# verses

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 And we set over the storehouses Selemias the priest, and Sadoc the scribe, and of the Levites Phadaia, and next to them Hanan the son of Zachur, the son of Mathania: for they were approved as faithful, and to them were committed the portions of their brethren.


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 Remember me, O my God, for this thing, and wipe not out my kindnesses, which I have done relating to the house of my God and his ceremonies.


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 In those days I saw in Juda some treading the presses on the sabbath, and carrying sheaves, and lading asses with wine, and grapes, and figs, and all manner of burthens, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. And I charged them that they should sell on a day on which it was lawful to sell.


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 Some Tyrians also dwelt there, who brought fish, and all manner of wares: and they sold them on the sabbaths to the children of Juda in Jerusalem.


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 And I rebuked the chief men of Juda, and said to them: What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the sabbath day?


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 Did not our fathers do these things, and our God brought all this evil upon us, and upon this city? And you bring more wrath upon Israel by violating the sabbath.


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 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem were at rest on the sabbath day, I spoke: and they shut the gates, and I commanded that they should not open them till after the sabbath: and I set some of my servants at the gates, that none should bring in burthens on the sabbath day.


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 And I charged them, and I said to them: Why stay you before the wall? if you do so another time, I will lay hands on you. And from that time they came no more on the sabbath.


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 I spoke also to the Levites that they should be purified, and should come to keep the gates, and to sanctify the sabbath day: for this also remember me, O my God, and spare me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.


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 And their children spoke half in the speech of Azotus, and could not speak the Jews' language, but they spoke according to the language of this and that people.


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 And I chid them, and laid my curse upon them. And I beat some of them, and shaved off their hair, and made them swear by God that they would not give their daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for their sons, nor for themselves, saying:


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 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin in this kind of thing? and surely among many nations, there was not a king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: m and yet women of other countries brought even him to sin.


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 And shall we also be disobedient and do all this great evil to transgress against our God, and marry strange women?


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 And one of the sons of Joiada the son of Eliasib the high priest, was son in law to Sanaballat the Horonite, and I drove him from me.


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 So I separated from them all strangers, and I appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites, every man in his ministry :


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 And for the offering of wood at times appointed, and for the firstfruits: remember me, O my God, unto good. Amen.


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 In the days of Assuerus, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces:


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 Now in the third year of his reign he made a great feast for all the princes, and for his servants, for the most mighty of the Persians, and the nobles of the Medes, and the governors of the provinces in his sight,


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 That he might shew the riches of the glory of his kingdom, and the greatness, and boasting of his power, for a long time, to wit, for a hundred and fourscore days.


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 And when the days of the feast were expired, he invited all the people that were found in Susan, from the greatest to the least: and commanded a feast to be made seven days in the court of the garden, and of the wood, which was planted by the care and the hand of the king.


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 And there were hung up on every side sky coloured, and green, and violet hangings, fastened with cords of silk, and of purple, which were put into rings of ivory, and were held up with marble pillars. The beds also were of gold and silver, placed in order upon a floor paved with porphyry and white marble: which was embellished with painting of wonderful variety.


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 And they that were invited, drank in golden cups, and the meats were brought in divers vessels one after another. Wine also in abundance and of the best was presented, as was worthy of a king's magnificence.


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 Neither was there any one to compel them to drink that were not willing, but as the king had appointed, who set over every table one of his nobles, that every man might take what he would.


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 Also Vasthi the queen made a feast for the women in the palace, where king Assuerus was used to dwell.


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 Now on the seventh day, when the king was merry, and after very much drinking was well warmed with wine, he commanded Mauman, and Bazatha, and Harbona, and Bagatha, and Abgatha, and Zethar, and Charcas, the seven eunuchs that served in his presence,


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 To bring in queen Vasthi before the king, with the crown set upon her head, to shew her beauty to all the people and the princes: for she was exceeding beautiful.


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 But she refused, and would not come at the king's commandment, which he had signified to her by the eunuchs. Whereupon the king, being angry, and inflamed with a very great fury,


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 Baked the wise men, who according to the custom of the kings, were always near his person, and all he did was by their counsel, who knew the laws, and judgments of their forefathers:


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 (Now the chief and nearest him were, Charsena, and Sethar, and Admatha, and Tharsis, and Mares, and Marsana, and Mamuchan, seven princes of the Persians, and of the Medes, who saw the face of the king, and were used to sit first after him :)


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 What sentence ought to pass upon Vasthi the queen, who had refused to obey the commandment of king Assuerus, which he had sent to her by the eunuchs?


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 And Mamuchan answered, in the hearing of the king and the princes: Queen Vasthi hath not only injured the king, but also all the people and princes that are in all the provinces of king Assuerus.


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 For this deed of the queen will go abroad to all women, so that they will despise their husbands, and will say: King Assuerus commanded that queen Vasthi should come in to him, and she would not.


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 And by this example all the wives of the princes of the Persians and the Medes will slight the commandments of their husbands: wherefore the king's indignation is just.


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 If it please thee, let an edict go out from thy presence, and let it be written according to the law of the Persians and of the Medes, which must not be altered, that Vasthi come in no more to the king, but another, that is better than her, be made queen in her place.


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 And let this be published through all the provinces of thy empire, (which is very wide,) and let all wives, as well of the greater as of the lesser, give honour to their husbands.


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 His counsel pleased the king, and the princes: and the king did according to the counsel of Mamuchan.


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 And he sent letters to all the provinces of his kingdom, as every nation could hear and read, in divers languages and characters, that the husbands should be rulers and masters in their houses: and that this should be published to every people.


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 After this, when the wrath of king Assuerus was appeased, he remembered Vasthi, and what she had done end what she had suffered:


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 And the king's servants and his officers said: Let young women be sought for the king, virgins and beautiful,


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 And let some persons be sent through all the provinces to look for beautiful maidens and virgins: and let them bring them to the city of Susan, and put them into the house of the women under the hand of Egeus the eunuch, who is the overseer and keeper of the king's women: and let them receive women's ornaments, and other things necessary for their use.


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 And whosoever among them all shall please the king's eyes, let her be queen instead of Vasthi. The word pleased the king: and he commanded it should be done as they had suggested.


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 There was a man in the city of Susan, a Jew, named Mardochai, the son of Jair, the son of Semei, the son of Cis, of the race of Jemini,


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 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem at the time that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon carried away Jechonias king of Juda,


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 And he had brought up his brother's daughter Edissa, who by another name was called Esther: now she had lost both her parents: and was exceeding fair and beautiful. And her father and mother being dead, Mardochai adopted her for his daughter.


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 And when the king's ordinance was noised abroad, and according to his commandment many beautiful virgins were brought to Susan, and were delivered to Egeus the eunuch: Esther also among the rest of the maidens was delivered to him to be kept in the number of the women.


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 And she pleased him, and found favour in his sight. And he commanded the eunuch to hasten the women's ornaments, and to deliver to her her part, and seven of the most beautiful maidens of the king's house, and to adorn and deck out both her and her waiting maids.


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 And she would not tell him her people nor her country. For Mardochai had charged her to say nothing at all of that:


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 And he walked every day before the court of the house, in which the chosen virgins werre kept, having a care for Esther's welfare, and desiring to know what would befall her.


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 Now when every virgin's turn came to go in to the king, after all had been done for setting them off to advantage, it was the twelfth month: so that for six months they were anointed with oil of myrrh, and for other six months they used certain perfumes and sweet spices.


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 And when they were going in to the king, whatsoever they asked to adorn themselves they received: and being decked out, as it pleased them, they passed from the chamber of the women to the king's chamber.


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 And she that went in at evening, came out in the morning, and from thence she was conducted to the second house, that was under the hand of Susagaz the eunuch, who had the charge over the king's concubines: neither could she re- turn any more to the king, unless the king desired it, and had ordered her by name to come.


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 And as the time came orderly about, the day was at hand, when Esther, the daughter of Abihail the brother of Mardochai, whom he had adopted for his daughter, was to go in to the king. But she sought not women's ornaments, but whatsoever Egeus the eunuch the keeper of the virgins had a mind, he gave her to adorn her. For she was exceeding fair, and her incredible beauty made her appear agreeable and amiable in the eyes of all.


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 So she was brought to the chamber of king Assuerus the tenth month, which is called Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.


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 And the king loved her more than all the women, and she had favour and kindness before him above all the women, and he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vasthi.


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 And he commanded a magnificent feast to be prepared for all the princes, and for his servants, for the marriage and wedding of Esther. And he gave rest to all the provinces, and bestowed gifts according to princely magnificence.


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 And when the virgins were sought the second time, and gathered together, Mardochai stayed at the king's gate,


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 Neither had Esther as yet declared her country and people, according to his commandment. For whatsoever he commanded, Esther observed: and she did all things in the same manner as she was wont at that time when he brought her up a little one.


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 At that time, therefore, when Mardochai abode at the king's gate, Bagathan and Thares, two of the king's eunuchs, who were porters, and presided in the first entry of the palace, were angry: and they designed to rise up against the king, and to kill him.


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 And Mardochai had notice of it, and immediately he told it to queen Esther: and she to the king in Mardochai's name, who had reported the thing unto her.


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 It was inquired into, and found out: and they were both hanged on a gibbet. And it was put in the histories, and recorded in the chronicles before the king.


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 After these things, king Assuerus advanced Aman, the son of Amadathi, who was of the race of Agag: and he set his throne above all the princes that were with him.


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 And all the king's servants, that were at the doors of the palace, bent their knees, and worshipped Aman: for so the emperor had commanded them, only Mardochai did not bend his knee, nor worship him.


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 And the king's servants that were chief at the doors of the palace, said to him: Why dost thou alone not observe the king's commandment?


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 And when they were saying this often, and he would not hearken to them; they told Aman, desirous to know whether he would continue in his resolution: for he had told them that he was a Jew.


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 Now when Aman had heard this, and had proved by experience that Mardochai did not bend his knee to him, nor worship him, he was exceeding angry.


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 And he counted it nothing to lay his hands upon Mardochai alone: for he had heard that he was of the nation of the Jews, and he chose rather to destroy all the nation of the Jews that were in the kingdom of Assuerus.


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 In the first month (which is called Nisan) in the twelfth year a of the reign of Assuerus, the lot was cast into an urn, which in Hebrew is called Phur, before Aman, on what day and what month the nation of the Jews should be destroyed: and there came out the twelfth month, which is called Adar.


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 And Aman said to king Assuerus: There is a people scattered through all the provinces of thy kingdom, and separated one from another, that use new laws and ceremonies, and moreover despise the king's ordinances: and thou knowest very well that it is not expedient for thy kingdom that they should grow insolent by impunity.


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 If it please thee, decree that they may he destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents to thy treasurers.


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 And the king took the ring that he used, from his own hand, and gave it to Aman, the son of Amadathi of the race of Agag, the enemy of the Jews,


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 And he said to him: As to the money which thou promisest, keep it for thyself: and as to the people, do with them as seemeth good to thee.


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 And the king's scribes were called in the first month Nisan, on the thirteenth day of the same month: and they wrote, as Aman had commanded, to all the king's lieutenants, and to the judges of the provinces, and of divers nations, as every nation could read, and hear according to their different languages, in the name of king Assuerus: and the letters, sealed with his ring,


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 Were sent by the king's messengers to all provinces, to kill and destroy all the Jews, both young and old, little children, and women, in one day, that is, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is called Adar, and to make a spoil of their goods.


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 And the contents of the letters were to this effect, that all provinces might know and be ready against that day.


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 The couriers that were sent made haste to fulfil the king's commandment. And immediately the edict was hung up in Susan, the king and Aman feasting together, and all the Jews that were in the city weeping.


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 Now when Mardochai had heard these things, he rent his garments, and put on sackcloth, strewing ashes on his head: and he cried with a loud voice in the street in the midst of the city, shewing the anguish of his mind.


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 And he came lamenting in this manner even to the gate of the palace: for no one clothed with sackcloth might enter the king's court.


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 And in all provinces, towns, and places, to which the king's cruel edict was come, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, wailing, and weeping, many using sackcloth and ashes for their bed.


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 Then Esther's maids and her eunuchs went in, and told her. And when she heard it she was in a consternation: and she sent a garment, to clothe him, and to take away the sackcloth: but he would not receive it.


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 And she called for Athach the eunuch, whom the king had appointed to attend upon her, and she commanded him to go to Mardochai, and learn of him why he did this.


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 And Athach going out went to Mardochai, who was standing in the street of the city, before the palace gate:


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 And Mardochai told him all that had happened, how Aman had promised to pay money into the king's treasures, to have the Jews destroyed.


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 He gave him also a copy of the edict which was hanging up in Susan, that he should shew it to the queen, and admonish her to go in to the king, and to en- treat him for her people.


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 ll the king's servants, and all the provinces that are under his dominion, know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, cometh into the king's inner court, who is not called for, is immediately to be put to death without any delay: except the king shall hold out the golden sceptre to him, in token of clemency, that so he may live. How then can I go in to the king, who for these thirty days now have not been called unto him?


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 He sent word to Esther again, saying: Think not that thou mayst save thy life only, because thou art in the king a house, more than all the Jews:


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 For if thou wilt now hold thy peace, the Jews shall be delivered by some other occasion: and thou, and thy father's house shall perish. And who knoweth whether thou art not therefore come to the kingdom, that thou mightest be ready in such a time as this?


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 Go, and gather together all the Jews whom thou shalt find in Susan, and pray ye for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days and three nights: and I with my handmaids will fast in like manner, and then I will go in to the king, against the law, not being called, and expose myself to death and to danger.


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 And on the third day Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's hall: now he sat upon his throne in the hall of the palace, over against the door of the house.


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 And when he saw Esther the queen standing, she pleased his eyes, and he held out toward her the golden sceptre, which he held in his hand: and she drew near, and kissed the top of his sceptre.


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 And the king said to her: What wilt then, queen Esther? what is thy request? if thou shouldst even ask one half of the kingdom, it shall be given to thee.


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 But she answered: If it please the king. I beseech thee to come to me this day, and Aman with thee to the banquet which I have prepared.


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 And the king said forthwith: Call ye Aman quickly, that he may obey Esther's will. So the king and Aman came to the banquet which the queen had prepared for them.


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 And the king said to her, after he had drunk wine plentifully: What dost thou desire should be given thee? and for what thing askest thou? although thou shouldst ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it.


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 If I have found favour in the king's sight, and if it please the king to give me what I ask, and to fulfil my petition: let the king and Aman come to the banquet which I have prepared them, and to morrow I will open my mind to the king.


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 So Aman went out that day joyful and merry. And when he saw Mardochai sitting before the gate of the palace, and that he not only did not rise up to honour him, but did not so much as move from the place where he sat, he was exceedingly angry:


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 But dissembling his anger, and returning into his house, he called together to him his friends, and Zares his wife:


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 And he declared to them the greatness of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and with how great glory the king had advanced him above all his princes and servants.


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 And after this he said: Queen Esther also hath invited no other to the banquet with the king, but me: and with her I am also to dine to morrow with the king:


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 And whereas I have all these things, I think I have nothing, so long as I see Mardochai the Jew sitting before the king's gate.


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 Then Zares his wife, and the rest of his friends answered him: Order a great beam to be prepared, fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king, that Mardochai may be hanged upon it, and so thou shalt go full of joy with the king to the banquet. The counsel pleased him, and he commanded a high gibbet to be prepared.


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 That night the king passed without sleep, and he commanded the histories and chronicles of former times to be brought him. And when they were reading them before him,


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 They came to that place where it was written, how Mardochai had discovered the treason of Bagathan and Thares the eunuchs, who sought to kill king Assuerus.


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 And when the king heard this, he said: What honour and reward hath Mardochai received for this fidelity? His servants and ministers said to him: He hath received no reward at all.


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 And the king said immediately: Who is in the court? for Aman was coming in to the inner court of the king's house, to speak to the king, that he might order Mardochai to be hanged upon the gibbet which was prepared for him.


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 And when he was come in, he said to him: What ought to be done to the man whom the king is desirous to honour? But Aman thinking in his heart, and supposing that the king would honour no other but himself,


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 Ought to be clothed with the king's apparel, and to be set upon the horse that the king rideth upon, and to have the royal crown upon his head,


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 And let the first of the king's princes and nobles hold his horse, and going through the street of the city, proclaim before him and say: Thus shall he be honoured, whom the king hath a mind to honour.


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 And the king said to him: Make haste and take the robe and the horse, and do as thou hast spoken to Mardochai the Jew, who sitteth before the gates of the palace. Beware thou pass over any of those things which thou hast spoken.


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 So Aman took the robe and the horse, and arraying Mardochai in the street of the city, and setting him on the horse, went before him, and proclaimed: This honour is he worthy of, whom the king hath a mind to honour.


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 But Mardochai returned to the palace gate: and Aman made haste to go to his house, mourning and having his head covered:


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 And he told Zares his wife, and his friends, all that had befallen him. And the wise men whom he had in counsel, and his wife answered him: If Mardochai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou canst not resist him, but thou shalt fall in his sight.


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 As they were yet speaking, the king's eunuchs came, and compelled him to go quickly to the banquet which the queen had prepared.


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 And the king said to her again the second day, after he was warm with wine: What is thy petition, Esther, that it may be granted thee? and what wilt thou have done: although thou ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it.


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 Then she answered: If I have found Favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please thee, give me my life for which I ask, and my people for which I request.


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 For we are given up, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And would God we were sold for bondmen and bondwomen: the evil might be borne with, and I would have mourned in silence: but now we have an enemy, whose cruelty redoundeth upon the king.


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 And king Assuerus answered and said: Who is this, and of what power, that he should do these things?


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 And Esther said: It is this Aman that is our adversary and most wicked enemy. Aman hearing this was forthwith astonished, not being able to bear the countenance of the king and of the queen.


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 But the king being angry rose up, and went from the place of the banquet into the garden set with trees. Aman also rose up to entreat Esther the queen for his life, for he understood that evil was prepared for him by the king.


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 And when the king came back out of the garden set with trees, and entered into the place of the banquet, he found Aman was fallen upon the bed on which Esther lay, and he said: He will force the queen also in my presence, in my own house. The word was not yet gone out of the king's mouth, and immediately they covered his face.


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 And Harbona, one of the eunuchs that stood waiting on the king, said: Behold the gibbet which he hath prepared for Mardochai, who spoke for the king, standeth in Aman's house, being fifty cubits high. And the king said to him: Hang him upon it.


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 So Aman was hanged on the gibbet, which he had prepared for Mardochai: and the king's wrath ceased.


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 On that day king Assuerus gave the house of Aman, the Jews' enemy, to queen Esther, and Mardochai came in before the king. For Esther had confessed to him that he was her uncle.


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 And the king took the ring which he had commanded to be taken again from Aman, and gave it to Mardochai. And Esther set Mardochai over her house.


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 And not content with these things, she fell down at the king's feet and wept, and speaking to him besought him, that he would give orders that the malice of Aman the Agagite, and his most wicked devices which he had invented against the Jews, should be of no effect.


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 But he, as the manner was, held out the golden sceptre with his hand, which was the sign of clemency: and she arose up and stood before him,


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 And said: If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and my request be not disagreeable to him, I beseech thee, that the former letters of Aman the traitor and enemy of the Jews, by which he commanded that they should be destroyed in all the king's provinces, may be reversed by new letters.


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 And king Assuerus answered Esther the queen, and Mardochai the Jew: I have given Aman's house to Esther, and I have commanded him to be hanged on a gibbet, because he durst lay hands on the Jews.


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 Write ye therefore to the Jews, as it pleaseth you, in the king's name, and seal the letters with my ring. For this was the custom, that no man durst gainsay the letters which were sent in the king's name, and were sealed with his ring.


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 Then the king's scribes and secretaries were called for (now it was the time of the third month which is called Siban) the three and twentieth day of the month, and letters were written, as Mardochai had a mind, to the Jews, and to the governors, and to the deputies, and to the judges, who were rulers over the hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India even to Ethiopia: to province and province, to people and people, according to their languages and characters, and to the Jews, according as they could read and hear.


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 And these letters which were sent in the king's name, were sealed with his ring, and sent by posts: who were to run through all the provinces, to prevent the former letters with new messages.


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 And the king gave orders to them, to speak to the Jews in every city, and to command them to gather themselves together, and to stand for their lives, and to kill and destroy all their enemies with their wives and children and all their houses, and to take their spoil.


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 And one day of revenge was appointed through all the provinces, to wit, the thirteenth of the twelfth month Adar.


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 And this was the content of the letter, that it should be notified in all lands and peoples that were subject to the empire of king Assuerus, that the Jews were ready to be revenged of their enemies.


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 And Mardochai going forth out of the palace, and from the king's presence, shone in royal apparel, to wit, of violet and sky colour, wearing a golden crown on his head, and clothed with a cloak of silk and purple. And all the city rejoiced and was glad.


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 And in all peoples, cities, and provinces, whithersoever the king's commandments came, there was wonderful rejoicing, feasts and banquets, and keeping holy day: insomuch that many of other nations and religion, joined themselves to their worship and ceremonies. For a great dread of the name of the Jews had fallen upon all.


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 So on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which as we have said above is called Adar, when all the Jews were designed to be massacred, and their enemies were greedy after their blood, the case being altered, the Jews began to have the upper hand, and to revenge themselves of their adversaries.


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 And they gathered themselves together in every city, and town, and place, to lay their hands on their enemies, and their persecutors. And no one durst withstand them, for the fear of their power had gone through every people.


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 And the judges of the provinces, and the governors, and lieutenants, and every one in dignity, that presided over every place and work, extolled the Jews for fear of Mardochai:


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 For they knew him to be prince of the palace, and to have great power: and the fame of his name increased daily, and was spread abroad through all men's mouths.


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 So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies, and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to them:


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 Insomuch that even in Susan they killed five hundred men, besides the ten sons of Aman the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews: whose names are these:


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 And he said to the queen: The Jews have killed five hundred men in the city of Susan, besides the ten sons of Aman: how many dost thou think they have slain in all the provinces? What askest thou more, and what wilt thou have me to command to be done?


