roars, and the young lion over his prey when a multitude of shepherds are summoned against him (he will not be afraid of their voice, nor fret himself because of their noise), so Jehovah of Hosts shall come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for its hill.


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As birds flying, so Jehovah of Hosts will defend Jerusalem; also defending, He will deliver it; and passing over He will preserve it.


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For in that day every man shall reject his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you, a sin.


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Then Assyria shall fall by the sword, not of man; and the sword, not of mankind, shall devour him. For he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become forced labor.


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And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his rulers shall be afraid of the banner, says Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.


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And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a shelter from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a huge rock in a weary land.


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And the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of those who stutter shall be ready to speak plainly.


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For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity; to practice hypocrisy and to speak error against Jehovah, to empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to be lacking.


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Also the implements of the scoundrel are evil; he devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks justice.


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Many days and years you shall be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.


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Tremble, you women at ease; be troubled, you careless ones; strip yourselves and make yourselves bare, and gird sackcloth on your loins.


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On the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city;


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because the palaces shall be abandoned, the multitude of the city shall be deserted. Instead, the mound and tower shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;


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until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is esteemed as a forest.


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And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the service of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever.


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And my people shall dwell in a peaceful habitation, and in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places,


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Woe to the destroyer, and you have not been destroyed; and the betrayer, and they have not betrayed you. When you stop destroying, you shall be destroyed. When you stop betraying, they shall betray you.


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O Jehovah, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be their arm every morning; our salvation also in the time of trouble.


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At the sound of the tumult the people have fled; at the lifting up of Yourself the nations have been scattered.


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And your spoils shall be gathered as the locust gathers; as the running to and fro of locusts he shall run upon them.


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Wisdom and knowledge shall be the steadfastness of your times, and the strength of salvation; the fear of Jehovah is His treasure.


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The highways lie waste, the traveler ceases. He has broken the covenant. He has despised the cities. He has had regard for no man.


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The earth mourns and has grown feeble. Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like a wilderness; Bashan and Carmel are shaken out like empty fruit trees.


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And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire.


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The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has taken hold of the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?


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He who walks righteously and speaks with equity; he who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands free from holding bribes, who stops his ear from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;


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he shall dwell on high; his refuge shall be the strongholds of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.


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Your heart shall muse on terror. Where is the scribe? Where is the one who weighs? Where is the one who counts the towers?


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You shall not see a fierce people, a people of unintelligible speech that you cannot perceive; of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand.


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Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed meetings; your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a quiet home, a tent that shall not be taken down; not one of its stakes shall ever be removed, nor shall any of its cords be broken.


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But there the glorious Jehovah will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars shall go, nor shall majestic ships pass by.


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Your ropes are loosened, they could not hold the base of the mast, they could not spread the sail. Then the prey of a great plunder is divided; the lame take the spoils.


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And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the iniquity of the people who dwell there shall be taken away.


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Come near, you nations, to hear; and you people, pay attention; let the earth hear, and its fullness; the world, and all its offspring.


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For the wrath of Jehovah is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them, He has delivered them to the slaughter.


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Also their slain shall be thrown out, and their stench shall come up out of their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.


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And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; and all their host shall wither, as a leaf withers off the vine, and as fruit falling from the fig tree.


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For My sword is drenched in the heavens. Behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of My curse, for judgment.


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The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.


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And the oryx shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.


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And its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch.


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It shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; no one shall pass through it forever and forever.


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But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it; the owl also, and the raven, shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of chaos, and the stones of emptiness.


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They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but no one shall be there, and all its rulers shall be nothing.


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And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a dwelling for young owls.


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The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the howling beasts; and the shaggy goat shall cry to his fellow. The night creature also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.


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There the great owl shall make her nest, and lay and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; there shall the birds of prey also be gathered, every one with her mate.


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Search from the book of Jehovah, and read; not one of these shall fail, not one shall lack her mate; for My mouth has commanded, and His Spirit has gathered them.


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And He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it unto them by measuring line; they shall possess it perpetually, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.


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The wilderness and the desert shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.


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It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Jehovah and the majesty of our God.


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Say to those of anxious 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 the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. For in the wilderness waters shall break out, and streams in the desert.


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And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land shall become springs of water, in the habitation of dragons where they dwell, a place for grass with reeds and rushes.


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And a highway shall be there, even a road; and it shall be called, The Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. Whoever travels on it, though a fool, shall not go astray.