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 And she answered: If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews, to do to morrow in Susan as they have done to day, and that the ten sons of Aman may be hanged upon gibbets.


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 And the king commanded that it should be so done. And forthwith the edict was hung up in Susan, and the ten sons of Aman were hanged.


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 nd on the fourteenth day of the month Adar the Jews gathered themselves together, and they killed in Susan three hundred men: but they took not their substance.


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 Moreover through all the provinces which were subject to the king's dominion the Jews stood for their lives, and slew their enemies and persecutors: insomuch that the number of them that were Billed amounted to seventy-five thousand, and no man took any of their goods.


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 Now the thirteenth day of the month Adar was the first day with them all of the slaughter, and on the fourteenth day they left off. Which they ordained to be kept holy day, so that all times hereafter they should celebrate it with feasting, joy, and banquets.


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 But they that were killing in the city of Susan, were employed in the slaughter on the thirteenth and fourteenth day of the same month: and on the fifteenth day they rested. And therefore they appointed that day to be a holy day of feasting and gladness.


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 But those Jews that dwelt in towns not walled and in villages, appointed the fourteenth day of the month Adar for banquets and gladness, so as to rejoice on that day, and send one another portions of their banquets and meats.


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 And Mardochai wrote all these things, and sent them comprised in letters to the Jews that abode in all the king's provinces, both those that lay near and those afar off,


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 hat they should receive the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the month Adar for holy days, and always at the return of the year should celebrate them with solemn honour:


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 Because on those days the Jews revenged themselves of their enemies, and their mourning and sorrow were turned into mirth and joy, and that these should be days of feasting and gladness, in which they should send one to another portions of meats; and should give gifts to the poor.


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 And the Jews undertook to observe with solemnity all they had begun to do at that time, which Mardochai by letters had commanded to be done.


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 For Aman, the son of Amadathi of the race of Agag, the enemy and adversary of the Jews, had devised evil against them, to kill them and destroy them: and had cast Phur, that is, the lot.


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 And afterwards Esther went in to the king, beseeching him that his endeavours might be made void by the king's letters: and the evil that he had intended against the Jews, might return upon his own head. And so both he and his sons were hanged upon gibbets.


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 And since that time these days are called Phurim, that is, of lots: because Phur, that is, the lot, was cast into the urn. And all things that were done, are contained in the volume of this epistle, that is, of this book:


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 And the things that they suffered, and that were afterwards changed, the Jews took upon themselves and their seed, and upon all that had a mind to be joined to their religion, so that it should be lawful for none to pass these days without solemnity: which the writing testifieth, and certain times require, as the years continually succeed one another.


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 These are the days which shall never be forgot: and which all provinces in the whole world shall celebrate throughout all generations: neither is there any city wherein the days of Phurim, that is, of lots, must not be observed by the Jews, and by their posterity, which is bound to these ceremonies.


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 And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mardochai the Jew, wrote also a second epistle, that with all diligence this day should be established a festival for the time to come.


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 And they sent to all the Jews that were in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of king Assuerus, that they should have peace, and receive truth,


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 And observe the days of lots, and celebrate them with joy in their proper time: as Mardochai and Esther had appointed, and they undertook them to be observed by themselves and by their seed, fasts, and cries, and the days of lots,


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 And his strength and his empire, and the dignity and greatness wherewith he exalted Mardochai, are written in the books of the Medes, and of the Persians:


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 And how Mardochai of the race of the Jews, was next after king Assuerus: and great among the Jews, and acceptable to the people of his brethren, seeking the good of his people, and speaking those things which were for the welfare of his seed.


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 There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil.


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 And his possession was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a family exceeding great: and this man was great among all the people of the east.


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 And his sons went, and made a feast by houses every one in his day. And sending they called their three sisters to eat and drink with them.


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 And when the days of their feasting were gone about, Job sent to them, and sanctified them: and rising up early offered holocausts for every one of them. For he said: Lest perhaps my sons have sinned, and have blessed God in their hearts. So did Job all days.


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 Now on a certain day when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan also was present among them.


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 And the Lord said to him: Whence comest thou ? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it.


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 And the Lord said to him: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and avoiding evil?


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 Hast not thou made a fence for him, and his house, and all his substance round about, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession hath increased on the earth ?


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 But stretch forth thy hand a little, and touch all that he hath, and see if he blesseth thee not to thy face.


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 Then the Lord said to Satan: Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person. And Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.


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 Now upon a certain day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother,


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 There came a messenger to Job, and said: The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them,


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 And the Sabeans rushed in, and took all away, and slew the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.


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 And while he was yet speaking, another came, and said: The fire of God fell from heaven, and striking the sheep and the servants, hath consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.


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 And while he also was yet speaking, there came another, and said: The Chaldeans made three troops, and have fallen upon the camels, and taken them, moreover they have slain the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell thee.


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 He was yet speaking, and behold another came in, and said: Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother:


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 A violent wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to fell thee.


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 Then Job rose up, and rent his garments, and having shaven his head fell down upon the ground and worshipped,


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 And said: Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord.


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 And it came to pass, when on a certain day the sons of God came, and stood before the Lord, and Satan came among them, and stood in his sight,


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 That the Lord said to Satan: Whence comest thou ? And he answered and said: I have gone round about the earth, and walked through it.


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 And the Lord said to Satan: Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a man simple, and upright, and fearing Cod, and avoiding evil, and still keeping his innocence ? But thou hast moved me against him, that I sho uld afflict him without cause.


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 gut put forth thy hand, and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt gee that he will bless thee to thy face.


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 So Satan went forth from the presence Of the Lord, and struck Job with a very grievous ulcer, from the sole of the foot even to the top of his head:


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 And he said to her: Thou hast; spoken like one of the foolish women: if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil? In all these things Job did not sin with his lips.


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 Now when Job's three friends heard all the evil that had befallen him, they came every one from his own place, Alphas the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment to come together and visit him, a nd comfort him.


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 And when they had lifted up their eyes afar off, they knew him not, and crying out they wept, and rending their garments they sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven.


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


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 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived.


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 Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.


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 Let darkness, and the shadow of death cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.


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 Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.


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 Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day:


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 Or as a hidden untimely birth I should not be, or as they that being conceived have not seen the light.


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 Have I not dissembled ? have I not kept silence ? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me.


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 If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?


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 Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:


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 But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.


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 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:


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 Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.


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 There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:


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 How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?


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 From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.


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 His children shall be far from safety, and shall be destroyed in the gate, and there shall be none to deliver them.


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 Whose harvest the hungry shall eat, and the armed man shall take him by violence, and the thirsty shall drink up his riches.


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 Who bringeth to nought the designs of the malignant, so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had begun:


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 But he shall save the needy from the sword of their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the violent.


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 Thou shalt he hidden from the scourge of the tongue: and thou shalt not fear calamity when it cometh.


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 In destruction and famine then shalt laugh: and thou shalt not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.


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 But thou shalt have a covenant with the stones of the lands, and the beasts of the earth shall be at pence with thee.


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 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be multiplied, and thy offspring like the grass of the earth.


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 Behold, this is even so, as we have searched oat: which thou having heard, consider it thoroughly in thy mind.


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 O that my sins, whereby I have deserved wrath, and the calamity that I suffer, were weighed in a balance.


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 For the arrows of the Lord are in me, the rage whereof drinketh up my spirit, and the terrors of the Lord war against me.


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 Will the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or will the ox low when he standeth before a full manger?


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 Or can an unsavoury thing be eaten, that is not seasoned with salt? or can a man taste that which when tasted bringeth death?


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 And that this may be my comfort, that afflicting me with sorrow, he spare not, nor I contradict the words of the Holy One.


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 At the time when they shall be scattered they shall perish: and after it groweth hot they shall be melted out of their place.


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 They are confounded, because I have hoped: they are come also even unto me, and are covered with shame.


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 If I lie down to sleep, I shall say: When shall arise? and again I shall look for the evening, and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness.


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 My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope.


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 Wherefore I will not spare my month, I will speak in the affliction of my spirit: I will talk with the bitterness of my soul.


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 I have sinned: what shall I do to thee, O keeper of men? why hast thou set me opposite to thee, and I am become burdensome to myself?


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 Why dost thou not remove my sin, and why dost thou not take away my iniquity? Behold now I shall sleep in the dust: and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be.


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 How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?


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 Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:


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 If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake onto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable:


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 He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth.


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 They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.


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 I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge.


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 If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me.


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 If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked.


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 Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life.


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 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, he covereth the face of the judges thereof: and if it be not he, who is it then?


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 For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment.


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 My soul is weary of my life, I will let go my speech against myself, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.


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 Doth it seem good to thee that thou shouldst calumniate me, and oppress me, the work of thy own hands, and help the counsel of the wicked?


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 And shouldst know that I have done no wicked thing, whereas there is no man that can deliver out of thy hand.


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 Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me wholly round about, and dost thou thus cast me down headlong on a sudden?


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 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay, and thou wilt bring me into dust again.


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 If I have sinned and thou hast spared me for an hour: why dost thou not suffer me to be clean from my iniquity?


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 And if I be wicked, woe unto me: and if just, I shall not lift up my head, being filled with affliction and misery.


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 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and multipliest thy wrath upon me, and pains war against me.


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 Why didst thou bring me forth out of the womb: O that I had been consumed that eye might not see me!


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 Shall not the fewness of my days be ended shortly? suffer me, therefore, that I may lament my sorrow a little:


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 A land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth.


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 Shall men hold their peace to thee only? and when thou hast mocked others, shall no man confute thee?


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 That he might shew thee the secrets of wisdom, and that his law is manifold, and thou mightest understand that he exacteth much less of thee, than thy iniquity deserveth.


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 If thou wilt put away from thee the iniquity that is in thy hand, and lot not injustice remain in thy tabernacle:


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 And brightness like that of the noonday, shall arise to thee at evening: and when thou shalt think thyself consumed, thou shalt rise as the day star.


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 And thou shalt have confidence, hope being set before thee, and being buried thou shalt sleep secure.


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 But the eyes of the wicked shall decay, and the way to escape shall fail them, and their hope the abomination of the soul.


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 He that is mocked by his friends as I, shall call upon God and he will hear him: for the simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn.


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 The tabernacles of robbers abound, and they provoke God boldly; whereas it is he that hath given all into their hands:


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 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee: and the birds of the air, and they shall tell thee.


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 If he pull down, there is no man that can build up: if he shut up a. man, there is none that can open.


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 If he withhold the waters, all things shall be dried up: and if he send them out, they shall overturn the earth.


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 He changeth the heart of the princes of the people of the earth, and deceiveth them that they walk in vain where there is no way.


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 They shall grope as in the dark, and not in the light, and he shall make them stagger like men that are drunk.


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 Behold my eye hath seen all these things, and my ear hath heard them, and I have understood them all.


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 Or shall it please him, from whom nothing can be concealed ? or shall he be deceived as a man, with your deceitful dealings ?


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 Against a leaf, that is carried away with the wind, thou shewest thy power, and thou pursuest a dry straw.


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 Thou hast put my feet in the stocks, and hast observed all my paths, and hast considered the steps of my feet:


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 Who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state.


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 And dost thou think it meet to open thy eyes upon such an one, and to bring him into judgment with thee?


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 The days of man are short, and the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his bounds which cannot be passed.


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 Depart a little from him, that he may rest, until his wished for day come, as that of the hireling.


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 So man when he is fallen asleep shall not rise again; till the heavens be broken, he shall not awake, nor rise up out of his sleep.


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 Who will grant me this, that thou mayest protect me in hell, and hide me till thy wrath pass, and appoint me a. time when thou wilt remember me?


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 Shall man that is dead, thinkest thou, live again? all the days in which I am now in warfare, I expect until my change come.


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 Thou shalt call me, and I will answer thee: to the work of thy hands thou shalt reach out thy right hand.


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 Waters wear away the stones, and with inundation the ground by little and little is washed away: so in like manner thou shalt destroy man.


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 Thou hast strengthened him for a little while, that he may pass away for ever: thou shalt change his face, and shalt send him away.


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 Thou reprovest him by words, who is not equal to thee, and thou speakest that which is not good for thee.


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 Why doth thy heart elevate thee, and why dost thou stare with thy eyes, as if they were thinking great things ?


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 What is man that he should be without spot, and he that is born of a woman that he should appear just?


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 He believeth not that he may return from darkness to light, looking round about for the sword on every side.


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 Tribulation shall terrify him, and distress shall surround him, as a king that is prepared for the battle.


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 For he hath stretched out his hand against God, and hath strengthened himself against the Almighty.


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 He shall not be enriched, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he push his root in the earth.


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 He shall not depart out of darkness: the flame shall dry up his branches, and he shall be taken away by the breath of his own month.


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 He shall be blasted as a vine when its grapes are in the first flower, and as an olive tree that casteth its flower.


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 For the congregation of the hypocrite is barren, and fire shall devour their tabernacles, who love to take bribes.


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 I also could speak like you: and would God your soul were for my soul. I would comfort you also with words, and would wag my head over you.


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 But what shall I do? If I speak, my pain will not rest: and if I hold my peace, it will not depart from me.


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 My wrinkles bear witness against me, and a false speaker riseth up against my face, contradicting me.


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 He hath gathered together his fury against me, and threatening me he hath gnashed with his teeth upon me: my enemy hath beheld me with terrible eyes.


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 They have opened their mouths upon me, and reproaching me they have struck me on the cheek, they are filled with my pains.


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 I that was formerly so wealthy, am all on a sudden broken to pieces: he hath taken me by my neck, he hath broken me, and hath set me up to be his mark.


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 He hath compassed me round about with his lances, he hath wounded my loins, he hath not spared, and hath poured out my bowels on the earth.


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 And the just man shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.


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 All that I have shall go down into the deepest pit: thinkest thou that there at least I shall have rest?


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 Thou that destroyest thy soul in thy fury, shall the earth be forsaken for thee, and shall rocks be removed out of their place?


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 Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let destruction tread upon him like a king.


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 Let the companions of him that is not, dwell in his tabernacle, let brimstone be sprinkled in his tent.


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 They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, and horror shall fall upon them that went before.


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 At least now understand, that God hath not afflicted me with an equal judgment, and compassed me with his scourges.


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 Behold I cry suffering violence, and no one will hear: I shall cry aloud, and there is none to judge.


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 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and he hath taken away my hope, as from a tree that is plucked up.


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 His troops have come together, and have made themselves a way by me, and have besieged my tabernacle round about.


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 They that dwelt in my house, and my maidservants have counted me a stranger, and I have been like an alien in their eyes.


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 They that were sometime my counsellors, have abhorred me: and he whom I love most is turned against me.


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 The flesh being consumed. My bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.


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 Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me.


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 Who will grant me that my words may be written? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book?


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 Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid up in my bosom.


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 Flee then from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is judgment.


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 Therefore various thoughts succeed one another in me, and my mind is hurried away to different things.


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 The doctrine with which thou reprovest me, I will hear, and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.


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 In the end he shall be destroyed like a dunghill, and they that has seen him shall say: Where is he?


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 He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.


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 Because he broke in and stripped the poor: he hath violently taken away a house which he did not build.


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 And yet his belly was not filled: and when he hath the things he coveted, he shall not be able to possess them.


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 When he shall be filled, he shall be straitened, he shall burn, and every sorrow shall fall upon him.


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 May his belly be filled, that God may send forth the wrath of his indignation upon him, and rain down his war upon him.


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 The sword is drawn out, and cometh forth from its scabbard, and glittereth in his bitterness: the terrible ones shall go and come upon him.


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 All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.


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 Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children's children in their sight.


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 Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit.


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 How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?


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 God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know.


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 For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?


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 Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.


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 He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him.


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 For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause, and stripped the naked of their clothing.


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 And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?


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 The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven.


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 If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle.


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 For he that hath been humbled, shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved.


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 I would not that he should contend with me with much strength, nor overwhelm me with the weight of his greatness.


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 If to the left hand, what shall I do? I shall not take hold on him: if I turn myself to the right hand, I shall not see him.


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 I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom.


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 For he is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever is soul hath desired, that hath he done.


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 For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.


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 Others like wild asses in the desert go forth to their work: by watching for a prey they get bread for their children.


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 They reap the field that is not their own, and gather the vintage of his vineyard whom by violence they have oppressed.


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 From the naked and them that go without clothing, and from the hungry they have taken away the ears of corn.


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 They have taken their rest at noon among the stores of them, who after having trodden the winepresses suffer thirst.


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 Out of the cities they have made men to groan, and the soul of the wounded hath cried out, and God doth not suffer it to pass unrevenged.


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 They have been rebellious to the light, they have not known his ways, neither have they returned by his paths.


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 The murderer riseth at the very break of day, he killeth the needy, and the poor man: but in the night he will be as a thief.


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 The eye of the adulterer observeth darkness, saying: No eye shall see me: and he will cover his face.


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 He diggeth through houses in the dark, as in the day they had appointed for themselves, and they have not known the light.


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 If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them the shadow of death: and they walk in darkness as if it were in light.


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 He is light upon the face of the water: cursed be his portion on the earth, let him not walk by the way of the vineyards.


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 Let mercy forget him: may worms be his sweetness: let him be remembered no more, but be broken in pieces as an unfruitful tree.


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 He hath pulled down the strong by his might: and when he standeth up, he shall not trust to his life.


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 God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but his eyes are upon his ways.


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 They are lifted up for a little while and shall not stand, and shall be brought down as all things, and shall be taken away, and as the tops of the ears of corn they shall be broken.


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 Whose helper art thou? is it of him that is weak? and dost thou hold up the arm of him that has no strength?


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 To whom hast thou given counsel? perhaps to him that hath no wisdom, and thou hast shewn thy very great prudence.


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 Lo, these things are said in part of his ways: and seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of his word, who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness?


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 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness,


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 My justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake: for my heart doth not reprehend me in all my life.


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 For what is the hope of the hypocrite if through covetousness he take by violence, and God deliver not his soul?


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 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty.


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 If his sons be multiplied, they shall be for the sword, and his grandsons shall not be filled with bread.


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 He shall prepare indeed, but the just man shall be clothed with it: and the innocent shall divide the silver.


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 The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes and find nothing.


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 A burning wind shall take him up, and carry him away, and as a whirlwind shall snatch him from his place.


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 He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death.


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 The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the food of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at.


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 It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire.


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 High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.


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 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing.


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


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 Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me?


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 If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth.


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 If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.


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 But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:


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 Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.


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 They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.


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 At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.


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 They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.


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 They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.


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 I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.


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 With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.


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 But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.


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 If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands:


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 If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me:


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 For what shall I do when God shall rise to judge? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him?


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 Did not he that made me in the womb make him also: and did not one and the same form me in the womb?


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 If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering:


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 If I have been glad at the downfall of him that hated me, and have rejoiced that evil had found him.


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 If I have been afraid at a very great multitude, and the contempt of kinsmen hath terrified me: and I have not rather held my peace, and not gone out of the door.


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 Who would grant me a hearer, that the Almighty may hear my desire; and that he himself that judgeth would write a book,


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 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof:


text:
 And Eliu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram, was angry and was moved to indignation : now he was angry against Job, because he said he was just before God.


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 And he was angry with his friends because they had not found a reasonable answer, but only had condemned Job.


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 Then Eliu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said : I am younger in days, and you are more ancient; therefore hanging down my head, I was afraid to shew you my opinion.


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 For I have waited for your words, I have given ear to your wisdom, as long as you were disputing in words.


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 And as long as I thought you said some thing, I considered : but, as I see, there is none of you that can convince Job, and answer his words.


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 Now this is the thing in which thou art not justified : I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.


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 By a dream in a vision by night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, and they are sleeping in their beds :


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 He shall have mercy on him, and shall say : Deliver him, that he may not go down to corruption : I have found wherein I may be merciful to him.


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 He shall pray to God, and he will be gracious to him : and he shall see his face with joy, and he will render to man his justice.


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 He shall look upon men, and shall say : I have sinned, and indeed I have offended, and I have not received what I have deserved.


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 Therefore, ye men of understanding, hear me : far from god be wickedness, and iniquity from the Almighty.


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 Who accepteth not the persons of princes : nor hath regarded the tyrant, when he contended against the poor man : for all are the work of his hands.


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 They shall suddenly die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and they shall pass, and take away the violent without hand.


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 For he knoweth their works : and therefore he shall bring night on them, and they shall be destroyed.


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 For when he granteth peace, who is there that can condemn? When he hideth his countenance, who is there that can behold him, whether it regard nations, or all men?


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 Doth God require it of thee, because it hath displeased thee? for thou begannest to speak, and not I. : but if thou know any thing better, speak.


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 Because he addeth blasphemy upon his sins, let him be tied fast in the mean time amongst us : and then let him provoke God to judgment with his speeches.


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 If thou sin, what shalt thou hurt him? and if thy iniquities be multiplied, what shalt thou do against him?


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 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they shall cry out : and shall wail for the violence of the arm of tyrants.


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 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and instructeth us more than the fowls of the air.


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 He will not take away his eyes from the just, and he placeth kings on the throne for ever, and they are exalted.


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 He also shall open their ear, to correct them : and shall speak, that they may return from iniquity.


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 If they shall hear and observe, they shall accomplish their days in good, and their years in glory.


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 Therefore he shall set thee at large out of the narrow mouth, and which hath no foundation under it : and the rest of thy table shall be full of fatness.


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 Therefore let not anger overcome thee to oppress any man : neither let multitude of gifts turn thee aside.


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 After it a noise shall roar, he shall thunder with the voice of his majesty, and shall not be found out, when his voice shall be heard.


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 He commandeth the snow to go down upon the earth, and the winter rain, and the shower of his strength.


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 Which go round about, whithersoever the will of him that governeth them shall lead them, to whatsoever he shall command them upon the face of the whole earth :


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 Whether in one tribe, or in his own land, or in what place soever of his mercy he shall command them to be found.


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 Thou perhaps hast made the heavens with him, which are most strong, as if they were of molten brass.


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 But now they see not the light : the air on a sudden shall be thickened into clouds, and the wind shall pass and drive them away.


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 We cannot find him worthily : he is great in strength, and in judgment, and in justice, and he is ineffable.


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 Therefore men shall fear him, and all that seem to themselves to be wise, shall not dare to behold him.


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 And I said : Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.


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 And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?


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 That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.


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 Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?


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 Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?


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 Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?


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 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bring forth among the rocks, or hast thou observed the hinds when they fawn?


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 Canst thou bind the rhinoceros with thy thong to plough, or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee?


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 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers, she hath laboured in vain, no fear constraining her.


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 Chasing and raging he swalloweth the ground, neither doth he make account when the noise of the trumpet soundeth.


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 When he heareth the trumpet he saith : Ha, ha : he smelleth the battle afar off, the encouraging of the captains, and the shouting of the army.


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 She abideth among the rocks, and dwelleth among cragged flints, and stony hills, where there is no access.


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 Her young ones shall suck up blood : and wheresoever the carcass shall be, she is immediately there.


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 Shall he that contendeth with God be so easily silenced? surely he that reproveth God, ought to answer him.


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 Clothe thyself with beauty, and set thyself up on high and be glorious, and put on goodly garments.


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 Behold, he will drink up a river, and not wonder : and he trusteth that the Jordan may run into his mouth.


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 The members of his flesh cleave one to another : he shall send lightnings against him, and they shall not be carried to another place.


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 Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken unwisely, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge.


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 And after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Themanite : My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends, because you have not spoken the thing that is right before my, as my servant Job hath.


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 Take unto you therefore seven oxen, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for yourselves a holocaust : and my servant Job shall pray for you : his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you : for you have not spoken right things before me, as my servant Job hath.


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 So Eliphaz the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite went, and did as the Lord had spoken to them, and the Lord accepted the face of Job.


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 The Lord also was turned at the penance of Job, when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.


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 And all his brethren came to him, and all his sisters, and all that knew him before, and they ate bread with him in his house : and bemoaned him, and comforted him upon all the evil that God had brought upon him. And every man gave him one ewe, and one earring of fold.


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


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 And he called the names of one Dies, and the name of the second Cassia, and the name of the third Cornustibil.


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 And there were not found in all the earth women so beautiful as the daughters of Job : and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.


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 And Job lived after these things, a hundred and forty years, and he saw his children, and his children's children, unto the fourth generation,


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 Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.


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 And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whosoever he shall do shall prosper.


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 The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord and against his Christ.


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 Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.


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 Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way. When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.


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 The psalm of David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom: Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? many are they who rise up against me.


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 For thou hast struck all them who are my adversaries without cause: thou hast broken the teeth of sinners.


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 Unto the end, in verses. A psalm of David: When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: when I was in distress, thou hast enlarged me. Have mercy on me: and hear my prayer.


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 O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? why do you love vanity, and seek after lying?


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 Know ye also that the Lord hath made his holy one wonderful: the Lord will hear me when I shall cry unto him.


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 In peace in the selfsame I will sleep, and I will rest: for thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope.


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 Unto the end, for her that obtaineth the inheritance. A psalm of David: Give ear, O Lord, to my words, understand my cry.


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 In the morning I will stand before thee, and will see: because thou art not a God that willest iniquity.


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 Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie. The bloody and the deceitful man the Lord will abhor.


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 But as for me in the multitude of thy mercy, I will come into thy house; I will worship towards thy holy temple, in thy fear.


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 Their throat is an open sepulchre: they dealt deceitfully with their tongues: judge them, O God. Let them fall from their devices: according to the multitude of their wickedness cast them out: for they have provoked thee, O Lord.


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 But let all them be glad that hope in thee: they shall rejoice for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them. And all they that love thy name shall glory in thee:


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 Unto the end, in verses, a psalm for David, for the octave. O Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy wrath.


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 I have laboured in my groanings, every night I will wash my bed: I will water my couch with my tears.


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 Let all my enemies be ashamed, and be very much troubled: let them be turned back, and be ashamed very speedily.


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 The psalm of David which he sung to the Lord for the words of Chusi the son of Jemini. [2 Kings 16.]: O Lord my God, in thee have I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me.


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 Lest at any time he seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is no one to redeem me, nor to save.


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 Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it, and tread down my life on the earth, and bring down my glory to the dust.


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 Rise up, O Lord, in thy anger: and be thou exalted in the borders of my enemies. And arise, O Lord my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded:


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 The Lord judgeth the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice, and according to my innocence in me.


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 The wickedness of sinners shall be brought to nought: and thou shalt direct the just: the searcher of hearts and reins is God.


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 And in it he hath prepared the instruments of death, he hath made ready his arrows for them that burn.


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 Behold he hath been in labour with injustice; he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity.


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 I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice: and will sing to the name of the Lord the most high.


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 Unto the end, for the presses: a psalm of David: O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.


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 Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.


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 For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.


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 Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover the beasts also of the fields.


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 Unto the end, for the hidden things of the Son. A psalm for David: I will give praise to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: I will relate all thy wonders.


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 For thou hast maintained my judgment and my cause: thou hast sat on the throne, who judgest justice.


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 Thou hast rebuked the Gentiles, and the wicked one hath perished: thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.


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 The swords of the enemy have failed unto the end: and their cities thou hast destroyed. Their memory hath perished with a noise.


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 And let them trust in thee who know thy name: for thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee, O Lord.


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 Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.


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 I will rejoice in thy salvation: the Gentiles have stuck fast in the destruction which they have prepared. Their foot hath been taken in the very snare which they hid.


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 The Lord shall be known when he executeth judgments: the sinner hath been caught in the works of his own hands.


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 For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of the poor shall not perish for ever.


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 Why, O Lord, hast thou retired afar off? why dost thou slight us in our wants, in the time of trouble?


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 Whilst the wicked man is proud, the poor is set on fire: they are caught in the counsels which they devise.


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 God is not before his eyes: his ways are filthy at all times. Thy judgments are removed from his sight: he shall rule over all his enemies.


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 For he hath said in his heart: I shall not be moved from generation to generation, and shall be without evil.


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 His mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of deceit: under his tongue are labour and sorrow.


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 His eyes are upon the poor man: He lieth in wait in secret like a lion in his den. He lieth in ambush that he may catch the poor man: to catch the poor, whilst he draweth him to him.


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 In his net he will bring him down, he will crouch and fall, when he shall have power over the poor.


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 For he hath said in his heart: God hath forgotten, he hath turned away his face not to see to the end.


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 Thou seest it, for thou considerest labour and sorrow: that thou mayst deliver them into thy hands. To thee is the poor man left: thou wilt be a helper to the orphan.


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 Break thou the arm of the sinner and of the malignant: his sin shall be sought, and shall not be found.


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 To judge for the fatherless and for the humble, that man may no more presume to magnify himself upon earth.


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 Unto the end. A psalm for David: In the Lord I put my trust: how then do you say to my soul: Get thee away from hence to the mountain like a sparrow?


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 For, lo, the wicked have bent their bow; they have prepared their arrows in the quiver; to shoot in the dark the upright of heart.


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 The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes look on the poor man: his eyelids examine the sons of men.


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 He shall rain snares upon sinners: fire and brimstone and storms of winds shall be the portion of their cup.


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 Unto the end; for the octave, a psalm for David: Save me, O Lord, for there is now no saint: truths are decayed from among the children of men.


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 They have spoken vain things every one to his neighbour: with deceitful lips, and with a double heart have they spoken.


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 By reason of the misery of the needy, and the groans of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I win set him in safety; I will deal confidently in his regard.


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 The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth refined seven times.


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 Unto the end, a psalm for David: How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me unto the end? how long dost thou turn away thy face from me?


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 lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him. They that trouble me will rejoice when I am moved:


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 but I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation: I will sing to the Lord, who giveth me good things: yea I will sing to the name of the Lord the most high.


text:
 Unto the end, a psalm for David. The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God, They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one.


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 The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God.


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 They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they acted deceitfully; the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.


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 For the Lord is in the just generation: you have confounded the counsel of the poor man, but the Lord is his hope.


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 Who shall give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when the Lord shall have turned away the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad.


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 He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.


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 In his sight the malignant is brought to nothing: but he glorifieth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his neighbour, and deceiveth not;


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 he that hath not put out his money to usury, nor taken bribes against the innocent: He that doth these things shall not be moved for ever.


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 Their infirmities were multiplied: afterwards they made haste. I will not gather together their meetings for blood offerings: nor will I be mindful of their names by my lips.


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 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me.


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 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me understanding: moreover my reins also have corrected me even till night.


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 Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced: moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope.


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 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end.


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 The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips.


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 Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable.


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 Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me.


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 That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.


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 I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline thy ear unto me, and hear my words.


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 From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings.


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 They have cast me forth and now they have surrounded me: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.


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 They have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places.


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 from the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance.


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 But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.


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 Unto the end, for David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. [2 Kings 22.]: I will love thee, O Lord, my strength:


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 The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector and the horn of my salvation, and my support.


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 In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God: And he heard my voice from his holy temple: and my cry before him came into his ears.


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 The earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were moved, because he was angry with them.


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 And he made darkness his covert, his pavilion round about him: dark waters in the clouds of the air.


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 Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were discovered: At thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the spirit of thy wrath.


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 He delivered me from my strongest enemies, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.


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 And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands:


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 And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.


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 As for my God, his way is undefiled: the words of the Lord are fire tried: he is the protector of all that trust in him.


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 And thou hast given me the protection of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath held me up: And thy discipline hath corrected me unto the end: and thy discipline, the same shall teach me.


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 I will pursue after my enemies, and overtake them: and I will not turn again till they are consumed.


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 And thou hast girded me with strength unto battle; and hast subdued under me them that rose up against me.


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 And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I shall bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets.


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 Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people: thou wilt make me head of the Gentiles.


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 The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths.


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 And thou wilt lift me up above them that rise up against me: from the unjust man thou wilt deliver me.


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 Therefore will I give glory to thee, O Lord, among the nations, and I will sing a psalm to thy name.


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 Giving great deliverance to his king, and shewing mercy to David his anointed : and to his seed for ever.


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 Unto the end. A psalm for David: The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.


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 He hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he, as a bridegroom coming out of his bride chamber, Hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way:


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 His going out is from the end of heaven, And his circuit even to the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat.


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 The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones.


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 The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes.


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 The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves.


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 and from those of others spare thy servant. If they shall have no dominion over me, then shall I be without spot: and I shall be cleansed from the greatest sin.


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 And the words of my mouth shall be such as may please: and the meditation of my heart always in thy sight. O Lord, my helper, and my redeemer.


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 Unto the end. A psalm for David: May the Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation: may the name of the God of Jacob protect thee.


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 The Lord fulfil all thy petitions: now have I known that the Lord hath saved his anointed. He will hear him from his holy heaven: the salvation of his right hand is in powers.


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 Unto the end. A psalm for David: In thy strength, O Lord, the king shall joy; and in thy salvation he shall rejoice exceedingly.


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 For thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness: thou hast set on his head a crown of precious stones.


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 For thou shalt give him to be a blessing for ever and ever: thou shalt make him joyful in gladness with thy countenance.


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 Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire, in the time of thy anger: the Lord shall trouble them in his wrath, and fire shall devour them.


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 For they have intended evils against thee: they have devised counsels which they have not been able to establish.


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 Unto the end, for the morning protection, a psalm for David: O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.


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 O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me.


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 All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head.


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 I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.


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 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.


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 For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet.


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 Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath he turned away his face from me: and when I cried to him he heard me.


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 The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever.


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 All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord: And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight.


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 All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.


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 There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall shew forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.


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 For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.


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 Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!


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 And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.


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 On the first day of the week, a psalm for David. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell therein.


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 The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour.


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 Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in.


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 Let all them be confounded that act unjust things without cause. Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and teach me thy paths.


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 Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art God my Saviour; and on thee have I waited all the day long.


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 Remember, O Lord, thy bowels of compassion; and thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world.


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 The sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember. According to thy mercy remember thou me: for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.


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 All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, to them that seek after his covenant and his testimonies.


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 Unto the end, a psalm for David. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence: and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened.


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 The psalm of David before he was anointed. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?


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 Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh. My enemies that trouble me, have themselves been weakened, and have fallen.


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 If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident.


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 One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.


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 For he hath hidden me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils, he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle.


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 He hath exalted me upon a rock: and now he hath lifted up my head above my enemies. I have gone round, and have offered up in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation: I will sing, and recite a psalm to the Lord.


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 Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour.


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 Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me; for unjust witnesses have risen up against me; and iniquity hath lied to itself.


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 A psalm for David himself. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not thou silent to me: lest thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.


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 Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to thee; when I lift up my hands to thy holy temple.


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 Draw me not away together with the wicked; and with the workers of iniquity destroy me not: Who speak peace with their neighbour, but evils are in their hearts.


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 Give them according to their works, and according to the wickedness of their inventions. According to the works of their hands give thou to them: render to them their reward.


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 Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, and the operations of his hands: thou shalt destroy them, and shalt not build them up.


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 The Lord is my helper and my protector: in him hath my heart confided, and I have been helped. And my flesh hath flourished again, and with my will I will give praise to him.


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 A psalm for David, at the finishing of the tabernacle. Bring to the Lord, O ye children of God: bring to the Lord the offspring of rams.


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 Bring to the Lord glory and honour: bring to the Lord glory to his name: adore ye the Lord in his holy court.


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 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered, The Lord is upon many waters.


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 The voice of the Lord prepareth the stags: and he will discover the thick woods: and in his temple all shall speak his glory.


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 A psalm of a canticle, at the dedication of David's house: I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.


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 Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.


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 For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.


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 O Lord, in thy favour, thou gavest strength to my beauty. Thou turnedst away thy face from me, and I became troubled.


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 What profit is there in my blood, whilst I go down to corruption? Shall dust confess to thee, or declare thy truth?


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 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:


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 To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.


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 Unto the end, a psalm for David, in an ecstasy: In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, Iet me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice.


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 Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.


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 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou best regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.


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 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly:


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 For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed.


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 I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without fled from me.


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 For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my life.


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 My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; and from them that persecute me.


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 Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell.


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 O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.


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 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.


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 But I said in the excess of my mind: I am cast away from before thy eyes. Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, when I cried to thee.


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 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord will require truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly.


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 To David himself, understanding. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.


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 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened.


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 I have acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord: and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.


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 For this shall every one that is holy pray to thee in a seasonable time. And yet in a flood of many waters, they shall not come nigh unto him.


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 Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me: my joy, deliver me from them that surround me.


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 I will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this way, in which thou shalt go: I will fix my eyes upon thee.


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 Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee.


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 By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth:


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 The Lord bringeth to naught the counsels of nations; and he rejecteth the devices of people, and casteth away the counsels of princes.


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 For David, when he changed his countenance before Achimelech, who dismissed him, and he went his way. [1 Kings 21.] I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.


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 The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.


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 But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.


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 Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me : say to my soul : I am thy salvation.


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 Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise against me.


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 For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction : without cause they have upbraided my soul.


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 Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him : and let the net which he hath hidden catch him : and let the net which he hath hidden catch him : and into that very snare let them fall.


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 All my bones shall say : Lord, who is like to thee? Who deliverest the poor from the hand of them that are stronger than he; the needy and the poor from them that strip him.


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 But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed with haircloth. I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom.


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 As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please : as one mourning and sorrowful so was I humbled.


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 But they rejoiced against me, and came together : scourges were gathered together upon me, and I knew not.


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 They were separated, and repented not : they tempted me, they scoffed at me with scorn : they gnashed upon me with their teeth.


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 Lord, when wilt thou look upon me? rescue thou soul from their malice : my only one from the lions.


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 Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me : who have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes.


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 And they opened their mouth wide against me; they said : Well done, well done, our eyes have seen it.


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 Let them not say in their hearts : It is well, it is well, to our mind : neither let them say : We have swallowed him up.


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 Let them blush : and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils. Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great things against me.


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 Let them rejoice and be glad, who are well pleased with my justice, and let them say always : The Lord be magnified, who delights in the peace of his servant.


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 Unto the end, for the servant of God, David himself. The unjust hath said within himself, that he would sin : there is no fear of God before his eyes.


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 He hath devised iniquity on his bed, he hath set himself on every way that is not good : but evil he hath not hated.


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 Thy justice is as the mountains of God, thy judgments are a great deep. Men and beasts thou wilt preserve, O Lord :


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 O how hast thou multiplied thy mercy, O God! But the children of men shall put their trust under the covert of thy wings.


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 They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure.


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 Be subject to the Lord and pray to him Envy not the man who prospereth in his way; the man who doth unjust things.


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 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be : and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.


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 The wicked have drawn out the sword : they have bent their bow. To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.


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 because the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke.


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 I have been young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.


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 For the Lord loveth judgment, and will not forsake his saints : they shall be preserved for ever. The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish.


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 Expect the Lord and keep his way : and he will exalt thee to inherit the land : when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see.


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 And the Lord will help them and deliver them : and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.


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 A psalm for David, for a remembrance of the sabbath. Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation; nor chastise me in thy wrath.


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 There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath : there is no peace for my bones, because of my sins.


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 My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me. And they that were near me stood afar off :


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 And they that sought my soul used violence. And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things, and studied deceits all the day long.


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 For I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me : and whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me.


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 Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David. I said: I will take heed to my ways : that I sin not with my tongue. I have set guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.


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 I spoke with my tongue : O Lord, make me know my end. And what is the number of my days : that I may know what is wanting to me.


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 Behold thou hast made my days measurable : and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity : every man living.


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 Surely man passeth as an image : yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up : and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.


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 thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider : surely in vain is any man disquieted.


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 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication : give ear to my tears. Be not silent : for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.


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 Unto the end, a psalm for David himself. With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.


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 And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.


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 And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many shall see, and shall fear : and they shall hope in the Lord.


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 Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord; and who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies.


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 Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God : and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared and I have spoken they are multiplied above number.


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 Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require :


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 I have declared thy justice in a great church, lo, I will not restrain my lips : O Lord, thou knowest it.


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 I have not hid thy justice within my heart : I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council.


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 Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me : thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me.


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 For evils without number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head : and my heart hath forsaken me.


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 Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away. Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that desire evils to me.


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 Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee : and let such as love thy salvation say always : The Lord be magnified.


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 But I am a beggar and poor : the Lord is careful for me. Thou art my helper and my protector : O my God, be not slack.


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 Unto the end, a psalm for David himself. Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor : the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.


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 The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth : and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.


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 And if he came in to see me, he spoke vain things : his heart gathered together iniquity to itself. He went out and spoke to the same purpose.


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 By this I know, that thou hast had a good will for me : because my enemy shall not rejoice over me.


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 Unto the end, understanding for the sons of Core. As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God.


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 My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?


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 These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me : for I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God : With the voice of joy and praise; the noise of one feasting.


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 Why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him : the salvation of my countenance,


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 and my God. My soul is troubled within myself : therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and Hermoniim, from the little hill.


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 Deep calleth on deep, at the noise of thy flood-gates. All thy heights and thy billows have passed over me.


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 In the daytime the Lord hath commanded his mercy; and a canticle to him in the night. With me is prayer to the God of my life.


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 I will say to God : Thou art my support. Why hast thou forgotten me? and why go I mourning, whilst my enemy afflicteth me?


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 Whilst my bones are broken, my enemies who trouble me have reproached me; Whilst they say to me day be day : Where is thy God?


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 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope thou in God, for I will still give praise to him : the salvation of my countenance, and my God.


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 A psalm for David. Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy : deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man.


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 For thou art God my strength : why hast thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?


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 Send forth thy light and thy truth : they have conducted me, and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.


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 And I will go in to the altar of God : to God who giveth joy to my youth. To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp :


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 why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him : the salvation of my countenance, and my God.


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 We have heard, O God, with our ears : our fathers have declared to us, The work, thou hast wrought in their days, and in the days of old.


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 Thy hand destroyed the Gentiles, and thou plantedst them : thou didst afflict the people and cast them out.


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 For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword : neither did their own arm save them. But thy right hand and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance : because thou wast pleased with them.


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 Through thee we will push down our enemies with the horn : and through thy name we will despise them that rise up against us.


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 But now thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame : and thou, O God, wilt not go out with our armies.


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 Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scoff and derision to them that are round about us.


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 All these things have come upon us, yet we have not forgotten thee : and we have not done wickedly in they covenant.


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 Shall not God search out these things : for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Because for thy sake we are killed all the day long : we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.


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 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved. My heart hath uttered a good word I speak my works to the king; My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly.


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 Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever


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 With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.


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 Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.


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 the daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.


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 And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.


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 And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance.


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 clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee.


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 They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king.


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 They shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever.


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 Unto the end, for the sons of Core, for the hidden. Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly.


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 Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled; and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea.


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 The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful: the most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle.


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 making wars to cease even to the end of the earth. He shall destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in the fire.


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 Be still and see that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.


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 Unto the end, for the sons of Core. O clap your hands, all ye nations: shout unto God with the voice of Joy,


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 The princes of the people are gathered together, with the God of Abraham: for the strong gods of the earth are exceedingly exalted.


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 A psalm of a canticle, for the sons of Core, on the second day of the week. Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.


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 With the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion founded, on the sides of the north, the city of the great king.


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 As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God hath founded it for ever.


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 According to thy name, O God, so also is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of justice.


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 Set your hearts on her strength; and distribute her houses, that ye may relate it in another generation.


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 Unto the end, a psalm for the sons of Core. Hear these things, all ye nations: give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.


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 He shall not see destruction, when he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together: And they shall leave their riches to strangers:


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 and their sepulchres shall be their houses for ever. Their dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by their names.


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 And man when he was in honour did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them.


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 They are laid in hell like sheep: death shall feed upon them. And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their help shall decay in hell from their glory.