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No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up on it; they shall not be found there. But only the redeemed shall walk there.


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And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy on their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


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Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib 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 Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a great army. And he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller's Field.


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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to him.


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And Rabshakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust?


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You say (but they are only words of the lips), I have counsel and strength for war. Now, in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?


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Lo, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which, if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.


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But if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall bow down before this altar?


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Now then, please exchange pledges with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are even able on your part to put riders on them.


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How then will you repel the face of one commander of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?


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Have I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.


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Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. But do not speak to us in the Jewish language in the ears of the people who are on the wall.


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But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?


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Then Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in the Jewish language and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!


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Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will deliver, to rescue us; this city shall not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria!


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Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, Make a peace treaty with me, and come out to me; and let everyone eat of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the waters 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 fresh wine, a land of bread and vineyards!


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Let not Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their 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 Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?


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Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?


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Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.


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And it happened when King Hezekiah heard it that he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah.


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And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.


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And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy! For the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth.


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It may be that Jehovah your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Jehovah your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.


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And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says Jehovah, Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.


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Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.


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So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.


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And he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia saying, He has come out to wage war with you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,


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Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.


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Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them. And shall you be delivered?


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Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed: Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?


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Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?


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And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messenger, and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of Jehovah and spread it before Jehovah.


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O Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.


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Extend Your ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open Your eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to taunt the Living God.


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and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.


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Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are Jehovah, You alone.


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Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,


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this is the word which Jehovah has spoken concerning him: The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind you.


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Whom have you mocked and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.


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By your servants you have taunted Jehovah and have said, By my many chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains beside Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees; and I will go to the extremities of its height, the forest of its Carmel.


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I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.


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Have you not heard from distant lands how I have done it? Even from ancient times I have formed it. Now I have brought it to pass, that your fortified cities should be caused to crash into heaps of ruins.


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And their inhabitants had little power; being dismayed and ashamed. They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and the standing grain before the field.


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Because your raging against Me, and your arrogance has come up into My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose, and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way from which you came.


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And this shall be a sign to you: You shall eat grain this year from what was sown by itself; and the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year you shall sow, and reap, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.


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And the remnant that escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward;


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for out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and those who escape out of Mount Zion. The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts shall do this.


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Therefore thus says Jehovah to the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a mound against it.


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By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and shall not come into this city, says Jehovah.


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Then the angel of Jehovah went out and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.


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And it came to pass as he was bowing down in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword. And they escaped into the land of Ararat; and Esar-Haddon his son reigned in his place.


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In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.


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and said, Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in Your eyes. And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.


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Go and say to Hezekiah: Thus says Jehovah the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your days fifteen years.


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And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.


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behold, I will bring back the shadow which has gone down the steps on the sundial of Ahaz, ten steps backward. So the sun returned ten steps, by which it had gone down.


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This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:


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I said at the end of of my days, I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the rest of my years.


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I said, I shall not see YAH, Jehovah, in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.


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My generation is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver; He will cut me off from the loom; from day even to night You make an end of me.


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I have been still until morning; as a lion, so He breaks all my bones; from day even until night You make an end of me.


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Like a twittering swallow, so I chatter; I mourn as a dove; my eyes look weakly to the heights. O Jehovah, I am distressed; be surety for me.


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What shall I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has acted; I shall go slowly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.


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O Jehovah, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; so You will restore me to health and make me live.


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Behold, instead of peace I was bitter with bitterness; but You have delighted in delivering my soul from the pit of corruption. You have cast all my sins behind Your back.


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For Sheol cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down into the pit cannot hope for Your truth.


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The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day; the father shall make Your truth known to the children.


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Jehovah is there to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of Jehovah.


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At that time Merodach-Baladan the son of Baladan king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.


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And Hezekiah was glad because of them, and showed them the house of his treasures; the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all his armory, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.


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Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say? And where did they come from to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come to me from a distant land, from Babylon.


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Then he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house they have seen; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.


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Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says Jehovah.


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And some of your sons which shall come forth from you, which you shall beget, shall be taken away; and they shall be officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.


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Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The Word of Jehovah which you have spoken is good. For he said, At least there shall be peace and truth in my days.


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Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the hand of Jehovah double for all her sins.


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The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.


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Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked places shall be made level, and the rough places a plain;


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and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.


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The voice said, Cry out! And he said, What shall I proclaim? All flesh is grass, and all the goodness of it is as the flower of the field.


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The grass withers, the flower fades, because the Spirit of Jehovah blows upon it; surely the people are grass.