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 Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rich, and when the glory of his house shall be increased.


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 For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise thee when thou shalt do well to him.


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 Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them.


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 A psalm for Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof:


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 God shall come manifestly: our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about him.


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 But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth ?


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 these things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face.


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 Understand these things, you that forget God; lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you.


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 The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God.


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 Unto the end, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bethsabee. Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.


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 To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged.


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 For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.


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 Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.


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 To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.


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 For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.


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 A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.


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 Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.


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 Unto the end, understanding for David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul David went to the house of Achimelech. Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?


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 Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living.


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 Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity.


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 But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever.


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 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.


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 Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David. The fool said in his hear t: There is no God. They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good.


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 God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God.


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 All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there is none that doth good, no not one.


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 They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear, where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them.


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 Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when God shall bring back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.


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 Unto the end, In verses, understanding for David. When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us? Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength.


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 For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.


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 Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David. Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:


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 at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.


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 Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.


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 For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.


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 Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.


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 God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:


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 they are divided by the wrath Of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.


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 Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.


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 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.


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 Unto the end, for a people that is removed at a distance from the sanctuary for David, for an inscription of a title (or pillar ) when the Philistines held him in Geth. Have mercy on me, O God, for man hath trodden me under foot; all the day long he hath afflicted me fighting against me.


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 In God I will praise my words, in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do against me.


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 Then shall my enemies be turned back. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, behold I know thou art my God.


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 Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, my feet from falling: that I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the living.


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 Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title, when he fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth in thee. And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away.


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 He hath sent from heaven and delivered me: he hath made them a reproach that trod upon me. God hath sent his mercy and his truth,


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 and he hath delivered my soul from the midst of the young lions. I slept troubled. The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.


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 They prepared a snare for my feet; and they bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face, and they are fallen into it.


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 I will give praise to thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing a psalm to thee among the nations.


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 Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title. If in very deed you speak justice: judge right things, ye sons of men.


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 The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things.


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 God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouth: the Lord shall break the grinders of the lions.


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 Like wax that melteth they shall be taken away: fire hath fallen on them, and they shall not see the sun.


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 The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge: he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.


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 And man shall say: If indeed there be fruit to the just: there is indeed a God that judgeth them on the earth.


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 Unto the end, destroy not, for David for an inscription of It title, when Saul sent and watched his house to kill him. Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; and defend me from them that rise up against me.


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 Rise up thou to meet me, and behold: even thou, O Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel. Attend to visit all the nations: have no mercy on all them that work iniquity.


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 They shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs: and shall go round about the city.


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 Behold they shall speak with their mouth, and a sword is in their lips: for who, say they, hath heard us ?


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 God shall let me see over my enemies: slay them not, lest at any time my people forget. Scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord, my protector:


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 For the sin of their mouth, and the word of their lips: and let them be taken in their pride. And for their cursing and lying they shall be talked of,


text:
 when they are consumed: when they are consumed by thy wrath, and they shall be no more. And they shall know that God will rule Jacob, and all the ends of the earth.


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 But I will sing thy strength: and will extol thy mercy in the morning. For thou art become my support, and my refuge, in the day of my trouble.


text:
 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the inscription of a title, to David himself, for doctrine, when he set fire to Mesopotamia of Syria and Sobal and Joab returned and slew of Edom, in the vale of the saltpits, twelve thousand men. O God, thou hast cast us off, and hast destroyed us; thou hast been angry, and hast had mercy on us.


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 Thou hast moved the earth, and hast troubled it: heal thou the breaches thereof, for it has been moved.


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 Thou hast given a warning to them that fear thee: that they may flee from before the bow: That thy beloved may be delivered.


text:
 God hath spoken in his holy place: I will rejoice, and I will divide Sichem; and will mete out the vale of tabernacles.


text:
 Moab is the pot of my hope. Into Edom will I stretch out my shoe: to me the foreigners are made subject.


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 To thee have I cried from the ends of the earth: when my heart was in anguish, thou hast exalted me on a rock. Thou hast conducted me;


text:
 Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of David. Shall not my soul be subject to God? for from him is my salvation.


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 How long do you rush in upon a man? you all kill, as if you were thrusting down a leaning wall, and a tottering fence.


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 But they have thought to cast away my price; I ran in thirst: they blessed with their mouth, but cursed with their heart.


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 Trust in him, all ye congregation of people: pour out your hearts before him. God is our helper for ever.


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 But vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars in the balances: that by vanity they may together deceive.


text:
 A psalm of David when he was in the desert of Edom. O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day. For thee my soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O how many ways!


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 In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water: so in the sanctuary have I come before thee, to see thy power and thy glory.


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 But the king shall rejoice in God, all they shall be praised that swear by him: because the mouth is stopped of them that speak wicked things.


text:
 Unto the end, a psalm for David. Hear, O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to thee : deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy.


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 Thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from the multitude of the workers of iniquity.


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 They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have said: Who shall see them?


text:
 They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their search. Man shall come to a deep heart:


text:
 The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and all the upright in heart shall be praised.


text:
 To the end, a psalm of David. The canticle of Jeremias and Ezechiel to the people of the captivity, when they began to go out. A Hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem.


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 Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen and taken to thee: he shall dwell in thy courts. We shall be filled with the good things of thy house; holy is thy temple,


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 wonderful in justice. Hear us, O God our saviour, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off.


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 and they that dwell in the uttermost borders shall be afraid at thy signs: thou shalt make the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to be joyful.


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 Thou hast visited the earth, and hast plentifully watered it; thou hast many ways enriched it. The river of God is filled with water, thou hast prepared their food: for so is its preparation.


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 Fill up plentifully the streams thereof, multiply its fruits; it shall spring up and rejoice in its showers.


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 Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of thy goodness: and thy fields shall be filled with plenty.


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 The beautiful places of the wilderness shall grow fat: and the hills shall be girded about with joy,


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 The rams of the flock are clothed, and the vales shall abound with corn: they shall shout, yea they shall sing a hymn.


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 Say unto God, How terrible are thy works, O Lord! in the multitude of thy strength thy enemies shall lie to thee.


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 Who turneth the sea into dry land, in the river they shall pass on foot: there shall we rejoice in him.


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 Who by his power ruleth for ever: his eyes behold the nations; let not them that provoke him he exalted in themselves.


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 thou hast set men over our heads. We have passed through tire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment.


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 I will offer up to thee holocausts full of marrow, with burnt offerings of rams: I will offer to thee bullocks with goats.


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 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what great things he hath done for my soul.


text:
 Unto the end, in, hymns, a psalm of a canticle for David. May God have mercy on us, and bless us: may he cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us.


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 Let the nations be glad and rejoice: for thou judgest the people with justice, and directest the nations upon earth.


text:
 Unto the end, a psalm of a canticle for David himself. Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them that hate him flee from before his face.


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 As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.


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 Sing ye to God, sing a psalm to his name, make a way for him who ascendeth upon the west: the Lord is his name. Rejoice ye before him: but the wicked shall be troubled at his presence,


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 God who maketh men of one manner to dwell in a house: Who bringeth out them that were bound in strength; in like manner them that provoke, that dwell in sepulchres.


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 O God, when thou didst go forth in the sight of thy people, when thou didst pass through the desert:


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 The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel.


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 Thou shalt set aside for thy inheritance a free rain, O God: and it was weakened, but thou hast made it perfect.


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 The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the beauty of the house shall divide spoils.


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 If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with the paleness of gold.


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 Why suspect, ye curdled mountains? A mountain in which God is well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell unto the end.


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 The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sina, in the holy place.


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 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts in men. Yea for those also that do not believe, the dwelling of the Lord God.


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 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thy enemies; the tongue of thy dogs be red with the same.


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 There is Benjamin a youth, in ecstasy of mind. The princes of Juda are their leaders: the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthali.


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 Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the congregation of bulls with the kine of the people; who seek to exclude them who are tried with silver. Scatter thou the nations that delight in wars:


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 who mounteth above the heaven of heavens, to the east. Behold he will give to his voice the voice of power:


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 God is wonderful in his saints: the God of Israel is he who will give power and strength to his people. Blessed be God.


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 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed; for David. SAVE me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul.


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 I stick fast in the mire of the deep: and there is no sure standing. I am come into the depth of the sea: and a tempest hath overwhelmed me.


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 I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoarse: my eyes have failed, whilst I hope in my God.


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 They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away.


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 Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee, O God of Israel.


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 For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.


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 But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.


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 Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.


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 Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.


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 Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.


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 In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none.


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 Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and they have added to the grief of my wounds.


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 For God will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built up. And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance.


text:
 Unto the end, a psalm for David, to bring to remembrance that the Lord saved him. O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.


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 Let them be turned backward, and blush for shame that desire evils to me: Let them be presently turned away blushing for shame that say to me: 'T is well, 't is well.


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 Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; and let such as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.


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 But I am needy and poor; O God, help me. Thou art my helper and my deliverer: O Lord, make no delay.


text:
 A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former captives. In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion:


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 Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge.


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 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust.


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 By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother's womb thou art my protector. Of thee shall I continually sing:


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 Let them be confounded and come to nothing that detract my soul; let them be covered with confusion and shame that seek my hurt.


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 My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day long. Because I have not knows learning,


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 And unto old age and grey hairs: O God, forsake me not, Until I shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come: Thy power,


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 and thy justice, O God, even to the highest great things thou hast done: O God, who is like to thee?


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 How great troubles hast thou shewn me, many and grievous: and turning thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again from the depths of the earth :


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 For I will also confess to thee thy truth with the instruments of psaltery: O God, I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of Israel.


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 Yea and my tongue shall meditate on thy justice all the day; when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me.


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 He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor.


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 The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:


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 He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their names shall be honourable in his sight.


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 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the day.


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 And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted : and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth.


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 Let his name be blessed for evermore : his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him.


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 And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it.


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 Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart.


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 But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down.


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 How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.


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 Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me.


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 For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.


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 For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.


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 But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.


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 Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?


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 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.


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 Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.


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 And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,


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 They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.


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 They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.


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 Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.


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 Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.


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 Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.


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 Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.


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 Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.


text:
 Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph. We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works:


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 for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.


text:
 Unto the end, in praises, a psalm for Asaph: a canticle to the Assyrians. In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel.


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 All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands.


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 For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee.


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 Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round about him bring presents. To him that is terrible,


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 Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of Asaph. I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me.


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 In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be comforted:


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 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled.


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 the voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled.


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 Understanding for Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.


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 They have not been hidden from their children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done.


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 And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children:


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 that another generation might know them. The children that should be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children.


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 That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments.


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 That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse end exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to God.


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 Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.


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 And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.


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 Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?


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 Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.


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 and the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.


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 But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not kindle all his wrath.


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 They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them:


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 And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.


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 He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.


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 And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.


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 And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line of distribution.


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 And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.


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 And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.


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 And he chose his servant David, and took him from the hocks of sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,


text:
 A psalm for Asaph. O God, the heathens are come into thy inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.


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 They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth.


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 Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.


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 Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor.


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 Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name's sake:


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 Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed:


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 let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them that have been put to death.


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 And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.


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 But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation and generation.


text:
 Unto the end, for them that shall he changed, a testimony for Asaph, a psalm. Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth


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 Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst the roots thereof, and it filled the land.


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 And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.


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 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.


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 Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for Asaph himself. Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.


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 He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt: he heard a tongue which he knew not.


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 Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction.


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 For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.


text:
 A psalm for Asaph. God hath stood in the congregation of gods: and being in the midst of them he judgeth gods.


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 They have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth shall be moved.


text:
 A canticle of a psalm for Asaph. O God, who shall be like to thee? hold not thy peace, neither be thou still, O God.


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 They have said: Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.


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 Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of host!


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 my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.


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 For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.


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 For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.


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 For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners.


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 He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence : O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.


text:
 Unto the end, for the sons of Core, a psalm. Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.


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 I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me: for he will speak peace unto his people: And unto his saints: and unto them that are converted to the heart.


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 All the nations thou hast made shall come and adore before thee, O Lord: and they shall glorify thy name.


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 Conduct me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth: let my heart rejoice that it may fear thy name.


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 O God, the wicked are risen up against me, and the assembly of the mighty have sought my soul: and they have not set thee before their eyes.


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 O look upon me, and have mercy on me: give thy command to thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid.


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 Shew me a token for good: that they who hate me may see, and be confounded, because thou, O Lord, hast helped me and hast comforted me.


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 I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there.


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 Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the Highest himself hath founded her.


text:
 A canticle of a psalm for the sons of Core: unto the end, for Maheleth, to answer understanding of Eman the Ezrahite. O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee.


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 free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cast off from thy hand.


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 Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves. I was delivered up, and came not forth:


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 my eyes languished through poverty. All the day I cried to thee, O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee.


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 Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite. The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.


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 For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.


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 For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God?


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 God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him.


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 O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.


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 Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies.


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 Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded:


text:
 blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:


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 Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people.


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 And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.


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 Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.


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 Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?


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 Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations:


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 Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of thy anointed.


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 Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity thou art God.


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 In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither.


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 For all our days are spent; and in thy wrath we have fainted away. Our years shall be considered spider:


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 the days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow. For mildness is come upon us: and we shall be corrected.


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 We have rejoiced for the days in which thou hast humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils.


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 And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct thou the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do thou direct.


text:
 The praise of a canticle for David. He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.


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 Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.


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 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee.


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 Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon.


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 He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.


text:
 A psalm of a canticle on the sabbath day. It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most High.


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 For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings: and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice.


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 When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear: That they may perish for ever and ever:


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 For behold thy enemies, O Lord, for behold thy enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.


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 My eye also hath looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.


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 They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.


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 The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established the world which shall not be moved.


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 The floods have lifted up, O Lord: the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves,


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 Thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible: holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.


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 Who shall rise up for me against the evildoers? or who shall stand with me against the workers of iniquity?


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 And he will render them their iniquity: and in their malice he will destroy them: the Lord our God will destroy them.


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 As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.


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 And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.


text:
 A canticle for David himself, when the house was built after the captivity. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth.


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 Say ye among the Gentiles, the Lord hath reigned. For he hath corrected the world, which shall not be moved: he will judge the people with justice.


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 the fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice


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 before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.


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 For the same David, when his land was restored again to him. The Lord hath reigned, let the earth rejoice: let many islands be glad.


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 The mountains melted like wax, at the presence of the Lord: at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.


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 Let them be all confounded that adore graven things, and that glory in their idols. Adore him, all you his angels:


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 You that love the Lord, hate evil: the Lord preserveth the souls of his saints, he will deliver them out of the hand of the sinner.


text:
 A psalm for David himself. Sing ye to the Lord anew canticle: because he hath done wonderful things. His right hand hath wrought for him salvation, and his arm is holy.


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 He hath remembered his mercy his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.


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 at the presence of the Lord: because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with equity.


text:
 A psalm for David himself. The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry: he that sitteth on the cherubims: let the earth be moved.


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 and the king's honour loveth judgment. Thou hast prepared directions: thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob.


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 Moses and Aaron among his priests: and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them:


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 he spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them.


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 Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God: thou wast a merciful God to them, and taking vengeance on all their inventions.


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 Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness. Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy.


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 Know ye that the Lord he is God: he made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.


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 Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns: and give glory to him. Praise ye his name:


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 and I will understand in the unspotted way, when thou shalt come to me. I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house.


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 The perverse heart did not cleave to me: and the malignant, that turned aside from me, I would not know.


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 The man that in private detracted his neighbour, him did I persecute. With him that had a proud eye, and an unsatiable heart, I would not eat.


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 My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, to sit with me: the man that walked in the perfect way, he served me.


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 He that worketh pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house: he that speaketh unjust things did not prosper before my eyes.


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 In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land: that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.


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 The prayer of the poor man, when he was anxious, and poured out his supplication before the Lord. Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee.


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 Turn not away thy face from me: in the day when I am in trouble, incline thy ear to me. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me speedily.


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 Let these things be written unto another generation: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:


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 Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary: from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.


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 That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that he might release the children of the slain:


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 They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.


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 For according to the height of the heaven above the earth: he hath strengthened his mercy towards them that fear him.


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 But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear him: And his justice unto children's children,


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 Bless the Lord, all ye his angels: you that are mighty in strength, and execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders.


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 For David himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God, thou art exceedingly great. Thou hast put on praise and beauty:


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 who coverest the higher rooms thereof with water. Who makest the clouds thy chariot: who walkest upon the wings of the winds.


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 Thou hast set a bound which they shall not pass over; neither shall they return to cover the earth.


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 Over them the birds of the air shall dwell: from the midst of the rocks they shall give forth their voices.


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 Thou waterest the hills from thy upper rooms: the earth shall be filled with the fruit of thy works:


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 Bringing forth grass for cattle, and herb for the service of men. That thou mayst bring bread out of the earth:


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 and that wine may cheer the heart of man. That he may make the face cheerful with oil: and that bread may strengthen man's heart.


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 How great are thy works, O Lord? thou hast made all things in wisdom: the earth is filled with thy riches.


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 So is this great sea, which stretcheth wide its arms: there are creeping things without number: Creatures little and great.


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 What thou givest to them they shall gather up: when thou openest thy hand, they shall all be filled with good.


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 But if thou turnest away thy face, they shall be troubled: thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust.


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 Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.


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 Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the unjust, so that they be no more: O my soul, bless thou the Lord.


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 And he destroyed their vineyards and their fig trees: and he broke in pieces the trees of their coasts.


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 And he brought them out with silver and gold: and there was not among their tribes one that was feeble.


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 That we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in the joy of thy nation: that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance.


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 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt: they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies: And they provoked to wrath going up to the sea, even the Red Sea.


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 And he rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up: and he led them through the depths, as in a wilderness.


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 And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them: and he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.


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 And he said that he would destroy them: had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach: To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.


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 And they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters which they sacrificed to the idols of Chanaan. And the land was polluted with blood,


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 And he delivered them into the hands of the nations: and they that hated them had dominion over them.


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 many times did he deliver them. But they provoked him with their counsel: and they were brought low by their iniquities.


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 Save us, O Lord, our God: and gather us from among nations: That we may give thanks to thy holy name, and may glory in thy praise.


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 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say: So be it, so be it.


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 Let them say so that have been redeemed by the Lord, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy: and gathered out of the countries.


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 They wandered in a wilderness, in a place without water: they found not the way of a city for their habitation.


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 And he blessed them, and they were multiplied exceedingly: and their cattle he suffered not to decrease.


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 Contempt was poured forth upon their princes: and he caused them to wander where there was no passing, and out of the way.


text:
 A canticle of a psalm for David himself. My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and will give praise, with my glory.


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 God hath spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice, and I will divide Sichem and I will mete out the vale of tabernacles.


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 O God, be not thou silent in thy praise: for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me.


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 They have spoken against with deceitful tongues; and they have compassed me about with words of hatred; and have fought against me without cause.


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 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.


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 And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones.


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 May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; and like a girdle with which he is girded continually.


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 They will curse and thou will bless: let them that rise up against me be confounded: but thy servant shall rejoice.


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 Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: and let them be covered with the their confusion as with a double cloak.


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 The Lord will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion: rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.


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 With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength: in the brightness of the saints: from the womb before the day star I begot thee.


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 The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.


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 He shall judge among nations, he shall fill ruins: he shall crush the heads in the land of the many.


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 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; in the council of the just: and in the congregation.


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 That he may give them the inheritance of the Gentiles: the works of his hands are truth and judgment.


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 He hath sent redemption to his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name:


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 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding to all that do it: his praise continueth for ever and ever.


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 The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not hear the evil hearing. His heart is ready to hope in the Lord:


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 He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory.


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 The wicked shall see, and shall be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.


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 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.


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 They have hands and feel not: they have feet and walk not: neither shall they cry out through their throat.


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 The Lord hath been mindful of us, and hath blessed us. He hath blessed the house of Israel: he hath blessed the house of Aaron.


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 The sorrows of death have encompassed me: and the perils of hell have found me. I met with trouble and sorrow:


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 O Lord, for I am thy servant: I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast broken my bonds:


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 They surrounded me like bees, and they burned like fire among thorns: and in the name of the Lord I was revenged on them


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 The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exulted me: the right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength.


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 The Lord is God, and he hath shone upon us. Appoint a solemn day, with shady boughs, even to the horn of the alter.


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 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, and I will exalt thee. I will praise thee, because thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.


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 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned the judgments of thy justice.


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 Make me to understand the way of thy justifications: and I shall be exercised in thy wondrous works.


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 And take not thou the word of truth utterly out of my mouth: for in thy words have I hoped exceedingly.


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 And I lifted up my hands to thy commandments, which I loved: and I was exercised in thy justifications.


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 The iniquity of the proud hath been multiplied over me: but I will seek thy commandments with my whole heart.


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 Let the proud be ashamed, because they have done unjustly towards me: but I will be employed in thy commandments.


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 I have accounted all the sinners of the earth prevaricators: therefore have I loved thy testimonies.


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 I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost: seek thy servant, because I have not forgotten thy commandments.


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 With them that hate peace I was peaceable: when I spoke to them they fought against me without cause.


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 For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.


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 Behold as the eyes of the servants are on the hands of their masters, As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.


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 Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the followers. The snare is broken, and we are delivered.


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 in Jerusalem. Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth now and for ever.


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 For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the just: that the just may not stretch forth their hands to iniquity.


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 But such as turn aside into bonds, the Lord shall lead out with the workers of iniquity: peace upon Israel.


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 Then was our mouth filled with gladness; and our tongue with joy. Then shall they say among the Gentiles: The Lord hath done great things for them.


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 Going they went and wept, casting their seeds. But coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves.


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 Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.


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 It is vain for you to rise before light, rise ye after you have sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his beloved,


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 Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.


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 May the Lord bless thee out of Sion: and mayest thou see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.


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 And they that have passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.


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 For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word:


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 Lord, my heart is not exalted: nor are my eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me.


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 If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul: As a child that is weaned is towards his mother, so reward in my soul.


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 The Lord hath sworn truth to David, and he will not make it void: of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne.


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 If thy children will keep thy covenant, and these my testimonies which I shall teach them: Their children also for evermore shall sit upon thy throne.


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 Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, Which ran down to the skirt of his garment:


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 as the dew of Hermon, which descendeth upon mount Sion. For there the Lord hath commandeth blessing, and life for evermore.


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 Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord: Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.


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 Whatsoever the Lord hath pleased he hath done, in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all the deeps.


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 He bringeth up clouds from the end of the earth: he hath made lightnings for the rain. He bringeth forth winds out of his stores:


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 He sent forth signs and wonders in the midst of thee, O Egypt: upon Pharao, and upon all his servants.


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 Give glory to the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever. Give glory to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.


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 For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion.


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 Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy.


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 Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem: Who say: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.


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 O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed shall he be who shall repay thee thy payment which thou hast paid us.


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 I will praise thee, O lord, with my whole heart: for thou hast heard the words of my mouth. I will sing praise to thee in the sight of his angels:


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 I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all.


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 If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, thou wilt quicken me: and thou hast stretched forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies: and thy right hand hath saved me.


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 The Lord will repay for me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: O despise not the work of thy hands.


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 Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.


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 But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee.


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 I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.


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 My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.


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 Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.


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 But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.


text:
 Unto the end, a psalm for David. Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.


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 Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me. Who have proposed to supplant my steps.


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 the proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumblingblock by the wayside.


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 Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not thou forsake me, lest they should triumph.


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 Burning coals shall fall upon them; thou wilt cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.


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 A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.


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 But as for the just, they shall give glory to thy name: and the upright shall dwell with thy countenance.


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 Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.


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 Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins. With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them.


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 The just shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer also shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased:


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 their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed:


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 as when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell.


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 Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumblingblocks of them that work iniquity.


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 Of understanding for David. A prayer when he was in the cave. [1 Kings 24]. I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.


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 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me. Flight hath failed me: and there is no one that hath regard to my soul.


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 Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.


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 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the just wait for me, until thou reward me.


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 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old:


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 I remembered the days of old, I meditated on all thy works: I meditated upon the works of thy hands.


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 Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.


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 Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for in thee have I hoped. Make the way known to me, wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to thee.


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 for thy name's sake, O Lord, thou wilt quicken me in thy justice. Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble:


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 and in thy mercy thou wilt destroy my enemies. And thou wilt cut off all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.


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 My mercy, and my refuge: my support, and my deliverer: My protector, and I have hoped in him: who subdueth my people under me.


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 Lord, what is man, that thou art made known to him? or the son of man, that thou makest account of him?


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 Send forth lightning, and thou shalt scatter them: shoot out thy arrows, and thou shalt trouble them.


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 Put forth thy hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me from many waters: from the hand of strange children:


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 To thee, O God, I will sing a new canticle: on the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises to thee.


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 Deliver me, And rescue me out of the hand of strange children; whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity:


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 Whose sons are as new plants in their youth: Their daughters decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple:


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 Their storehouses full, flowing out of this into that. Their sheep fruitful in young, abounding in their goings forth:


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 They have called the people happy, that hath these things: but happy is that people whose God is the Lord.


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 They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holiness: and shall tell thy wondrous works.


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 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless thy holy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.


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 Praise the Lord, O my soul, in my life I will praise the Lord: I will sing to my God as long as I shall be. Put not your trust in princes:


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 His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth: in that day all their thoughts shall perish.


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 Who keepeth truth for ever: who executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong: who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth them that are fettered:


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 the Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down: the Lord loveth the just.


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 The Lord keepeth the strangers, he will support the fatherless and the widow: and the ways of sinners he will destroy.


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 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth. Who maketh grass to grow on the mountains, and herbs for the service of men.


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 He hath not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them. Alleluia.


text:
 praise the name of the Lord. For he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created.


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 He hath established them for ever, and for ages of ages: he hath made a decree, and it shall not pass away.


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 The praise of him is above heaven and earth: and he hath exalted the horn of his people. A hymn to all his saints: to the children of Israel, a people approaching to him. Alleluia.


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 To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity:


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 He shall understand a parable, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings.


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 If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares for the innocent without cause:


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 At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying:


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 O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?


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 When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you:


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 Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me:


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 But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils.


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 That thou mayst be delivered from the strange women, and from the stranger, who softeneth her words:


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 And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell.


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 But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that do unjustly shall be taken away from it.


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 Let not mercy and truth leave thee, put them about thy neck, and write them in the tables of thy heart:


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 The purchasing thereof is better than the merchandise of silver, and her fruit than the chiefest and purest gold:


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 She is more precious than all riches : and all the things that are desired, are not to be compared with her.


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 Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again: and to morrow I will give to thee: when thou canst give at present.


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 Want is from the Lord in the house of the wicked: but the habitations of the just shall be blessed.


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 And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep my commandments, and thou shalt live.


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 Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.


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 Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and when thou runnest thou shalt not meet a stumblingblock.


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 For they sleep not except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.


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 Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will make thy courses straight, he will bring forward thy ways in peace.


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 That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.


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 Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times; he thou delighted continually with her love.


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 He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.


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 Do therefore, my son, what I say, and deliver thyself: because thou art fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run about, make haste, stir up thy friend:


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 And want shall come upon thee, as a traveller, and poverty as a man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall flee far from thee.


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 To such a one his destruction shall presently come, and he shall suddenly be destroyed, and shall no longer have any remedy.


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 When thou walkest, let them go with thee: when thou sleepest, let them keep thee; and when thou awakest, talk with them.


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 Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:


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 That she may keep thee from the woman that is not thine, and from the stranger who sweeteneth her words.


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 And behold a woman meeteth him in harlot's attire prepared to deceive souls; talkative and wandering,


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 Come, let us be inebriated with the breasts, and let us enjoy the desired embraces, till the day appear.


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 Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and as a lamb playing the wanton, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool to bonds,


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 Till the arrow pierce his liver: as if a bird should make haste to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger.


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 or wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to


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 The fear of the Lord hateth evil: I hate arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.


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 The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived. neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out:


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 The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth:


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 When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths:


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 When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when be balanced the foundations of the earth;


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 Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.


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 He that teacheth a scorner, doth an injury to himself: and he that rebuketh a wicked man, getteth himself a blot.


text:
 Give an occasion to a wise man, and wisdom shall be added to him. Teach a just man, and he shall make haste to receive it.


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 The Lord will not afflict the soul of the just with famine, and he will disappoint the deceitful practices of the wicked.


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 The slothful hand hath wrought poverty: but the hand of the industrious getteth riches. He that trusteth to lies feedeth the winds: and the same runneth after birds that fly away.


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 He that gathered in the harvest is a wise son: but he that snorteth in the summer, is the son of confusion.


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 The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the just: but iniquity covereth the mouth of the wicked.


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 He that walketh sincerely, walketh confidently: but he that perverteth his ways, shall be manifest.


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 The lips of the just teach many: but they that are ignorant, shall die in the want of understanding.


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 As a tempest that passeth, so the wicked shall be no more: but the just is as an everlasting foundation.


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 The lips of the just consider what is acceptable: and the mouth of the wicked uttereth perverse things.


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 The simplicity of the just shall guide them: and the deceitfulness of the wicked shall destroy them.


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 The justice of the upright shall make his way prosperous: and the wicked man shall fall by his own wickedness.


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 The justice of the righteous shall deliver them: and the unjust shall be caught in their own snares.


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 When the wicked man is dead, there shall be no hope any more: and the expectation of the solicitous shall perish.


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 When it goeth well with the just the city shall rejoice: and when the wicked perish there shall be praise.


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 By the blessing of the just the city shall be exalted: and by the mouth of the wicked it shall be overthrown.


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 He that walketh deceitfully, revealeth secrets: but he that is faithful, concealeth the thing committed to him by his friend.


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 Where there is no governor, the people shall fall: but there is safety where there is much counsel.


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 He shall be afflicted with evil, that is surety for a stranger: but he that is aware of the snares, shall be secure.


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 Some distribute their own goods, and grow richer: others take away what is not their own, and are always in want.


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 The soul which blesseth, shall be made fat: and he that inebriateth, shall be inebriated also himself.


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 He that hideth up corn, shall be cursed among the people: but a blessing upon the head of them that sell.


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 Well doth he rise early who seeketh good things; but he that seeketh after evil things shall be oppressed by them.


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 He that is good, shall draw grace from the Lord : but he that trusteth in his own devices doth wickedly.


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 A diligent woman is a crown to her husband: and she that doth things worthy of confusion, is a rottenness in his bones.


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 A man shall be known by his learning: but he that is vain and foolish, shall be exposed to contempt.


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 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that pursueth idleness is very foolish. He that is delighted in passing his time over wine, leaveth a reproach in his strong holds.


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 For the sins of the lips ruin draweth nigh to the evil mall: but the just shall escape out of distress.


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 By the fruit of his own mouth shall a man be filled with good things, and according to the works of his hands it shall be repaid him.


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 He that speaketh that which he knoweth, sheweth forth justice: but he that lieth, is a deceitful witness.


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 There is that promiseth, and is pricked as it were with a sword of conscience: but the tongue of the wise is health.


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 The lip of truth shall be steadfast for ever: but he that is a hasty witness, frameth a lying tongue.


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 Deceit is in the heart of them that think evil things: but joy followeth them that take counsels of peace.


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 Whatsoever shall befall the just man. it shall not make him sad: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.


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 He that neglecteth a loss for the sake of a friend, is just: but the way of the wicked shall deceive them.


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 A wise son heareth the doctrine of his father: but he that is a scorner, beareth not when he is reproved.


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 Of the fruit of his own mouth shall a man be filled with good things: but the soul of transgressors is wicked.


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 He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth his soul: but he that hath no guard on his speech shall meet with evils.


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 One is as it were rich, when he hath nothing: and another is as it were poor, when he hath great riches.


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 Among the proud there are always contentions: but they that do all things with counsel, are ruled by wisdom.


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 Substance got in haste shall be diminished: but that which by little and little is gathered with the hand shall increase.


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 Whosoever speaketh ill of any thing, bindeth himself for the time to come: but he that feareth the commandment, shall dwell in peace. Deceitful souls go astray in sins: the just are merciful, and shew mercy.


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 Poverty and shame to him that refuseth instruction: but he that yieldeth to reproof, shall be glorified.


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 The good man leaveth heirs, sons, and grandsons: and the substance of the sinner is kept for the just.


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 A wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish will pull down with her hands that also which is built.


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 He that walketh in the right way, and feareth God, Cis despised by him that goeth by an infamous way.


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 Where there are no oxen, the crib is empty: but where there is much corn, there the strength of the ox is manifest.


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 The heart that knoweth the bitterness of his own soul, in his joy the stranger shall not intermeddle.


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 The innocent believeth every word: the discreet man considereth his steps. No good shall come to the deceitful son: but the wise servant shall prosper in his dealings, and his way shall be made straight.


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 He that despiseth his neighbour, sinneth: but he that sheweth mercy to the poor, shall be blessed. He that believeth in the Lord, loveth mercy.


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 In the multitude of people is the dignity of the king: and in the small number of people the dishonour of the prince.


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 He that oppresseth the poor, upbraideth his Maker: but he that hath pity on the poor, honoureth him.


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 A fool laugheth at the instruction of his father: but he that regardeth reproofs shall become prudent. In abundant justice there is the greatest strength: but the devices of the wicked shall be rooted out.


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 Designs are brought to nothing where there is no counsel: but where there are many counsellors, they are established.


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 Evil thoughts are an abomination to the Lord: and pure words most beautiful shall be confirmed by him.


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 He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house: but he that hateth bribes shall live. By mercy and faith sins are purged away: and by the fear of the Lord every one declineth from evil.


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 He that rejecteth instruction, despiseth his own soul: but he that yieldeth to reproof possesseth understanding.


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 Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord: though hand should be joined to hand, he is not innocent. The beginning of a good way is to do justice; and this is more acceptable with God, than to offer sacrifices.


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 Get wisdom, because it is better than gold: and purchase prudence, for it is more precious than silver.


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 The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and he that is sweet in words shall attain to greater things.


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 Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possesseth it: the instruction of fools is foolishness.


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 The patient man is better than the valiant: and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh cities.


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 He that despiseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker; and he that rejoiceth at another man's ruin, shall not be unpunished.


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 The expectation of him that expecteth, is a most acceptable jewel: whithersoever he turneth himself, he understandeth wisely.


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 He that concealeth a transgression. seeketh friendships: he that repeateth it again, separateth friends.


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 The beginning of quarrels is as when one letteth out water: before he suffereth reproach he forsaketh judgment.


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 What doth it avail a fool to have riches, seeing he cannot buy wisdom? He that maketh his house high, seeketh a downfall: and he that refuseth to learn, shall fall into evils.


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 He that is of a perverse heart, shall not find good: and he that perverteth his tongue, shall fall into evil.


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 He that setteth bounds to his words. is knowing and wise: and the man of understanding is of a precious spirit.


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 Even a fool, if he will hold his peace shall be counted wise: and if he close his lips, a man of understanding.


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 He that hath a mind to depart from a friend seeketh occasions: he shall ever be subject to reproach.


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 The wicked man when he is come into the depth of sine, contemneth: but ignominy and reproach follow him.


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 Words from the mouth of a men are as deep water: and the fountain of wisdom as an overflowing stream.


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 The words of the double tongued are as if they were harmless: and they reach even to the inner parts of the bowels. Fear casteth down the slothful: and the souls of the effeminate shall be hungry.


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 The substance of the rich man is the city of his strength, and as a strong wall compassing him about.


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 A brother that is helped by his brother, is like a strong city: and judgments are like the bars of cities.


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 Of the fruit of a man's mouth shall his belly be satisfied: and the offspring of his lips shall fill him.


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 He that hath found a good wife, hath found a good thing, and shall receive a pleasure from the Lord. He that driveth away a good wife, driveth away a good thing: but he that keepeth an adulteress, is foolish and wicked.


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 Better is the poor man, that walketh in his simplicity, than a rich man that is perverse in his lips, and unwise.


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 Where there is no knowledge of the soul, there is no good: and he that is hasty with his feet shall stumble.


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 The brethren of the poor man hate him: moreover also his friends have departed far from him. He that followeth after words only, shall have nothing.


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 But he that possesseth a mind, loveth his own soul, and he that keepeth prudence shall find good things.


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 As the roaring of a lion, so also is the anger of a king: and his cheerfulness as the dew upon the grass.


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 A foolish son is the grief of his father: and a wrangling wife is like a roof continually dropping through.


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 He that keepeth the commandment, keepeth his own soul: but he that neglecteth his own way, shall die.


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 The wicked man being; scourged, the fool shall be wiser: but if thou rebuke a wise man he will understand discipline.


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 Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whosoever is delighted therewith shell not be wise.


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 As the roaring of a lion, so also is the dread of a king: he that provoketh him, sinneth against his own soul.


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 It is an honour for a man to separate himself from quarrels: but all fools are meddling with reproaches.


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 Because of the cold the sluggard would not plough: he shall beg therefore in the summer, and it shall not be given him.


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 Take away the garment of him that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge from him for strangers.


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 The blueness of a wound shall wipe away evils: and stripes in the more in- ward parts of the belly.


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 As the divisions of waters, so the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord: whithersoever he will he shall turn it.


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 The thoughts of the industrious al- ways bring forth abundance: but every sluggard is always in want.


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 He that gathereth treasures by a lying tongue, is vain and foolish, and shall stumble upon the snares of death.


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 It is better to sit in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling women, and in a common house.


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 When a pestilent man is punished, the little one will be wiser: and if he follow the wise, he will receive knowledge.


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 He that stoppeth his ear against the cry of the poor, shall also cry himself and shall not be heard.


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 He that loveth good cheer, shall be in want: he that loveth wine, and fat things, shall not be rich.


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 There is a treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the just: and the foolish man shall spend it.


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 The wise man hath scaled the city of the strong, and hath cast down the strength of the confidence thereof.


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 Arms and swords are in the way of the perverse: but he that keepeth his own soul departeth far from them.


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 He that is inclined to mercy shall be blessed: for of his bread he hath given to the poor. He that maketh presents shall purchase victory and honour: but he carrieth away the souls of the receivers.


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 Cast out the scoffer, and contention shall go out with him, and quarrels and reproaches shall cease.


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 He that oppresseth the poor, to in- crease his own riches, shall himself give to one that is richer, and shall be in need.


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 That I might shew thee the certainty, and the words of truth, to answer out of these to them that sent thee.


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 For if thou have not wherewith to restore, what cause is there, that he should take the covering from thy bed?


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 Hast thou seen a man swift in his work? he shall stand before kings, and shall not be before those that are obscure.


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 Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven.


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 Because like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not with thee.


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 Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together shall be consumed; and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.


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 Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?


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 Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,


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 And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep, when the stern is lost.


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 And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake, and find wine again?


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 If thou say: I have not strength enough: he that seeth into the heart, he understandeth, and nothing deceiveth the keeper of thy soul, end he shall render to a man according to his works.


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 So also is the doctrine of wisdom to thy soul: which when thou hast found, thou shalt have hope in the end, and thy hope shall not perish.


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 For a just mall shall fall seven times and shall rise again: but the wicked shall fall down into evil.


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 They that say to the wicked man: Thou art just: shall be cursed by the people, and the tribes shall abhor them.


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 Prepare thy work without, and diligently till thy ground: that afterward thou mayst build thy house.


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 And behold it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall was broken down.


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 Thou wilt sleep a little, said I, thou wilt slumber a little, thou wilt fold thy hands a little to rest:


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 For it is better that it should be said to thee: Come up hither; than that thou shouldst be humbled before the prince.


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 The things which thy eyes have seen, utter not hastily in a quarrel: lest after- ward thou mayst not be able to make amends, when thou hast dishonoured thy friend.


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 Lest he insult over thee, when he hath heard it, and cease not to upbraid thee. Grace and friendship deliver a man: keep these for thyself, lest thou fall under reproach.


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 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to him that sent him, for he refresheth his soul.


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 As clouds, and wind, when no rain followeth, so is the man that boasteth, and doth not fulfil his promises.


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 Thou hast found honey, eat what is sufficient for thee, lest being glutted therewith thou vomit it up.


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 A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour, is like a dart and a sword and a sharp arrow.


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 And one that looseth his garment in cold weather. As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a very evil heart. As a moth doth by a garment, and a worm by the wood: so the sadness of a man consumeth the heart.


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 A just man falling down before the wicked, is as a fountain troubled with the foot, and a corrupted spring.


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 As it is not good for a man to eat much honey, so he that is a searcher of majesty, shall be overwhelmed by glory.


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 As a city that lieth open and is not compassed with walls, so is a man that cannot refrain his own spirit in speaking.


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 As a bird flying to other places, and a sparrow going here or there: so a curse uttered without cause shall come upon a man.


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 As he that taketh a dog by the ears, so is he that passeth by in anger, and meddleth with another man's quarrel.


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 When the wood faileth, the fire shall go out: and when the talebearer is taken away, contentions shall cease.


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 The words of a talebearer are as it were simple, but they reach to the innermost parts of the belly.


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 Anger hath no mercy, nor fury when it breaketh forth: and who can bear the violence of one provoked?


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 A soul that is full shall tread upon the honeycomb : and a soul that is hungry shall take even bitter for sweet.


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 Thy own friend, and thy father's friend forsake not: and go not into thy brother's house in the day of thy affliction. Better is a neighbour that is near, than a brother afar off.


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 Study wisdom, my son, and make my heart joyful, that thou mayst give an answer to him that reproacheth.


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 Take away his garment that hath been surety for a stranger: and take from him a pledge for strangers.


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 He that blesseth his neighbour with a loud voice, rising in the night, shall be like to him that curseth.


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 He that retaineth her, is as he that would hold the wind, and shall call in the oil of his right hand.


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 He that keepeth the fig tree, shall eat the fruit thereof: and he that is the keeper of his master, shall be glorified.


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 As the faces of them that look therein, shine in the water, so-the hearts of men are laid open to the wise.


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 As silver is tried in the fining-pot and gold in the furnace: so a man is tried by the mouth of him that praiseth. The heart of the wicked seeketh after evils, but the righteous heart seeketh after knowledge.


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 Though thou shouldst bray a fool in the mortar, as when a pestle striketh upon sodden barley, his folly would not be taken from him.


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 The meadows are open, and the green herbs have appeared, and the hay is gathered out of the mountains.


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 Let the milk of the goats be enough for thy food, and for the necessities of thy house, and for maintenance for thy handmaids.


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 For the sine of the land many are the princes thereof: and for the wisdom of a man, and the knowledge of those things that are said, the life of the prince shall be prolonged.


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 He that heapeth together riches by usury and loan, gathereth them for him that will be bountiful to the poor.


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 He that deceiveth the just in a wicked way, shall fall in his own destruction: and the upright shall possess his goods.


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 He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper: but he that shall confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy.


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 A prince void of prudence shall oppress many by calumny: but he that hateth covetousness, shall prolong his days.


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 A man that doth violence to the blood of a person, if he flee even to the pit, no man will stay him.


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 He that tilleth his ground, shall be filled with bread: but he that followeth idleness shall be filled with poverty.


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 He that hath respect to a person in judgment, doth not well: such a man even for a morsel of bread forsaketh the truth.


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 A man, that maketh haste to be rich, and envieth others, is ignorant that poverty shall come upon him.


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 He that rebuketh a man, shall afterward find favour with him, more than he that by a flattering tongue deceiveth him.


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 He that stealeth any thing from his father, or from his mother: and saith, This is no sin, is the partner of a murderer.


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 He that boasteth, and puffeth up himself, stirreth up quarrels: but he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be healed.


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 He that giveth to the poor, shall not want: he that despiseth his entreaty, shall suffer indigence.


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 When the wicked rise up, men shall hide themselves: when they perish, the lust shall be multiplied.