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You, who brings good tidings to Zion, go up onto the high mountain. Lift up your voice with strength, you who brings good tidings to Jerusalem, lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!


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Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.


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He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those who are with young.


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Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and measured out the heavens with a span? And who has calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?


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With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of justice; and taught Him knowledge, and made known the way of understanding to Him?


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Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the fine dust on the scales; behold, He lifts up the islands as a very little thing.


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All the nations before Him are as nothing; and to Him they are accounted as less than nothing, and vanity.


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The workman casts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and smelts silver chains.


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Whoever is too poor for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot; he looks for a skillful workman to prepare a graven image that will not totter.


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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 upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;


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Indeed, they shall not be planted; indeed, they shall not be sown. Indeed, their stump shall not take root in the earth. And He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the tempest shall take them away like stubble.


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Lift up your eyes on high, and consider who has created these things, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name by the greatness of His might, for 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 hidden from Jehovah and my judgment is passed over by God?


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Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the eternal God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow faint nor weary? His understanding is unsearchable.


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but those who wait upon Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.


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Keep silence before Me, O coastlands; and let the people renew their strength; let them come near. Then let them speak, Let us come near together for judgment.


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Who raised up the righteous one from the east, called him to His foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? Who gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow?


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Who has planned and done it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, am the First and the Last. I am He.


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So the craftsman encourages the refiner, and he who smooths with the hammer, him who struck the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good. And he makes it steady with nails so that it will not be shaken.


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whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you and set you apart. And I said to you, You are My servant; I have chosen you, and not cast you away.


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Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will make you strong; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.


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Behold, all those who were enraged against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing. And those who strive with you shall perish.


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You shall seek them, and shall not find them; the men striving against you shall be as nothing; at an end.


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Fear not, you worm of Jacob and men of Israel; I will help you, says Jehovah and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.


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Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them fine, and shall make the hills like chaff.


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You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and a tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in Jehovah and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.


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The poor and needy seek water, and there is none; their tongue fails for thirst. I Jehovah will hear them, I the God of Israel will not abandon them.


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I will open rivers in high places, 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 plant the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set the fir tree in the desert, and the pine, and the box tree together;


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that they may see and know, and determine and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.


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Let them approach, and confess to us what shall happen; let them disclose the former things, what they are, that we may determine a finding and know the final outcome; or proclaim to us things to come.


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Make known the things to come after this, so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, so that we may anxiously watch it together.


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I have raised up one from the north and he shall come; from the sunrise he shall call upon My name. And he shall come against rulers as in a mortar, and as the potter tramples clay.


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Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And formerly, that we may say, He is righteous? Yea, no one declares; yea, no one proclaims; yea, no one hears your words.


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First I shall say to Zion, Behold! Behold them! And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good news.


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For I looked, and there was no man; and of those there was no counselor, that I might ask and they could answer a word.


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Behold, they are all wicked; their works are nothing; their molten images are like thin air and vanity.


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Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; My Elect, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth justice to the nations.


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A bruised reed He shall not break, and a smoking wick He shall not quench; He shall bring forth justice unto truth.


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He shall not fail nor be discouraged, until He has established justice on the earth; and the islands shall wait for His Law.


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Thus says Jehovah the Mighty God, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, spreading out the earth and its offspring; Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it.


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I, Jehovah, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You, and give You as a covenant to the people, as a Light to the nations;


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to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness out of the prison house.


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I am Jehovah; that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images.


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Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth, I proclaim them to you.


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Sing to Jehovah a new song; His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it; the coastlands and its inhabitants.


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Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages where Kedar dwells. Let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the mountain tops.


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Jehovah goes forth as a mighty man, He stirs up zeal like a man of war; He shouts, yea, roars; He shows Himself mighty against His enemies.


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I have continually kept silent; I have been still and refrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor; I will pant and gasp at once.


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I will make waste the mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation. And I will make the rivers coastlands, and I will dry up the pools.


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And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths they have not known; I will make darkness into light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things for them, and not forsake them.


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They have been turned back, they are greatly ashamed, those who trust in graven images and who say to the molten images, You are our gods.


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Who is blind but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger whom I sent? Who is blind as he who is perfect, and blind as Jehovah's servant?


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But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses. They are as prey, and no one delivers them; spoils, and no one says, Give it back!


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Who gave Jacob for a spoils, and Israel to robbers? Was it not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, nor did they obey His Law.