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 The man that with a stiff neck despiseth him that reproveth him, shall suddenly be destroyed: and health shall not follow him.


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 When just men increase, the people shall rejoice: when the wicked shall bear rule, the people shall mourn.


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 A man that loveth wisdom, rejoiceth his father: but he that maintaineth bar lots, shall squander away his substance.


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 A man that speaketh to his friend with flattering and dissembling words, spreadeth a net for his feet.


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 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but the child that is left to his own will bringeth his mother to shame.


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 When prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad: but he that keepeth the law is blessed.


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 A slave will not be corrected by words: because he understandeth what thou sayest, and will not answer.


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 A passionate man provoketh quarrels: and he that is easily stirred up to wrath, shall be more prone to sin.


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 He that is partaker with a thief, hateth his own soul: he heareth one putting him to his oath, and discovereth not.


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 The just abhor the wicked man: and the wicked loathe them that are in the right way. The son that keepeth the word, shall be free from destruction.


text:
 The words of Gatherer the son of Vomiter. The vision which the man spoke with whom God is, and who being strengthened by God, abiding with him, said:


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 Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended? who hath held the wind in his hands? who hath bound up the waters together as in a garment? who hath raised up all the borders of the earth? what is his name, and what is the name of his son, if thou knowest?


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 Remove far from me vanity, and lying words. Give me neither beggary, nor riches: give me only the necessaries of life:


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 Lest perhaps being filled, I should be tempted to deny, and say: Who is the Lord? or being compelled by poverty, I should steal, and forswear the name of my God.


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 A generation, that for teeth hath swords, and grindeth with their jaw teeth, to devour the needy from off the earth, and the poor from among men.


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 The horseleech hath two daughters that say: Bring, bring. There are three things that never are satisfied, and the fourth never saith: It is enough.


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 Hell, and the mouth of the womb, and the earth which is not satisfied with water: and the fire never saith: It is enough.


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 The eye that mocketh at his father, and that despiseth the labour of his mother in bearing him, let the ravens of the brooks pick it out, and the young eagles eat it.


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 The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man in youth.


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 Such is also the way of an adulterous woman, who eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith: I have done no evil.


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 There is that hath appeared a fool after he was lifted up on high: for if he had understood, he would have laid his hand upon his mouth.


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 And he that strongly squeezeth the papa to bring out milk, straineth out butter: and he that violently bloweth his nose, bringeth out blood: and he that provoketh wrath bringeth forth strife.


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 Give not to kings, O Lamuel, give not wine to kings: because there is no secret where drunkenness reigneth:


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 She hath considered a field, and bought it: with the fruit of her hands she hath planted a vineyard.


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 She shall not fear for her house in the cold of snow: for dl her domestics are clothed with double garments.


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 Maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the north: the spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about, and returneth to his circuits.


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 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow: unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return, to flow again.


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 All things are hard: man cannot explain them by word. The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing.


text:
 What is it that hath been? the same thing that shall be. What is it that hath been done? the same that shall be done.


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 Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us.


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 There is no remembrance of former things: nor indeed of those things which hereafter are to come, shall there be any remembrance with them that shall be in the latter end.


text:
 And I proposed in my mind to seek and search out wisely concerning all things that are done under the sun. This painful occupation hath God given to the children of men, to be exercised therein.


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 I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit.


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 I have spoken in my heart, saying: Behold I am become great, and have gone beyond all in wisdom, that were before me in Jerusalem: and my mind hath contemplated many things wisely, and I have learned.


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 And I have given my heart to know prudence, and learning, and errors, and folly: and I have perceived that in these also there was labour, and vexation of spirit,


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 Because In much wisdom there is much indignation: and he that addeth knowledge, addeth also labour.


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 I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity.


text:
 I thought in my heart, to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I might turn my mind to wisdom, and might avoid folly, till I might see what was profitable for the children of men: and what they ought to do under the sun, all the days of their life.


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 I got me menservants, and maidservants, and had a great family: and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep, above all that were before me in Jerusalem:


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 I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings, and provinces: I made me singing men, and singing women, and the delights of the sons of men, cups and vessels to serve to pour out wine:


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 And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not: and I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting itself in the things which I had prepared: and esteemed this my portion, to make use of my own labour.


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 And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun.


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 I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I, that he can follow the King his maker?)


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 The eyes of a wise man are in his head: the fool walketh in darkness: and I learned that they were to die both alike.


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 And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine shall be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself more to the study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I perceived that this also was vanity.


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 For there shall be no remembrance of the wise no more than of the fool for ever, and the times to come shall cover all things together with oblivion: the learned dieth in like manner as the unlearned.


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 And therefore I was weary of my life, when I saw that all things under the sun are evil, and all vanity and vexation of spirit.


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 Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me,


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 Whom I know not whether he will be a wise man or a fool, and he shall have rule over all my labours with which I have laboured and been solicitous: and is there any thing so vain?


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 For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this also is vanity, and a great evil.


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 For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he bath been tormented under the sun?


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 All his days axe full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he doth not rest in mind: and is not this vanity?


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 Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God.


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 God hath given to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he hath given vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to him that hath pleased God: but this also is vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind.


text:
 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.


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 A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.


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 He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot flnd out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end.


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 I have learned that all the works which God hath made, continue for ever: we cannot add any thing, nor take away from those things which God hath made that he may be feared.


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 That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past.


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 And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.


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 I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.


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 Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things are subject to vanity.


text:
 Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?


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 And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice in his work, and that this is his portion. For who shall bring him to know the things that shall be after him?


text:
 I turned myself to other things, and I saw the oppressions that are done under the sun, and the tears of the innocent, and they had no comforter; and they were not able to resist their violence, being destitute of help from any.


text:
 And I judged him happier than them both, that is not yet born, nor hath seen the evils that are done under the sun.


text:
 Again I considered all the labours of men, and I remarked that their industries are exposed to the envy of their neighhour: so in this also there is vanity, and fruitless care.


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 There is but one, and he hath not a second, no child, no brother, and yet he ceaseth not to labour, neither are his eyes satisfied with riches, neither doth he reflect, saying: For whom do I labour, and defraud my soul of good things? in this also is vanity, and a grievous vexation.


text:
 It is better therefore that two should be together, than one: for they have the advantage of their society:


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 If one fall he shall be supported by the other: woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth, he hath none to lift him up.


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 Better is a child that is poor and wise, than a king that is old and foolish, who knoweth not to foresee for hereafter.


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 Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh forth to a kingdom: and another born king is consumed with poverty.


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 I saw all men living, that walk under the sun with the second young man, who shall rise up in his place.


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 The number of the people, of all that were before him is infinite: and they that shall come afterwards, shall not rejoice in him: but this also is vanity, and vexation of spirit.


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 Keep thy foot, when thou goest into the house of God, and draw nigh to hear. For much better is obedience, than the victims of fools, who know not what evil they do.


text:
 Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.


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 If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it.


text:
 Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and destroy all the works of thy hands.


text:
 Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words without number: but do thou fear God.


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 If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these:


text:
 A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity.


text:
 Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes?


text:
 Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat lttle or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.


text:
 There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.


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 For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want.


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 As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour.


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 A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?


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 This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.


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 And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God.


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 For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight,


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 A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery.


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 If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely born is better than he.


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 Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place?


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 What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?


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 Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.


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 He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known, that he is man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself.


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 What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the sun?


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 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of all, and the living thinketh what is to come.


text:
 Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected.


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 For as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool: now this also is vanity.


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 Say not: What thinkest thou is the cause that former times were better than they are now? for this manner of question is foolish.


text:
 For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence : but learning and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that possesseth them.


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 In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand of the evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that man may not find against him any just complaint.


text:
 These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just man perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time in his wickedness.


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 It is good that thou shouldst hold up the just, yea and from him withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God, neglecteth nothing.


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 But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken: lest perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee.


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 I have surveyed all things with my mind, to know, and consider, and seek out wisdom and reason: and to know the wickedness of the fool, and the error of the imprudent:


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 And I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is the hunter's snare, and her heart is a net, and her hands are bands. He that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner, shall be caught by her.


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 Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one thing after another, that I might find out the account,


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 Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One man among a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have not found.


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 Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he hath entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the wise man? and who hath known the resolution of the word?


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 Be not hasty to depart from his face, and do not continue in an evil work: for he will do all that pleaseth him:


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 He that keepeth the commandments shall find no evil. The heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer.


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 It is not in man's power to stop the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death, neither is he suffered to rest when war is at hand, neither shall wickedness save the wicked.


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 All these things I have considered, and applied my heart to all the works that are done under the sun. Sometimes one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.


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 I saw the wicked buried: who also when they were yet living were in the holy place, and were praised in the city as men of just works: but this also is vanity.


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 For because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evils without any fear.


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 But though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and by patience be borne withal, I know from thence that it shall be well with them that fear God, who dread his face.


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 But let it not be well with the wicked, neither let his days be prolonged, but as a shadow let them pass away that fear not the face of the Lord.


text:
 There is also another vanity, which is done upon the earth. There are just men to whom evils happen, as though they had done the works of the wicked: and there are wicked men, who are as secure, as though they had the deeds of the just: but this also I judge most vain.


text:
 Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and that he should take nothing else with him of his labour in the days of his life, which God hath given him under the sun.


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 And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to understand the distraction that is upon earth: for there are some that day and night take no sleep with their eyes.


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 And I understood that man can find no reason of all those works of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall labour to seek, so much the less shall he find: yea, though the wise man shall say, that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find it.


text:
 All these things have I considered in my heart, that I might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and their works are in the hand of God: and yet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love, or hatred:


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 But all things are kept uncertain for the time to come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so also is the sinner: as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth.


text:
 This is a very great evil among all things that are done under the sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also the hearts of the children of men are filled with evil, and with contempt while they live, and afterwards they shall be brought down to hell.


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 There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a living dog is better than a dead lion.


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 For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, neither have they a reward any more: for the memory of them is forgotten.


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 Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy are all perished, neither have they any part in this world, and in the work that is done under the sun.


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 Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God.


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 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of thy unsteady life, which are given to thee under the sun, all the time of thy vanity: for this is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherewith thou labourest under the sun.


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 Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening.


text:
 I turned me to another thing, and I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the learned, nor favour to the skilful: but time and chance in all.


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 Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them.


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 A little city, and few men in it: there came against it a great king, and invested it, and built bulwarks round about it, and the siege was perfect.


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 Now there was found in it a man poor and wise, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, and no man afterward remembered that poor man.


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 And I said that wisdom is better than strength: how then is the wisdom of the poor man slighted, and his words not heard?


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 Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.


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 Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory is more precious than a small and shortlived folly.


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 Yea, and the fool when he walketh in the way, whereas be himself is a fool, esteemeth all men fools.


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 If the spirit of him that hath power, ascend upon thee, leave not thy place: because care will make the greatest sins to cease.


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 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were by an error proceeding from the face of the prince:


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 He that removeth stones, shall be hurt by them: and he that cutteth trees, shall be wounded by them.


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 If the iron be blunt, and be not as before, but be made blunt, with much labour it shall be sharpened: and after industry shall follow wisdom.


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 The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: but the lips of a fool shall throw him down headlong.


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 A fool multiplieth words. A man cannot tell what hath been before him: and what shall be after him, who can tell him?


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 Blessed is the land, whose king is noble, and whose princes eat in due season for refreshment, and not for riotousness.


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 By slothfulness a building shall be brought down, and through the weakness of hands, the house shall drop through.


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 Detract not the king, no not in thy thought; and speak not evil of the rich man in thy private chamber: because even the birds of the air will carry thy voice, and he that hath wings will tell what thou hast said.


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 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.


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 If the clouds be full, they will pour out rain upon the earth. If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be.


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 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child: so thou knowest not the works of God, who is the maker of all.


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 In the morning sow thy seed, and In the evening let not thy hand cease: for thou knowest not which may rather spring up, this or that: and if both together, it shall be the better.


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 If a man live many years, and have rejoiced in them all, he must remember the darksome time, and the many days: which when they shall come, the things past shall be accused of vanity.


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 Rejoice therefore, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart be in that which is good in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes: and know that for all these God will bring thee into judgment.


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 Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the time of affliction come, and the years draw nigh of which thou shalt say: They please me not:


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 Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain:


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 When the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall stagger, and the grinders shall be idle in a small number, and they that look through the holes shall be darkened:


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 And they shall shut the doors in the street, when the grinder's voice shall be low, and they shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall grow deaf.


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 And they shall fear high things, and they shall be afraid in the way, the almond tree shall flourish, the locust shall be made fat, and the caper tree shall be destroyed: because man shall go into the house of his eternity, and the mourners shall go round about in the street.


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 Before the silver cord be broken, and the golden fillet shrink back, and the pitcher be crushed at the fountain, and the wheel be broken upon the cistern,


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 And whereas Ecclesiastes was very wise, he taught the people, and declared the things that he had done: and seeking out, he set forth many parables.


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 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply fastened in, which by the counsel of masters are given from one shepherd.


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 More than these, my son, require not. Of making many books there is no end: and much study is an affliction of the flesh.


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 Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is all man:


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 And all things that are done, God will bring into judgment for every error, whether it be good or evil.


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Smelling sweet of the best ointments. Thy name is as oil poured out: therefore young maidens have loved thee.


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Draw me: we will run after thee to the odour of thy ointments. The king hath brought me into his storerooms: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, remembering thy breasts more than wine: the righteous love thee.


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I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon.


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Do not consider me that I am brown, because the sun hath altered my colour: the sons of my mother have fought against me, they have made me the keeper in the vineyards: my vineyard I have not kept.


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Shew me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou liest in the midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of thy companions.


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If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and follow after the steps of the flocks, and feed thy kids beside the tents of the shepherds.


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 As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate.


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 I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the, fields, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please.


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 My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices.


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 The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:


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 The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:


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 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.


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 Till the day break, and the shadows retire. Return: be like, my beloved, to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.


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 I will rise, and will go about the city: in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not.


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 When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him: and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that bore me.


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 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the harts of the fields, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved, till she please.


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 Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?


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 All holding swords, and most expert in war : every man's sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night.


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 The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple : the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem.


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 Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the joy of his heart.


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 How beautiful art thou, my love, how beautiful art thou! thy eyes are doves' eyes, besides what is hid within. Thy hair is as flocks of goats, which Come up from mount Galaad.


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 Thy teeth as flocks of sheep, that are shorn which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them.


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 Thy lips are as a scarlet lace: and thy speech sweet. Thy cheeks are as a piece of a pomegranate, besides that which lieth hid within.


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 Thy neck, is as the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks: a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men.


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 Till the day break, and the shadows retire, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.


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 Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.


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 Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes, and with one hair of thy neck.


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 How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! thy breasts are more beautiful than wine, and the sweet smell of thy ointments above all aromatical spices.


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 Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of frankincense.


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 Spikenard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all the trees of Libanus, myrrh and aloes with all the chief perfumes.


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 Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my garden, and let the aromatical spices thereof flow.


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 Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees. I am come into my garden, O my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh, with my aromatical spices: I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved.


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 I sleep, and my heart watcheth; the voice of my beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the nights.


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 I arose up to open to my beloved: my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the choicest myrrh.


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 I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved: but he had turned aside, and was gone. My soul melted when he spoke: I sought him, and found him not: I called, and he did not answer me.


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 The keepers that go about the city found me: they struck me: and wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.


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 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love.


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 What manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, O thou most beautiful among women? what manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, that thou hast so adjured us?


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 His eyes as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with milk, and sit beside the plentiful streams.


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 His cheeks are as beds of aromatical spices set by the perfumers. His lips are as lilies dropping choice myrrb.


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 His legs as pillars of marble, that are set upon bases of gold. His form as of Libanus, excellent as the cedars.


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 His throat most sweet, and he is all lovely: such is my beloved, and he is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.


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 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside, and we will seek him with thee?


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 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the bed of aromatical spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.


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 Turn away thy eyes from me, for they have made me flee away. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from Galaad.


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 Thy teeth as a flock of sheep, which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them.


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 One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and declared her most blessed: the queens and concubines, and they praised her.


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 Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?


text:
 I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the valleys, and to look if the vineyard had flourished, and the pomegranates budded.


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 What shalt thou see in the Sulamitess but the companies of camps? How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, that are made by the hand of a skilful workman.


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 Thy navel is like a round bowl never wanting cups. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.


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 Thy neck as a tower of ivory. Thy eyes like the fishpools in Hesebon, which are in the gate of the daughter of the multitude. Thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, that looketh toward Damascus.


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 Thy head is like Carmel: and the hairs of thy head as the purple of the king bound in the channels.


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 I said: I will go up into the palm tree, and will take hold of the fruit thereof: and thy breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine: and the odour of thy mouth like apples.


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 Thy throat like the best wine, worthy for my beloved to drink, and for his lips and his teeth to ruminate.


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 Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vineyard flourish, if the flowers be ready to bring forth fruits, if the pomegranates flourish: there will I give thee my breasts.


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 The mandrakes give a smell. In our gates are all fruits: the new and the old, my beloved, I have kept for thee.


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 Who shall give thee to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now no man may despise me?


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 I will take hold of thee, and bring thee Into my mother's house: there thou shalt teach me, and I will give thee a cup of spiced wine and new wine of my pomegranates.


text:
 Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there thy mother was corrupted, there she was defloured that bore thee.


text:
 Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames.


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 Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.


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 Our sister is little, and hath no breasts. What shall we do to our sister in the day when she is to be spoken to?


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 If she be a wall: let us build upon it bulwarks of silver: if she be a door, let us join it together with boards or cedar.


text:
 The peaceable had a vineyard, in that which hath people: he let out the same to keepers, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver.


text:
 My vineyard is before me. A thousand are for thee, the peaceable, and two hundred for them that keep the fruit thereof.


text:
 Flee away, O my beloved, and be like to the roe, and to the young hart upon the mountains of aromatical spices.


text:
 THE vision of Isaias the son of Amos I which he saw concerning Juda and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda


text:
 Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me.


text:
 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.


text:
 Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards.


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 For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.


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 From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.


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 Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies.


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 And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste.


text:
 Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha.


text:
 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.


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 To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.


text:
 When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?


text:
 Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination tome. The new moons, and the sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.


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 My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.


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 And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.


text:
 Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes: cease to do perversely,


text:
 Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.


text:
 And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.


text:
 But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.


text:
 How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.


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 Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, the run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cometh not in to them.


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 Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be revenged of my enemies.


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 And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy dress, and I will take away all thy tin.


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 And I will restore thy judges se they were before, and thy counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the just, a faithful city.


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 And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.


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 For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen.


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 And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it.


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 And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it 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 the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.


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 And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war.


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 For thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob: because they are filled as in times past, and have had soothsayers as the Philistines, and have adhered to strange children.


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 And their land is filled with horses: and their chariots are innumerable. Their land also is full of idols: they have adored the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made.


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 Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.


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 The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.


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 Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and highminded, and upon every one that is arrogant, and he shall be humbled.


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 And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.


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 And they shall go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of the earth from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.


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 In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he had made for himself to adore, moles and bats.


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 nd he shall go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of stones from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.


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 FOR behold the sovereign the Lord of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem, and from Juda the valiant and the strong, the whole strength of bread, and the whole strength of water.


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 The strong man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the cunning man, and the ancient.


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 The captain over fifty, and the honourable in countenance, and the counsellor, and the architect, and the skilful in eloquent speech.


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 And the people shall rush one upon another, and every man against his neighbour: the child shall make it tumult against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.


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 For a man shall take hold or his brother, one of the house of his father, saying: Thou hast a garment, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand.


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 In that day he shall answer, saying: I am no healer, and in my house there is no bread, nor clothing: make me not ruler of the people.


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 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Juda is fallen: because their tongue, and their devices are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his majesty.


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 The shew of their countenance hath answered them: and they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it: woe to their souls, for evils are rendered to them.


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 As for my people, their oppressors have stripped them, and women have ruled over them. O my people, they that call thee blessed, the same deceive thee, and destroy the way of thy steps.


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 The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and its princes: for you have devoured the vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your house.


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 And the Lord said: Because the daughters of Sion are haughty, and have walked with stretched out necks, and wanton glances of their eyes, and made a noise as they walked with their feet and moved in a set pace:


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 The Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Sion, and the Lord will discover their hair.


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 And instead of a sweet smell there shall be stench, and instead of a girdle, a cord, and instead of curled hair, baldness, and instead of a stomacher, haircloth.


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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 apparel: only let us be called by thy name, take away our reproach.


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 In that day the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that shall have escaped of Israel.


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 And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall be left in Sion, and that shall remain in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written in life in Jerusalem.


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 If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion, and shall wash away the blood of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.


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 And the Lord will create upon every place of mount Sion, and where he is called upon, a cloud by day, and a smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire in the night: for over all the glory shall be a protection.


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 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind, and from rain.


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 WILL sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place.


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 And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.


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 What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? was it that I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it hath brought forth wild grapes?


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 And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.


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 And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall not be digged: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.


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 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Juda, his pleasant plant: and I looked that he should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry.


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 Woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even to the end of the place: shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth?


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 These things are in my ears, saith the Lord of hosts: Unless many great and fair houses shall become desolate, without an inhabitant.


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 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one little measure, and thirty bushels of seed shall yield three bushels.


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 Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness, and to drink till the evening, to be inflamed with wine.


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 The harp, and the lyre, and the timbrel, and the pipe, and wine are in your feasts: and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands.


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 Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and their multitude were dried up with thirst.


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 Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it.


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 And man shall be brought down, and man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low.


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 And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified in justice.


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 And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness.


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 That say: Let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.


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 Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.


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 Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and the heat of the dame consumeth it: so shall their root be as ashes, and their bud shall go up se dust: for they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel.


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 Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses became as dung in the midst of the streets. For 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 sign to the nations afar off, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth: and behold they shall come with speed swiftly.


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 There is none that shall faint, nor labour among them: they shall not slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken.


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 Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of their horses shall be like the hint, and their wheels like the violence of a tempest.


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 Their roaring like that of a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea they shall roar, and take hold of the prey, and they shall keep fast hold of it, and there shall be none to deliver it.


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 And they shall make a noise against them that day, like the roaring of the sea; we shall look towards the land, and behold darkness of tribulation, and the light is darkened with the mist thereof.


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 IN the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple.


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 Upon it stood the seraphims: the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they hew.


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 And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory.


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 And the lintels of the doors were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.


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 And I said: Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts.


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 And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar.


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 And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.


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 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us? And I said: Lo, here am I, send me.


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 And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.


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 Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.


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 And I said: How long, O Lord? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land shall be left desolate.


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 And the Lord shall remove men far away, and she shall be multiplied that was left in the midst of the earth.


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 And there shall be still a tithing therein, and she shall turn, and shall be made a show as a turpentine tree, and as an oak that spreadeth its branches: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy seed.


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 AND it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joathan, the son of Ozias, king of Juda, that Basin king of Syria, and Phacee the son of Romelia king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem, to fight against it: but they could not prevail over it.


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 And they told the house of David, saying: Syria hath rested upon Ephraim, and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.


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 And the Lord said to Isaias: Go forth to meet Achaz, thou and Jasub thy son that is left, to the conduit of the upper pool, a in the way of the fuller's held.


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 And thou shalt say to him: See thou be quiet: fear not, and let not thy heart be afraid of the two tails of these fire brands, smoking with the wrath of the fury of Rasin king of Syria, end of the son of Romelia.


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 Because Syria hath taken counsel against thee, unto the evil of Ephraim and the son of Romelia, saying:


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 Let us go up to Juda, and rouse it up, and draw it away to us, and make the son of Tabeel king in the midst thereof.


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 But the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Basin: and within threescore and five years, Ephraim shall cease to be a people:


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 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria the son of Romelia. If you will not believe, you shall not continue.


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 And he said: Hear ye therefore, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also?


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 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.


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 For before the child know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good, the land which thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of the face of her two kings.


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 The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon the house of thy father, days that have not come since the time of the separation of Ephraim from Juda with the king of the Assyrians.


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 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly, that is in the uttermost parts 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 shall all of them rest in the torrents of the valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all places set with shrubs, and in all hollow places.


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 In that day the Lord shall shave with a razor that is hired by them that are beyond the river, by the king of the Assyrians, the head and the hairs of the feet, and the whole beard.


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 And for the abundance of milk he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that shall be left in the midst of the land.


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 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines, at a thousand pieces of silver, shall become thorns and briers.


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 With arrows and with bows they shall go in thither: for briars and thorns shall be in all the land.


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 And as for all the hills that shall be raked with a rake, the fear of thorns and briers shall not come thither, but they shall be for the ox to feed on, and the lesser cattle to tread upon.


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 AND the Lord said to me: Take thee a great book, and write in it with a man's pen. Take sway the spoils with speed, quickly take the prey.


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 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Hasten to take away the spoils: Make haste to take away the prey.


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 For before the child know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of the Assyrians.


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 Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, and hath rather taken Basin, and the son of Romelia:


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 Therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the river strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and shall overflow all his banks,


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 And shall pass through Juda, overflowing, and going over shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel.


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 Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and be overcome, and give ear, all ye lands afar off: strengthen yourselves, end be overcome, gird yourselves, and be overcome.


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 Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done: because God is with us.


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 For thus saith the Lord to me: As he hath taught me, with a strong arm, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:


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 Say ye not: A conspiracy: for all that this people speaketh, is a conspiracy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.


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 And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone or stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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 And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken.


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 And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.


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 Behold I and my children, whom the Lord hath given me for a sign, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Sion.


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 And when they shall say to you: Seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their God, for the living of the dead?


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 To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.


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 And they shall pass by it, they shall fall, and be hungry: and when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king, and their God, and look upwards.


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 And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they cannot fly away from their distress.


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 AT the first time the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali was lightly touched: and at the last the way of the sea beyond the Jordan of the Galilee of the Gentiles was heavily loaded.


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 The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.


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 Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy. They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils.


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 For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the sceptre of their oppressor thou best overcome, as in the day of Median.


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 For every violent taking of spoils, with tumult, and garment mingled with blood, shall be burnt, and be fuel for the fire.


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 For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.


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 His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.


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 And all the people of Ephraim shall know, and the inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and haughtiness of their heart:


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 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with square stones: they have cut down the sycamores, but we will change them for cedars.


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 And the Lord shall set up the enemies of Rasin over him, and shall bring on his enemies in a crowd:


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 The Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west: and they shall devour Israel with open mouth, For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.


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 And the people are not returned to him who hath struck them, and have not sought after the Lord of hosts.


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 And the Lord shall destroy out of Israel the head and the tail, him that bendeth down, and him that holdeth back, in one day.


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 And they that call this people blessed, shall cause them to err: and they that are called blessed, shall be thrown down headlong.


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 Therefore the Lord shell have no joy in their young men: neither shall he have mercy on their fatherless, and widows: for every one is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth hath spoken folly. For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his bend is stretched out still.


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 For wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in smoke ascending on high.


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 By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is troubled, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother.


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 And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled: every one shell eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasses Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasses, and they together shall be against Juda.


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 To oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people: that widows might be their prey, and that they might rob the fatherless.


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 What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which cometh from afar? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?


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 That you be not bowed down under the bond, and fall with the slain? In all these things his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.


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 Woe to the Assyrian, he is the rod and the staff of my anger, and my indignation is in their hands.


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 I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will give him a charge against the people of my wrath, to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.


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 But he shall not take it so, and his heart shall not think so: but his heart shall be set to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.


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 Are not my princes as so many kings ? is not Calano as Charcamis: and Emath as Arphad? is not Samaria as Damascus?


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 As my hand hath found the king- dome of the idol, so also their idols of Jerusalem, and of Samaria.


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 And it shall come to pass, that when the Lord shall have performed all his works in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, I will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes.


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 For he hath said: By the strength of my own hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom I have understood: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have taken the spoils of the princes, and as a mighty man hath pulled down them that sat on high.


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 And my hand hath found the strength of the people as a nest; and as eggs are gathered, that are left, so have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or made the least noise.


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 Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it? or shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? as if a rod should lift itself up against him that lifteth it up, and a staff exalt itself, which is but wood.


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 Therefore the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send leanness among his fat ones: and under his glory shall be kindled a burning, as it were the burning of a fire.


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 And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One thereof as a flame: and his thorns and his briers shall be set on fire, and shall be devoured in one day.


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 And the glory of his forest, and of his beautiful hill, shall be consumed from the soul even to the flesh, and he shall run away through fear.


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 And they that remain of the trees of his forest shall be so few, that they shall easily be numbered, and a child shall write them down.


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 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that shall escape of the house of Jacob, shall lean no more upon him that striketh them: but they shall lean upon the Lord the Holy One of Israel, in truth.


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 For if thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be converted, the consumption abridged shall overflow with justice.


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 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, and an abridgment in the midst of all the land.


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 Therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: O my people that dwellest in Sion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall strike thee with his rod, and he shall lift up his staff over thee in the way of Egypt.


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 For yet a little and a very little while, and my indignation shall cease, and my wrath shall be upon their wickedness.


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 And the Lord of hosts shall raise up a scourge against him, according to the slaughter of Madian in the rock of Oreb, and his rod over the sea, and he shall 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 thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall putrify at the presence of the oil.


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 It is yet day enough, to remain in Nobe: he shall shake his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Sion, the hill of Jerusalem.


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 Behold the sovereign Lord of hosts shall break the earthen vessel with terror, and the tall of stature shall be cut down, and the lofty shall be humbled.


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 And the thickets of the forest shall be cut down with iron, and Libanus with its high ones shall fall.


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 AND there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.


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 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness.


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 And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.


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 But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: land 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 shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them.


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 The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.


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 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp: and the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk.


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 They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea.


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 In that day the root of Jesse, who standeth for an ensign of the people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious.


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 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand the second time to possess the remnant of his people, which shall be left from the Assyrians, and from Egypt, and from Phetros, and from Ethiopia, and from Elam, and from Sennaar, and from Emath, and from the islands of the sea.


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 And he shall set up a standard unto the nations, and shall assemble the fugitives of Israel, and shall gather together the dispersed of Juda from the four quarters of the earth.


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 And the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away, and the enemies of Juda shall perish: Ephraim shall not envy Juda, and Juda shall not fight against Ephraim.


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 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines by the sea, they together shall spoil the children of the east: Edom, and Moab shall be under the rule of their hand, and the children of Ammon shall be obedient.


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 And the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and shall lift up his hand over the river in the strength of his spirit: and he shall strike it in the seven streams, so that men may pass through it in their shoes.


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 And there shall be a highway for the remnant of my people, which shall be left from the Assyrians: as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.


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 AND thou shalt say in that day: I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, for thou wast angry with me: thy wrath is turned away, and thou hast comforted me.


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 Behold, God is my saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not fear: O because the Lord is my strength, and my praise, and he is become my salvation.


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 And you shall say in that day: Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name: make his works known among the people: remember that his name is high.


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 Rejoice, and praise, O thou habitation of Sion: for great is he that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel.


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 Upon the dark mountain lift ye up a banner, exalt the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates.


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 I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory.


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 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as it were of many people, the noise of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts hath given charge to the troops of war.


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 To them that come from a country afar off, from the end of heaven: tile Lord and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land.


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 And shall be broken. Gripings and pains shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman in labour. Every one shall be amazed at his neighbour, their countenances shall be as faces burnt.


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 Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.


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 For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light.


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 And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty.


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 For this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved out of her place, for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the day of his tierce wrath.


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 And they shall be as a doe fleeing away, and as a sheep: and there shall be none to gather them together: every man shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land.


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 Every one that shall be found, shall be slain: and every one that shall come to their aid, shall fall by the sword.


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 Their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be pillaged, and their wives shall be ravished.


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 But with their arrows they shall kill the children, and shall have no pity upon the sucklings of the womb, and their eye shall not spare their sons.


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 And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the famous pride of the Chaldeans, shall be even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha.


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 It shall no more be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be founded unto generation and generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tents there, nor shall shepherds rest there.


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 But wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with serpents, and ostriches shall dwell there, and the hairy ones shall dance there:


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 And owls shall answer one another there, in the houses thereof, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.


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 HER time is near at hand, and her days shall not be prolonged. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose out of Israel, and will make them rest upon their own ground: and the stranger shall be joined with them, and shall adhere to the house of Jacob.


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 And the people shall take them, and bring them into their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall make them captives that had taken them, and shall subdue their oppressors.


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 And it shall come to pass in that day, that when God shall give thee rest from thy labour, and from thy vexation, and from the hard bondage, wherewith thou didst serve before,


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 Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and shalt say: How is the oppressor come to nothing, the tribute hath ceased?


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 That struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that brought nations under in fury, that persecuted in a cruel manner.


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 The fir trees also have rejoiced over thee, and the cedars of Libanus, saying: Since thou hast slept, there hath none come up to cut us down.


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 Hell below was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it stirred up the giants for thee. All the princes of the earth are risen up from their thrones, all the princes of nations.


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 All shall answer, and say to thee: Thou also art wounded as well as we, thou art become like unto us.


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 hy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down: under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering.


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 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?


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 And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north.


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 They that shall see thee, shall turn toward thee, and behold thee. Is this the man that troubled the earth, that shook kingdoms,


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 That made the world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the prison to his prisoners?


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 But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch defiled, and wrapped up among them that were slain by the sword, and art gone down to the bottom of the pit, as a rotten carcass.


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 Thou shalt not keep company with them, even in burial: for thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people: the seed of the wicked shall not be named for ever.


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 Prepare his children for slaughter for the iniquity of their fathers: they shall not rise up, nor inherit the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.


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 And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remains, and the bud, and the offspring, saith the Lord.


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 And I will make it a possession for the ericius and pools of waters, and I will sweep it and wear it out with a besom, saith the Lord of hosts.


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 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought, so shall it be: and as I have purposed,


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 So shall it fall out: That I will destroy the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: and his yoke shall be taken away from them, and his burden shall be taken off their shoulder.


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 This is the counsel, that I have purposed upon all the earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations.


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 For the Lord of hosts hath decreed, and who can disannul it? and his hand is stretched out: and who shall turn it away?


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 Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, that the rod of him that struck thee is broken in pieces: for out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall swallow the bird.


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 And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall rest with confidence: and I will make thy root perish with famine, and I will kill thy remnant.


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 Howl, O gate; cry, O city: all Philistia is thrown down: for a smoke shall come from the north, and there is none that shall escape his troop.


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 And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nations? That the Lord hath founded Sion, and the poor of his people shall hope in him.


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 THE burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, it is silent: because the wall of Moab is destroyed in the night, it is silent.


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 The house is gone up, and Dibon to the high places to mourn over Nabo, and over Medaba, Moab hath howled: ton all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard shall be shaven.


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 In their streets they are girded with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets all shall howl and come down weeping.


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 Hesebon shall cry, and Eleale, their voice is heard even to Jasa. For this shall the well appointed men of Moab howl, his soul shall howl to itself.


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 My heart shall cry to Moab, the bars thereof shall flee unto Segor a heifer of three years old: for by the ascent of Luith they shall go up weeping: and in the way of Oronaim they shall lift up a cry of destruction.


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 For the waters of Nemrim shall be desolate, for the grass is withered away, the spring is faded, all the greenness is perished.


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 According to the greatness of their work, is their visitation also: they shall lead them to the torrent of the willows.


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 For the cry is gone round about the border of Moab: the howling thereof unto Gallim, and unto the well of Elim the cry thereof.


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 For the waters of Dibon are filled with blood: for I will bring more upon Dibon: the lion upon them that shall flee of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.


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 SEND forth, O Lord, the lamb, the ruler of the earth, from Petra of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Sion.


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 And it shall come to pass, that as a bird fleeing away, and as young ones flying out of the nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be in the passage of Arnon.


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 Take counsel, gather a council: make thy shadow as the night in the midday: hide them that flee, and betray not them that wander about.


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 My fugitives shall dwell with thee: O Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the destroyer: for the dust is at an end, the wretch is consumed: he hath failed, that trod the earth under foot.


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 And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment and quickly rendering that which is just.


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 We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his pride and his arrogancy, and his indignation is more than his strength.


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 Therefore shall Moab howl to Moab, every one shall howl: to them that rejoice upon the brick walls, tell ye their stripes.


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 For the suburbs of Hesebon are desolate, and the lords of the nations have destroyed the vineyard of Sabama: the branches thereof have reached even to Jazer: they have wandered in the wilderness, the branches thereof are left, they are gone over the sea.


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 Therefore I will lament with the weeping of Jazer the vineyard of Sabama: I will water thee with my tears, O Hesebon, and Eleale: for the voice of the treaders hath rushed in upon thy vintage, and upon thy harvest.


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 And gladness and joy shall be taken away from Carmel, and there shall be no rejoicing nor shouting in the vineyards. He shall not tread out wine in the press that was wont to tread it out: the voice of the treaders I have taken away.


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 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is wearied on his high places, that he shall go in to his sanctuaries to pray, and shall not prevail.


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 And now the Lord hath spoken, saying: In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away for all the multitude of the people, and it shall be left small and feeble, not many.


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 THE burden of Damascus. Behold Damascus shall cease to be a city, and shall be as a ruinous heap of stones.


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 The cities of Aroer shall be left for flocks, and they shall rest there, and there shall be none to make them afraid.


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 And aid shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus: and the remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel: saith the Lord of hosts.


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 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall grow lean.


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 And it shall be as when one gathereth in the harvest that which remaineth, and his arm shall gather the ears of corn: and it shall be as he that seeketh ears in the vale of Raphaim.


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 And the fruit thereof that shall be left upon it, shall be as one cluster of grapes, and as the shaking of the olive tree, two or three berries in the top of a bough, or four or five upon the top of the tree, saith the Lord the God of Israel.


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 In that day man shall bow down himself to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.


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 And he shall not look to the altars which his hands made: and he shall not have respect to the things that his fingers wrought, such as groves and temples.


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 In that day his strong cities shall be forsaken, as the ploughs, and the corn that were left before the face of the children of Israel, and thou shalt be desolate.


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 Because thou hast forgotten God thy saviour, and hast not remembered thy strong helper: therefore shalt thou plant good plants, and shalt sow strange seed.


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 In the day of thy planting shall be the wild grape, and in the morning thy seed shall flourish: the harvest is taken away in the day of inheritance, and shall grieve thee much.


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 Woe to the multitude of many people, like the multitude of the roaring sea: and the tumult of crowds, like the noise of many waters.


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 Nations shall make a noise like the noise of waters overflowing, but he shall rebuke him, and he shall flee far off: and he shall be carried away as the dust of the mountains before the wind, and as a whirlwind before a tempest.


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 In the time of the evening, behold there shall be trouble: the morning shall come, and he shall not be: this is the portion of them that have wasted us, and the lot of them that spoiled us.


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 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, and in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters. Go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn in pieces: to a terrible people, after which there is no other: to a nation expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled.


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 All ye inhabitants of the world, who dwell on the earth, when the sign shall be lifted up on the mountains, you shall see, and you shall hear the sound of the trumpet.


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 For thus saith the Lord to me: I will take my rest, and consider in my place, as the noon light is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest.


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 For before the harvest it was all flourishing, and it shall bud without perfect ripeness, and the sprigs thereof shall be cut off with pruning hooks: and what is left shall be cut away and shaken out.


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 And they shall be left together to the birds of the mountains, and the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall be upon them all the summer, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.


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 At that time shall a present be brought to the Lord of hosts, from a people rent and torn in pieces: from a terrible people, after which there hath been no other: from a nation expecting, expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to mount Sion.


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 THE burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord will ascend upon a swift cloud, and will enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof.


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 And I will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians: and they shall fight brother against brother, and friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.


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 And the spirit of Egypt shall be broken in the bowels thereof, and I will cast down their counsel: and they shall consult their idols, and their diviners, and their wizards, and soothsayers.


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 And I will deliver Egypt into the hand of cruel masters, and a strong king shall rule over them, saith the Lord the God of hosts.


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 And the rivers shall fail: the streams of the banks shall be diminished, and be dried up. The reed and the bulrush shall wither away.


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 The channel of the river shall be laid bare from its fountain, and every thing sown by the water shall be dried up, it shall wither away, and shall be no more.


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 The fishers also shall mourn, and all that cast a hook into the river shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish away.


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 The princes of Tanis are become fools, the wise counsellors of Pharao have given foolish counsel: how will you say to Pharao: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?


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 Where are now thy wise men? let them tell thee, and shew what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.


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 The princes of Tanis are become fools, the princes of Memphis are gone astray, they have deceived Egypt, the stay of the people thereof.


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 The Lord hath mingled in the midst thereof the spirit of giddiness: and they have caused Egypt to err in all its works, as a drunken man staggereth and vomiteth.


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 And there shall be no work for Egypt, to make head or tail, him that bendeth down, or that holdeth back.


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 In that day Egypt shall be like unto women, and they shall be amazed, and afraid, because of the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shall move over it.


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 And the land of Juda shall be a terror to Egypt: every one that shall remember it shall tremble because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath determined concerning it.


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 In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of the sun.


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 In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument of the Lord at the borders thereof:


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 It shall be for a sign, and for a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver them.


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 And the Lord shall be known by Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall worship him with sacrifices and offerings: and they shall make vows to the Lord, and per- form them.


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 And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a scourge, and shall heal it, and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be pacified towards them, and heal them.


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 In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrian shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian.


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 In that day shall Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the Assyrian: a blessing in the midst of the land,


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 Which the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands to the Assyrian: but Israel is my inheritance.


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 IN the year that Tharthan entered into Azotus, when Sargon the king of the Assyrians had sent him, and he had fought against Azotus, and had taken it:


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 At that same time the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaias the son of Amos, saying: Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and take off thy shoes from thy feet. And he did so, and went naked, and barefoot.


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 And the Lord said: As my servant Isaias hath walked, naked and barefoot, it shall be a sign and a wonder of three years upon Egypt, and upon Ethiopia,


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 So shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the prisoners of Egypt, and the captivity of Ethiopia, young and old. naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt.


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 And the inhabitants of this isle shall say in that day: Lo this was our hope, to whom we fled for help, to deliver up from the face of the king of the Assyrians: and how shall we be able to escape?


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 THE burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.


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 A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully : and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease.


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 Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it.


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 Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield.


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 For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell.


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 And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed.


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 And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights.


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 Behold this man cometh, the rider upon the chariot with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground.


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 O my thrashing and the children of my door, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you.


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 The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the eight? watchman, what of the night?


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 Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth.


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 For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle.


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 For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away.


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 And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord the God of Israel hath spoken it.


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 THE burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that thou too art wholly gone up to the housetops?


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 Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.


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 All the princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that were found, are bound together, they are fled far off.


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 Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people.


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 For it is a day of slaughter and of treading down, and of weeping to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.


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 And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield was taken down from the wall.


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 And thy choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horseman shall place themselves in the gate.


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 And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in that day the armoury of the house of the forest.


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 And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool,


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 And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago.


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 And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:


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 And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.


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 And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.


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 Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him:


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 What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock.


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 Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and he will lift thee up as a garment.


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 He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation, he will toss thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame of the house of thy Lord.


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 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.


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 And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.


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 And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father.


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 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music.


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 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed, that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath spoken it.


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 THE burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of the sea, for the house is destroyed, from whence they were wont to come: from the land of Cethim it is revealed to them.


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 Be silent, you that dwell in the island: the merchants of Sidon passing over the sea, have filled thee.


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 The seed of the Nile in many waters, the harvest of the river is her revenue: and she is become the mart of the nations.


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 Be thou ashamed, O Sidon: for the sea speaketh, even the strength of the sea, saying: I have not been in labour, nor have I brought forth, nor have I nourished up young men, nor brought up virgins.