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Therefore He has poured upon him the fury of His anger, and the strength of battle. And it has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know; and it burned him, yet he did not lay it to heart.


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But now thus says Jehovah who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel; Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your 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 overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; nor shall the flame consume you.


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For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you.


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Since you were precious in My eyes, you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life.


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I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth;


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everyone who is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.


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Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and cause us to hear former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is true.


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You are My witnesses, says Jehovah, 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 after Me.


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I have declared and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says Jehovah, that I am the Mighty God.


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Yea, before the day was, I am He; and no one can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?


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Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought them all down as fugitives, and the Chaldeans, who shout in their ships.


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Who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the power: They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick.


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Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.


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The beasts of the field shall honor Me, the dragons and the young owls; because I give waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My elect.


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You have not brought Me the lamb of your burnt offerings; nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with an offering, nor wearied you with incense.


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You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled 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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I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and will not remember your sins.


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Bring to My remembrance; let us enter into judgment together; declare yourself, that you may be justified.


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Therefore I will defile the rulers of the sanctuary, and will give Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.


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Thus says Jehovah who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you; Fear not, O Jacob My servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.


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For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour My spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring;


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One shall say, I am Jehovah's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall write with his hand, For Jehovah, and be named by the name of Israel.


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Thus says Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides Me there is no God.


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And who shall proclaim as I do, and shall declare it and set it in order for Me; since I founded the ancient people? And the things that are coming, and shall come; let them declare it to them.


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Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you and declared it since then? Thus, you are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Yea, there is no other rock. I have not known any.


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Those who make a graven image, all of them are vanity; and the things which they desire shall not help. And they are their own witnesses; they do not see nor know; that they may be ashamed.


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Behold, all his companions shall be ashamed; and the craftsmen, they are men. Let them be gathered together; let them stand up; they shall be in dread; they shall be ashamed together.


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The craftsman in iron makes it in the coals with the tongs, and fashions it with hammers, and makes it with the strength of his arms. Then, he is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.


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The craftsman in wood stretches a measuring line; he makes an outline with a marker; he works it with carving tools, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it like the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.


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He cuts down cedars, and takes cypress and oak, which he secures for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain makes it grow.


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Then it shall be for a man to burn; for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; he also makes a god and bows down to it; he makes it into a graven image and prostrates himself to it.


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He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts a roast and is satisfied; indeed, he warms himself, and says, Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.


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And the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He prostrates himself before it and bows down, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me! for you are my mighty god.


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They have not known nor understood; for He has shut their eyes so that they cannot see; and their hearts so that they cannot understand.


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And no one considers within his heart, nor is there perception nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; indeed, also I have baked bread on its coals; I have roasted flesh and eaten; and shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I prostrate myself to a piece of wood?


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He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside, so that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is this not a lie in my right hand?


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Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for you are My servant; I have formed you; you are My servant; O Israel, you shall not be forgotten by Me.


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I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and as a cloud, your sins; return to Me, for I have redeemed you.


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Sing, O heavens; for Jehovah has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel!


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Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: I am Jehovah, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens alone, who spreads out the earth by Myself;


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who brings to nothing the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns the wise backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;


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who establishes the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem, You shall be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up its waste places;


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who says of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall do all My pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built; and to the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.


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Thus says Jehovah to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have strengthened in order to subdue nations before him. And I will loosen the loins of kings, to open before him the gates; and the gates shall not be shut.


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I will go before you, and make the high places level and straight. I will break in pieces the gates of bronze, and cut the iron bars in two.


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And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, Jehovah, who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel.


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For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My elect, I have even proclaimed your name; I have entitled you, though you have not known Me.


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I am Jehovah, and there is none other, no God besides Me; I embraced you, though you have not known Me;


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that they may know from the rising of the sun, to its setting, that there is none besides Me. I am Jehovah, and there is no other;


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forming the light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil. I, Jehovah, do all these things.


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Rain down from above, O heavens, and let the clouds pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, and let salvation bear fruit; and let righteousness spring up together. I, Jehovah, have created it.


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Woe to him who strives with the One who formed him, a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to the one who forms it, What are you making? Or your work, He has no hands?


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Woe to him who says to his father, What are you begetting? Or to the woman, What are you writhing over?


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Thus says Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and the One who formed him, Do you ask Me of things to come? Do you give command to Me about My sons, and about the work of My hands?


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I have made the earth, and created man on it; I, with My hands, have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I ordained.


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I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall set free My captives, not for price nor reward, says Jehovah of Hosts.


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Thus says Jehovah, The labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Cush, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come to you, and they shall be yours. They shall follow behind you; and they shall pass over in chains and they shall bow down to you. They shall plead with you, saying, Surely the Mighty God is in you; there is no one else, no other God.


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They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them; they who are makers of idols shall go into disgrace together.


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But Israel shall be saved in Jehovah with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor humiliated to everlasting eternity.


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For thus says Jehovah who Created the heavens, God who has formed the earth and made it; who has established it, who has not created it void, but has formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah, and there is no other.


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I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain. I, Jehovah, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.


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Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those who set up the wood of their graven image, and those that pray to a god that cannot save, they know nothing.


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Declare and approach; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from antiquity? Who has told it since then? Is it not I, Jehovah. And there is no other God besides Me; a just Mighty God and a Savior; there is no one besides Me.


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Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am the Mighty God, and there is no other.


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I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.


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One shall say, Only in Jehovah do I have righteousness and strength; to Him men shall come. And they shall be ashamed, all who are angry with Him.


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Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle; the things you carried have become a load, a burden to the weary.


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They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but they themselves have gone into captivity.


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Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who were carried by Me from the belly, who were sustained from the womb;


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even to your old age, I am He; and to the gray hairs I will bear you. I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.


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They pour gold out of the bag, and weigh silver out on the measuring rod, and hire a goldsmith; and he makes it into a god; they prostrate themselves, yea, they bow down.


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They carry it on the shoulder, they carry it and set it in its place, and it stands; it shall not move from its place. Yes, one shall cry unto it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.


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Remember the former things from a long time ago; for I am the Mighty God, and there is no other; I am God, and no one else is like Me,


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declaring the end from the beginning, and from antiquity things which are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure;


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calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes my counsel from a distant land. Indeed, I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have formed it; I will also do it.


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I bring near My righteousness. It shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not delay. And I will place salvation in Zion, My glory for Israel.


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Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground. There is no throne for you, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no more be called tender and delicate.


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Take the millstones and grind meal. Uncover your veil, strip off the skirt, bare the thigh, pass through the rivers.


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Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, your shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance and I will not meet you as a man.


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Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the Queen of Kingdoms.


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I was angry with My people, I have polluted My inheritance, and given them into your hand. You have shown them no mercy; upon the aged you have laid your yoke very heavily.


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And you said, I shall be a queen forever; so you did not lay these things to heart, nor remember the latter end of it.


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Now therefore hear this, O voluptuous one, who lives securely; who says in her heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children.


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But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day: The loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great power of your enchantments.


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For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me.


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Therefore evil shall come upon you, and you shall not know its origin. And disaster shall fall upon you, and you shall not be able to cover it over. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not be informed of.


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Stand now with your charms, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored since your youth. Perhaps you will be able to profit; perhaps you may prevail.


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You are wearied by your many counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers and the fortunetellers step forth and save you from what shall come upon you.


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Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; it shall not be a coal to be warmed with; nor a fire in front of which to sit.


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Thus shall they be to you with whom you have labored, your merchants from your youth. They shall wander, each one, to his own region; no one shall save you.


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Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Jehovah and make mention of the God of Israel (but not in truth nor in righteousness;


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for they name themselves as being of the holy city, and rest themselves on the God of Israel; Jehovah of Hosts is His name):


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I have declared the former things from the beginning, and they proceeded forth out of My mouth, and I proclaimed to them. I acted suddenly, and they came to pass,


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I even declared it to you from the beginning. Before it happened I proclaimed it to you, lest you should say, My idol has done them, and my graven image and my molten image has commanded them.


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You have heard; see all this. And will you not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them.


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They are created now, and not since the beginning; even before the day when you did not hear them; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.


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Surely you did not hear, surely you did not know; surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deceive with treachery, and were called a transgressor from the womb.


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For My name's sake I will prolong My anger, and for My praise I will restrain for you, so that I do not cut you off.


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For my own sake, for My own sake I will do it; for why should My name be defiled? And I will not give My glory to another.


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My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens. When I called to them, they stood up together.


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Let all of you gather and hear. Who among them has declared these things? Jehovah has loved him; He will do as He pleases upon Babylon, and His arm shall be upon the Chaldeans.


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Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From the time it existed, I was there; and now the Lord Jehovah, and His Spirit, has sent Me.


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Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Jehovah your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.


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Oh that you had paid attention 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 seed also would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your womb like grains of sand; his name would not have been cut off nor destroyed from before My face.


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Go out from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a resounding voice! Proclaim this; let it go forth to the ends of the earth! Say, Jehovah has redeemed His servant, Jacob!


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And they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He split open the rock also, and the waters gushed out.


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Listen to Me, O coastlands; and give attention, you people from afar; Jehovah has called Me from the womb; from My mother's belly He has made mention of My name.


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And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, and made Me a polished shaft. He has hidden Me in His quiver,


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Then I said, I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nothing, and in vain; yet surely My just due is with Jehovah, and My work with My God.


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And now, says Jehovah who formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him: Though Israel is not gathered, yet I shall be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and My God shall be My strength.


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And He said, It is but a little thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You for a light to the nations, to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.


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Thus says Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation loathes, the Servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise, rulers also shall bow down, because of Jehovah who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose You.


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Thus says Jehovah: In a favorable time I have answered You, and in a day of salvation I have helped You; and I will preserve You, and give You as a covenant to the people, to establish the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate possessions;


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that You may say to the prisoners, Go out! To those who are in darkness, Show yourselves! They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be on all the barren heights.


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They shall not hunger nor thirst; nor shall the heat nor sun strike them; for He who has mercy on them will lead them; even by the springs of water He will guide them.


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Behold, these shall come from afar; and, lo, those from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.


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Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out into singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.


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Can a woman forget her nursing infant, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Indeed, they may forget; yet I will not forget you.


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Lift up your eyes all around and see; they all gather and come to you. As I live, says Jehovah, you shall surely wear them as an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does.


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For your waste and desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall even now be too constricted to dwell there, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.


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The sons of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too narrow for me; let a place come to me so that I may have room to dwell.


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Then you shall say in your heart, Who has begotten these for me, since I am bereaved, and desolate, removed into exile. And who has raised up these? Behold, I was left alone. But these, where were they?


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Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up My banner to the people; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.


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And kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your wet nurses. They shall bow down to you, with faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am Jehovah; for they who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.


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But thus says Jehovah, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the ruthless shall escape. For I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.


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And I will feed those who oppress you, with their own flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.


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Thus says Jehovah, Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, whom I have put away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Behold, you have been sold for your iniquities, and your mother has been put away for your sins.


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Why, when I came, was no one here? I called and no one answered. Is My hand shortened at all so that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink, because there is no water, and die of thirst.


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The Lord Jehovah has given Me the tongue of the learned, to know how to speak a word in season to the weary. He wakens morning by morning, He wakens the ear to hear as the learned.


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I gave My back to those who strike, and My cheeks to those who pluck; I hid not My face from shame and spitting.


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For the Lord Jehovah will help Me; therefore I have not been ashamed. Therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.


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He is near who justifies Me; who will contend with Me? Let us stand together; who is the master of My judgment? Let him come near Me.


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Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help Me; who is he who shall condemn Me? Lo, they all shall wear out like a garment; the moth shall eat them.


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Who among you fears Jehovah? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of Jehovah and rest on his God.


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Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who are surrounded with sparks; walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks which you have kindled. This you shall have from My hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.


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Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek Jehovah: Look to the rock from which you have been hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you have been dug.


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Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.


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For Jehovah will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.


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Listen to Me, My people; and give ear to Me, O My nation; for a law shall go out from Me, and I will make My justice to rest for a light of the people.


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My righteousness is near; My salvation has gone forth, and My arms shall judge the people; the coastlands shall wait upon Me, and on My arm they shall trust.


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Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall become old like a garment; and its inhabitants shall die in the same way. But My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be broken.


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Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My Law; do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their revilings.


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For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation.


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Awake! awake! Put on strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake, as in the days of antiquity, in the generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab into pieces, wounding the dragon?


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Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?


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Therefore the redeemed of Jehovah shall return and come with singing into Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head. Gladness and joy shall overtake them; sorrow and mourning shall flee away.


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I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you, that you should fear a man, who shall die; or the son of man, who shall be made as grass?


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And you forget Jehovah your Maker, who has stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. And you dread continually, every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor?


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And I have put My Words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, You are My people.


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Awake! Awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, who has drunk the cup of His fury from the hand of Jehovah; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of staggering, and wrung them out.


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There is no one to guide her among all the sons she has borne; and no one takes her by the hand of all the sons that she has raised.


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These two things have come upon you, who shall be sorry for you? Desolation, and destruction, and famine, and the sword. By whom shall I comfort you?


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Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets like a wild animal in a net, filled with the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of your God.


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Thus says your Lord, Jehovah, and your God who pleads the case of His people: Behold, I have taken the cup of staggering out of your hand, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; you shall never drink it again.


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But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down so that we may pass over; and lay your back on the ground, even as the street, for those who cross over.


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Awake! Awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful robes, O Jerusalem, the Holy City. For never again shall the uncircumcised and unclean come into you.


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Shake yourself from the dust; rise up! Sit down, Jerusalem! Loose yourself from your neckbands, O captive daughter of Zion.


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For thus says Jehovah, You have sold yourselves for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without silver.


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For thus says the Lord Jehovah, My people went down before into Egypt to stay there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.


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Now therefore, what have I here, says Jehovah, that My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule make them howl, says Jehovah; and My name is continually blasphemed every day.


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Therefore My people shall know My name. Thus it shall be in that day, for I am He who speaks; behold, it is I.


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How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him bringing good tidings, proclaiming peace; bringing good news, proclaiming salvation; who says to Zion, Your God reigns!


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Your watchmen shall lift up the voice! They shall lift up the voice together in a resounding cry; for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah brings Zion back.


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Break forth together into a resounding cry of joy, you waste places of Jerusalem! For Jehovah has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.


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Jehovah has bared His holy arm in 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 from there! Touch not the unclean. Go out of her midst; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of Jehovah.


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For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for Jehovah will go before you; and the God of Israel gathers you.


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Just as many were astonished at You (His appearance was disfigured more than any man, and His form more than the sons of mankind);


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so shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for that which had not been told to them, they shall see; and what they had not heard, they shall consider.


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For He grows up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of the dry ground. He has no form nor splendor that we should regard Him, nor anything spectacular that we should desire Him.


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He is despised and rejected by men; a Man of pain, and knowing infirmity; a hiding of faces; being despised, we have esteemed Him not.


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Truly He has borne our sicknesses, and carried our pain; 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; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.


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All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one to his own way; and Jehovah has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.


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He has been oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opens not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before its shearers is mute, so He opens not His mouth.


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He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people He was stricken.


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And His grave was assigned with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.


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Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him; that He should give His soul as a sin-offering. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the delight of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand.


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He shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be fulfilled. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.


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Therefore I will apportion to Him with the great, and He shall divide the spoils with the strong; because He has poured out His soul unto death; and He was reckoned among the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


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Rejoice, O barren one, you who have not borne; break forth into screams of delight, you who have not writhed in pangs. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the one who is married, says Jehovah.


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Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes;


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for you shall burst forth on the right hand and on the left. And your seed shall inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.


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Do not fear, for you shall not be ashamed; nor be humiliated, for you shall not be put to shame. For you shall forget the shame of your youth, and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more.


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For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. He shall be called, GOD OF THE WHOLE EARTH.


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For Jehovah has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth, when you were rejected, says your God.


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In overflowing wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy upon you, says Jehovah your Redeemer.


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For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should never again overflow the earth, so I have sworn to not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.


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For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says Jehovah, who has mercy on you.


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O you afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires.


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And I will make your pinnacles of ruby, and your gates of sparkling stones, and all your borders of delightful 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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Indeed, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me; whoever shall gather against you, by you he shall fall.


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Behold, I have created the smith who blows the coals in the fire, and who brings out a tool for his work; and I have created the one who ruins to destroy.


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No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness is from Me, says Jehovah.


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Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.


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Why do you weigh out money for what is not bread, and your labor for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.


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Extend your ear, and come to Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.


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Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and nations that did not know you shall run to you because of Jehovah your God, and for 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; and let him return to Jehovah, and He will 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 comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;


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so shall My Word be, which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall succeed in that for which I have sent it.


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For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into praise, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.


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Instead of the thorn, the fir tree shall come up; and instead of the brier, the myrtle tree shall come up; and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for a perpetual sign that shall not be cut off.


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Thus says Jehovah, Keep justice and do righteousness; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.


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Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.


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And do not let the son of the foreigner, who has joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah has utterly separated me from His people. And do not let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.


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For thus says Jehovah to the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast to My covenant:


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Even to them will I give within My house and within My walls a share and a name better than that of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.


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Also the children of the foreigner, who join themselves to Jehovah to serve Him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast to My covenant:


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Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.


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Thus says the Lord Jehovah who gathers the outcasts of Israel, Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him.


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His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs who cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.


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Yea, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, to his own end.


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They say, Come, let us get wine and binge on strong drink; and tomorrow shall be like today; much more abundant.


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The righteous perishes, and no one lays it to heart, and merciful men are taken away; no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the face of evil.


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Of whom do you make sport? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, a seed of deception,


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being inflamed with gods under every green tree, slaughtering the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks?


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Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion; they, even they, are your lot; even to them you have poured a drink offering, you have offered a food offering. Should I be comforted over these?


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Also behind the doors and the posts you have set up your memorials; for you uncovered yourself and went up to those other than Me. You enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them; you have loved to experience their bed first hand.


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And you went to the king with ointment, and increased your perfumes, and sent your messengers far away, and lowered yourself even to Sheol.


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You are wearied in the length of your way; yet you did not say, There is no hope! You found life in your hand; therefore you were not weak.


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And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that you have lied and have not remembered Me, nor laid it to your heart? Have I not been silent, even for a long time, and you did not fear Me?


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When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you; but the wind shall carry them all away; a breath shall take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.


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And He shall say, Raise up! Raise up! Clear a path! Remove the stumbling block out of the way of My people.


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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 consecrated place, even with the contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.


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For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before Me, and the souls I have made.


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For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid Myself and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.


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I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.


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I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off, and to him who is near, says Jehovah; and I will heal him.


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Cry aloud, do not spare; lift up your voice like a shofar, and declare to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.


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Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in drawing near to God.


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They say, Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice? Behold, in the day of your fast you devise pleasures, and oppress all your laborers.


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Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice heard on high.


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Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah?


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Is not this the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?


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Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When you see the naked to cover him; and not hide yourself from your own flesh?


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Then shall your light break forth as the dawn, and your health shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Jehovah shall bring up the rear.


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Then you shall call, and Jehovah will answer; you shall cry out, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness;


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and if you extend your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light shine in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.


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And Jehovah shall guide you continually and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.


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And those from among you shall build the old ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Paths to Dwell in.


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If you turn back your foot, on the Sabbath, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the Sabbath a delight, the sacred of Jehovah, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,


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then you shall delight yourself in Jehovah; and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of Jehovah has spoken.


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Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.


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But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, that He will 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 has uttered perverseness.


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No one calls for justice, nor does anyone plead for truth; they trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.


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They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.


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Their webs shall not become garments, nor shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is 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; devastation and destruction are in their paths.


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The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their paths. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them shall not know peace.


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Therefore justice is far from us; nor does righteousness overtake us. We wait for daylight, but behold, the night; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.


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We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places like dead men.


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We all roar like bears, and mourn with moaning like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.


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For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;


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in transgressing and lying against Jehovah, and backsliding from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.


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And justice is driven back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.


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Yea, truth fails; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And Jehovah saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice.


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And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His own arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him.


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For He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. And He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was covered with zeal as a cloak.


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According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay; fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies. He will completely repay their deeds to the coastlands.


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So shall they fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah shall drive him out.


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And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says Jehovah.


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As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Jehovah; My Spirit that is upon you, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed, says Jehovah, from now on and forever.


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For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but Jehovah shall arise over you, and His glory shall be seen upon you.


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Lift up your eyes all around, and see. All of them gather themselves; they come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the side.


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Then you shall be in awe and become radiant, and your heart shall tremble and swell for joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come unto you.


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A multitude of camels shall overwhelm you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah.


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All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you; the rams of Nebajoth shall minister to you. They shall come up on My altar and be acceptable to Me, and I will glorify the house of My glory.


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Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your children from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of Jehovah your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you.


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And the sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall serve you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy upon you.


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Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night, to bring to you the wealth of the nations, and that their kings may be led.


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For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish. Yes, those nations will be wasted unto desolation.


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The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious.


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Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you; and all those who despised you shall prostrate themselves at the soles of your feet. And they shall call you, The City of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


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Whereas you were forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through, I will make you a perpetual majesty, a joy of many generations.


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You shall also suck the milk of the nations, and suckle the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, Jehovah, 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; and instead of wood I will bring bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your overseers righteousness.


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Violence shall no more be heard in your land, neither devastation nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.


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The sun shall no more be your light by day; nor the brightness of the moon give light to you; but Jehovah will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.


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Your sun shall not go down any more, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.


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Your people also shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified.


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A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I, Jehovah, will hasten it in its time.


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The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me; because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;