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 Is not this your city, which gloried from of old in her antiquity? her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.


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 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, that was formerly crowned, whose merchants were princes, and her traders the nobles of the earth?


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 The Lord of hosts hath designed it, to pull down the pride of all glory, and bring to disgrace all the glorious ones of the earth.


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 He stretched out his hand over the sea, he troubled kingdoms: the Lord hath given a charge against Chanaan, to destroy the strong ones thereof.


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 And he said: Thou shalt glory no more, O virgin daughter of Sidon, who art oppressed: arise and sail over to Cethim, there also thou shalt have no, rest.


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 Behold the land of the Chaldeans, there was not such a people, the Assyrian founded it: they have led away the strong ones thereof into captivity, they have destroyed the houses thereof, they have brought it to ruin.


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 And it shall come to pass in that day that thou, O Tyre, shalt be forgotten, seventy years, according to the days of one king: but after seventy years, there shall be unto Tyre as the song of a harlot.


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 Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten: sing well, sing many a song, that thou mayst be remembered.


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 And it shall come to pass after seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and will bring her back again to her traffic: and she shall commit fornication again with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.


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 And her merchandise and her hire shall be sanctified to the Lord: they shall not be kept in store, nor laid up: for her merchandise shall be for them that shall dwell before the Lord, that they may eat unto fulness, and be clothed for a continuance.


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 BEHOLD the Lord shall lay waste the earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof.


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 And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest: and as with the servant, so with his master: as with the handmaid, so with her mistress: as with the buyer, so with the seller: as with the lender, so with the borrower: as with him that calleth for his money, so with him that oweth.


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 With desolation shall the earth be laid waste, and it shall be utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.


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 The earth mourned, and faded away, and is weakened: the world faded away, the height of the people of the earth is weakened.


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 And the earth is infected by the in- habitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they have broken the everlasting covenant.


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 Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall sin: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be mad, and few men shall be left.


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 The mirth of timbrels hath ceased, the noise of them that rejoice is ended, the melody of the harp is silent.


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 There shall be a crying for wine in the streets: all mirth is forsaken: the joy of the earth is gone away.


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 For it shall be thus in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended.


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 These shall lift up their voice, and shall give praise: when the Lord shall be glorified, they shall make a joyful noise from the sea.


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 Therefore glorify ye the Lord in instruction: the name of the Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea.


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 From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the just one. And I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, woe is me: the prevaricators have prevaricated, and with the prevarication of transgressors they have prevaricated.


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 And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall rid himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the flood-gates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.


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 With breaking shall the earth be broken, with crushing shall the earth be crushed, with trembling shall the earth be moved.


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 With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fell, and not rise again.


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 And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord shall visit upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth, on the earth.


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 And they shall be gathered together as in the gathering of one bundle into the pit, and they shall be shut up there in prison: and after many days they shall be visited.


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 fend the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his ancients.


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 O LORD, thou art my God, I will exalt thee, and give glory to thy name: for thou hast done wonderful things, thy designs of old faithful, amen.


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 For thou hast reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to ruin, the house of strangers, to be no city, and to be no more built up for ever.


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 Because thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress: a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. For the blast of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a wall.


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 Thou shalt bring down the tumult of strangers, as heat in thirst: and as with heat under a burning cloud, thou shalt make the branch of the mighty to wither away.


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 And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees.


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 And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all pie were tied, and the web that he over all nations.


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 He shall cast death down headlong forever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people he shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.


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 And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation.


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 For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain.


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 And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as he that swimmeth stretcheth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down his glory with the dashing of his hands.


text:
 And the bulwarks of thy high walls shall fall, and be brought low, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust.


text:
 IN that day shall this canticle be sung the land of Juda. Sion the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein.


text:
 For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull it down even to the dust.


text:
 And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.


text:
 My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.


text:
 Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.


text:
 Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.


text:
 O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name.


text:
 Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and best destroyed all their memory.


text:
 Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off.


text:
 Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them.


text:
 As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord.


text:
 We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.


text:
 Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.


text:
 Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.


text:
 For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.


text:
 IN that day the Lord with his hard, and great, and strong sword shall visit leviathan the bar serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the see.


text:
 I am the Lord that keep it, I will suddenly give it drink: lest any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day.


text:
 There is no indignation in m: who shall make me a thorn and a brier in battle: shall march against it, shall I set it on fire together?


text:
 Or rather shall it take hold of my strength, shall it make peace with me, shall it make peace with me?


text:
 When they shall rush in unto Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed.


text:
 Hath he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck him? or is he slain, as he killed them that were slain by him?


text:
 In measure against measure, when it shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it. He hath meditated with his severe spirit in the day of heat.


text:
 Therefore upon this shall the iniquity of the house of Jacob be forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be taken away, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as burnt stones broken in pieces, the groves and temples shall not stand.


text:
 For the strong city shall be desolate, the beautiful city shall be forsaken, and shall be left as a wilderness : there the calf shall feed, and there shall he lie down, and shall consume its branches.


text:
 Its harvest shall be destroyed with drought, women shall come and teach it: for it is not a wise people, therefore he that made it, shall not have mercy on it: and he that formed it, shall not spare it.


text:
 And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, and you shall be gathered together one by one, O ye children of Israel.


text:
 And it shall come to pass, that in that day a noise shall be made with a great trumpet, and they that were lost, shall come from the land of the Assyrians, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall adore the Lord in the holy mount in Jerusalem.


text:
 WOE to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower the glory of his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley, staggering with wine.


text:
 Behold the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a destroying whirlwind, as the violence of many waters overflowing, and sent forth upon a spacious land.


text:
 And the fading flower the glory of his joy, who is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as a hasty fruit before the ripeness of autumn: which when he that seeth it shall behold, as soon as he taketh it in his hand, he will eat it up.


text:
 In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of joy to the residue of his people:


text:
 And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that return out of the battle to the gate.


text:
 But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have been ignorant of judgment.


text:
 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts.


text:
 For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; expect, expect again: a little there, a little there.


text:
 To whom he said: This is my rest, refresh the weary, and this is my refreshing: and they would not hear.


text:
 And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command again; command, command again: expect, expect again; expect, expect again: a little there, a little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.


text:
 Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem.


text:
 For you have said : We have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected.


text:
 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.


text:
 And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and waters shall overflow its protection.


text:
 And Sour league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it.


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 Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away: because in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.


text:
 For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him.


text:
 And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth.


text:
 Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, sow gith, and scatter cummin, and put wheat in order, and barley, and millet, and vetches in their bounds?


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 For gith shall not be thrashed with saws, neither shall the cart wheel turn about upon cummin: but gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a staff.


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 But bread corn shall be broken small: but the thrasher shall not thrash it for ever, neither shall the cart wheel hurt it, nor break it with its teeth.


text:
 This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.


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 WOE to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year: the solemnities are at an end.


text:
 And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.


text:
 And I will make a circle round about thee, and will cast up a rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.


text:
 Thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the ground thy speech shall mutter.


text:
 And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee.


text:
 And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire.


text:
 And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against it.


text:
 And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and drinketh, and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have fought against mount Sion.


text:
 Be astonished, and wander, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.


text:
 For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions.


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 And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.


text:
 And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.


text:
 And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:


text:
 Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.


text:
 Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?


text:
 This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.


text:
 Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?


text:
 And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.


text:
 And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.


text:
 For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed, and they are all cut off that watched for iniquity:


text:
 That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and declined in vain from the just.


text:
 Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed:


text:
 But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel:


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 And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and they that murmured, shall learn the law.


text:
 WOE to you, apostate children, saith the Lord, that you would take counsel, and not of me: and would begin a web, and not by my spirit, that you might add sin upon sill:


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 Who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, hoping for help in the strength of Pharao, and trusting in the shadow of Egypt.


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 And the- strength of Pharao shall be to your confusion, and the confidence of the shadow of Egypt to your shame.


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 They were all confounded at a people that could not profit them: they were no help, nor to any profit, but to confusion and to reproach.


text:
 The burden of the beasts of the south. In a land of trouble and distress, from whence come the lioness, and the lion, the viper and the flying basilisk, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of beasts, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels to a people that shall not be able to profit them.


text:
 For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this: It is pride only, sit still.


text:
 Now therefore go in and write for them upon box, and note it diligently in a book, and it shall be in the latter days for a testimony for ever.


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 For it is a people that provoketh to wrath, and lying children, children that will not hear the law of God.


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 Who say to the seers: See not: and to them that behold: Behold not for us those things that are right: speak unto us pleasant things, see errors for us.


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 Take away from me the way, turn away the path from me, let the Holy One of Israel cease from before us.


text:
 Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because you have rejected this word, and have trusted in oppression and tumult, and have leaned upon it:


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 Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a breach that falleth, and is found wanting in a high wall, for the destruction thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for.


text:
 And it shall be broken small, as the potter's vessel is broken all to pieces with mighty breaking, and there shall not a sherd be found of the pieces thereof, wherein a little fire may be carried from the hearth, or a, little water be drawn out of the pit.


text:
 For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall your strength be. And you would not:


text:
 But have said: No, but we will flee to horses: therefore shall you flee. And we will mount upon swift ones: therefore shall they be swifter that shall pursue after you.


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 A thousand men shall flee for fear of one: and for fear of five shall you flee, till you be left as the mast of a ship on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign upon a hill.


text:
 Therefore the Lord waiteth that be may have mercy on you: and therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.


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 For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy cry, se soon as he shell hear, he will answer thee.


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 And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy eyes shall see thy teacher.


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 And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.


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 And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver, and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get thee hence.


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 And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy possession:


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 And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat mingled pro vender as it was winnowed in the floor.


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 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower shall fall.


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 And the light of the moon shall be se the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound.


text:
 Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth, and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire.


text:
 His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people.


text:
 You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified solemnity, and joy of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.


text:
 And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the dame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and hailstones.


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 And the passage of the rod shall be strongly grounded, which the Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in great battles he shall over throw them.


text:
 For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king, deep, and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it.


text:
 WOE to them that go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses, and putting their confidence in chariots, because they me many: and in horsemen, because they me very strong: and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought after the Lord.


text:
 But he that is the wise one hath brought evil, and hath not removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the aid of them that work iniquity.


text:
 Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses, flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord shall put down his hand, and the helper shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall al be confounded together.


text:
 For thus saith the Lord to me: Like as the lion roareth, and the lion's whelp upon his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor be afraid of their multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount Sion, and upon the hill thereof.


text:
 As birds dying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving.


text:
 For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin.


text:
 And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the sword not of a man shall devour him, and he shall flee not at the face of the sword: and his young men shall be tributaries.


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 And his strength shall pass away with dread, and his princes fleeing shall be afraid: the Lord hath said it, whose die is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.


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 And a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hideth himself from a storm, as rivers of waters in drought, and the shadow of a rock that standeth out in a desert land.


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 The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken diligently.


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 And the heart of fools shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of stammerers shall speak readily and plain.


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 For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully, and to make empty the soul of the hungry, and take away drink from the thirsty.


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 The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he hath framed devices to destroy the meek, with lying words, when the poor man speaketh judgment.


text:
 But the prince will devise such things as are worthy of a prince, and he shah stand above the rulers.


text:
 For after days and a year, you that are confident shall be troubled: for the vintage is at an end, the gathering shall come no more.


text:
 Be astonished, ye rich women, be troubled, ye confident ones: strip yen, and be confounded, gird your loins.


text:
 Upon the land of my people shall thorns and briers come up: how much more upon all the houses of joy, of the city that rejoiced?


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 For the house is forsaken, the multitude of the city is left, darkness and obscurity are come upon its dens for ever. A joy of wild asses, the pastures of docks,


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 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high: and the desert shall be se a charmel, and charmel shall be counted for a forest.


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 And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness, and security for ever.


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 And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest.


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 WOE to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be spoiled? and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised? when thou shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled: when being wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised.


text:
 O Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble.


text:
 At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up thyself the nations are scattered.


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 And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are gathered, as when the ditches are full of them.


text:
 And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.


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 The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not regarded the men.


text:
 The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded and become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are shaken.


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 And the people shall be as ashes after a fire, as a bundle of thorns they shall be burnt with fire.


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 The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling hath seized upon the hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings?


text:
 He that walketh in justices, and speaketh truth, that casteth away avarice by oppression, and shaketh his hands from all bribes, that stoppeth his ears lest he hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may see no evil.


text:
 He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his highness: bread is given him, his waters are sure.


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 Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he that pondereth the words of the law? where is the teacher of little ones?


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 The shameless people thou shalt not see, the people of profound speech: so that thou canst not understand the eloquence of his tongue, in whom there is no wisdom.


text:
 Look upon Sion the city of our solemnity: thy eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed: neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken:


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 Because only there our Lord is magnificent: it place of rivers, very broad and spacious streams: no ship with oars shall pass by it, neither shall the great galley pass through it.


text:
 Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall take the spoil.


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 Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.


text:
 COME near, ye Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and every thing that cometh forth of it.


text:
 For the indignation of the Lord if upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath killed them, and delivered them to slaughter.


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 Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall rise a slink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.


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 And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree.


text:
 For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment.


text:
 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.


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 And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with the fat of fat ones.


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 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.


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 Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none shall pass through it for ever and ever.


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 The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation.


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 The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing.


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 And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.


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 And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for herself.


text:
 There hath the ericius had its hole, and brought up its young ones, and hath dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another.


text:
 Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them was wanting, one hath not sought for the other: for that which proceedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.


text:
 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell therein.


text:
 THE land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.


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 It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.


text:
 Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will save you.


text:
 Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in the wilderness.


text:
 And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwell before, shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush.


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 And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein.


text:
 No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by it, nor be found there: but they shall walk there that shall be delivered.


text:
 And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.


text:
 AND it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, that Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against all the fenced cities of Juda, and took them.


text:
 And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces from Lachis to Jerusalem, to king Ezechias with a great army, and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller's held.


text:
 And there went out to him Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder.


text:
 And Rabsaces said to them: Tell Ezechias: Thus saith the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence wherein thou trustest?


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 Or with what counsel or strength dost thou prepare for war? on whom dost thou trust, that thou art revolted from me?


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 Lo thou trustest upon this broken staff of a reed, upon Egypt: upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharao king or Egypt to all that trust in him.


text:
 But if thou wilt answer me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away, and hath said to Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar?


text:
 And now deliver thyself up to my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give thee two thousand horses, and thou wilt not be able on thy part to find riders for them.


text:
 And how wilt thou stand against the face of the judge of one place, of the least of my master's servants? But if thou trust in Egypt, in chariots and in horsemen:


text:
 And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy it.


text:
 And Eliacim, and Sobna, and Joahe said to Rabsaces: Speak to thy servants in the Syrian tongue: for we understand it: speak not to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people, that are upon the wall.


text:
 And Rabsaces said to them: Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee, to speak all these words; and not rather to the men that sit on the wall; that they may eat their own dung, and drink their urine with you?


text:
 And let not Ezechias make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.


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 Do not hearken to Ezechias: for thus said the king of the Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to me, and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his dg tree, and drink ye every one the water of his cistern,


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 Till I come and take you away to a land, like to your own, a land of corn and of wine, a land of bread and vineyards.


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 Neither let Ezechias trouble you, saying: The Lord will deliver us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians?


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 Where is the god of Emath and of Arphad? where is the god of Sepharvaim? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?


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 Who is there among all the gods of these lands, that hath delivered his country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?


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 And they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the king had commanded, saying: answer him not.


text:
 And Eliacim the son of Helcias, that was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, went in to Ezechias with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.


text:
 AND it came to pass, when king Ezechias had heard it, that he rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.


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 And he sent Eliacim who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet.


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 And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.


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 It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living God, and to reproach with words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.


text:
 And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.


text:
 Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return to his own country, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own country.


text:
 And Rabsaces returned, end found the king of the Assyrians besieging Lobna. W For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.


text:
 And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying:


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 Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.


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 Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians hare done to all countries which they have destroyed, and canst thou be delivered?


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 Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that were in Thalassar?


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 Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?


text:
 And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread it before the Lord.


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 O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who sittest upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth.


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 Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to blaspheme the living God.


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 And they have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke them in pieces.


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 And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord.


text:
 And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians:


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 This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee.


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 Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.


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 By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus: and I will out down its tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, end will enter to the top of its height, to the forest of its Carmel.


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 I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks.


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 Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the days of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and it hath come to pass that hills fighting together, and fenced cities should be destroyed.


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 The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered before it was ripe.


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 When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears: therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.


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 But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits: but in the third year sow and reap, and giant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.


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 And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda, and which is left, shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit upward :


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 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a, remnant, and salvation from mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.


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 And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant.


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 And the angel of the Lord went out, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold they were all dead corpses.


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 And Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians went out and departed, and returned, and dwelt in Ninive.


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 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesroch his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.


text:
 IN those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and Isaias the son of Amos the prophet came unto him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live.


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 And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping.


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 Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I will add to thy days fifteen years:


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 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.


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 And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this word which he hath spoken:


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 Behold I will bring again the shadow of the lines, by which it is now gone down in the sun dial of Achaz with the sun, ten lines backward. And the sun returned ten lines by the degrees by which it was gone down.


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 I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell: I sought for the residue of my years.


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 I said: I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest.


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 My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a shepherd's tent. My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst I was yet but beginning, he out me off: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.


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 I hoped till morning, as a lion so hath he broken all my bones: from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.


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 I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: my eyes are weakened looking upward: Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me.


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 What shall I say, or what shall he answer for me, whereas he himself hath done it? I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul.


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 O Lord, if man's life be such, and the life of my spirit be in such things as these, thou shalt correct me, and make me to live.


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 Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter: but thou best delivered my soul that it should not perish, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.


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 For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth.


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 The living, the living, he shall give praise to thee, as I do this day: the father shall make thy truth known to the children.


text:
 Now Isaias had ordered that they should take a lump of figs, and lay it as it plaster upon the wound, and that he should be healed.


text:
 At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan king of Babylon, sent letters and presents to Ezechias: for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered. 


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 And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he shewed them the storehouses of his aromatical spices, and of the silver, and of the gold, and of the sweet odours, and of the precious ointment, and all the storehouses of his furniture, and all things that were found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion that Ezechias shewed them not.


text:
 Then Isaias the prophet came to king Ezechias, and said to him: What said these men, and from whence came they to thee? And Ezechias said: From a far country they came to me, from Babylon


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 And he said: What saw they in thy house? And Ezechias said: All things that are in my house have they seen, there was not any thing which I have not shewn them in my treasures.


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 Behold the days shall come, that all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried away into Babylon: there shall not any thing be left, saith the Lord.


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 And of thy children, that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.


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 And Ezechias said to Isaias: The word of the Lord, which he hath spoken, is good. And he said: Only let peace and truth be in my days.


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 Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.


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 The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.


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 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain.


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 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.


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 The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the held.


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 The grass is withered, and the dower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:


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 Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God:


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 Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.


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 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.


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 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?


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 With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding?


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 Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust.


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 All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him as nothing, and vanity.


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 Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?


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 He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skilful workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved.


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 Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the earth ?


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 It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.


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 He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity.


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 And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.


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 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power, not one of them was missing.


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 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?


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 Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom.


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 But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.


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 LET the islands keep silence before me, and the nations take new strength: let them come near, and then speak, let us come near to judgment together.


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 Who hath raised up the just one from the east, hath called him to follow him? he shall give the nations in his sight, and he shall rule over kings: he shall give them as the dust to his sword, as stubble driven by the wind, to his bow.


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 Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last.


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 The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that forged at that time, saying: It is ready for soldering: and he strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved.


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 In whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not cast thee away.


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 Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee.


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 Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive against thee.


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 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist thee: they shall be as nothing: and as a thing consumed the men that war against thee.


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 For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: Fear not, I have helped thee.


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 Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I have helped thee, saith the Lord: and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel.


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 I have made thee as a new thrashing wain, with teeth like a saw: thou shall thrash the mountains, and break them in pieces: and shalt make the hills as chaff.


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 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful.


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 The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none: their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.


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 I will open rivers in the high bills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters.


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 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree together:


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 That they may see and know, and consider, and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.


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 Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither, if you have any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob.


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 Let them come, and tell us all things that are to come: tell us the former things what they were: and we will set our heart upon them, and shall know the latter end of them, and tell us the things that are to come.


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 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you can: and let us speak, and see together.


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 Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.


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 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall make princes to be as dirt, and as the potter treading clay.


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 Who bath declared from the beginning, that we may know: and from time of old, that we may say: Thou art just. There is none that sheweth, nor that foretelleth, nor that heareth your words.


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 And I saw, and there was no one even among them to consult, or who, when I asked, could answer a word.


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 BEHOLD my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, my soul delighteth in him: I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.


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 The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.


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 He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, till he set judgment in the earth: and the islands shall wait for his law.


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 Thus saith the Lord God that created the heavens, and stretched them out: that established the earth, and the things that spring out of it: that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that tread thereon.


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 I the Lord have called thee in justice, and taken thee by the hand, and preserved thee. And I have given thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles:


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 That thou mightest open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth the prisoner out of prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.


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 The things that were first, behold they are come: and new things do I declare: before they spring forth, I will make you head them.


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 Sing ye to the Lora a new song, his praise is from the ends of the earth: you that go down to the sea, and all that are therein: ye islands, and ye inhabitants of them.


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 Let the desert and the cities thereof be exalted: Cedar shall dwell in houses: ye inhabitants of Petra, give praise, they shall cry from the top of the mountains.


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 The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war shall he stir up zeal: he shall shout and cry: he shall prevail against his enemies.


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 I have always held my peace, I have I kept silence, I have been patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and swallow up at once.


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 I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and will make all their grass to wither: and I will turn rivers into islands, and will dry up the standing pools.


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 And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them.


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 They are turned back: let them be greatly confounded, that trust in a graven thing, that say to a molten thing: You are our god.


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 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers? Who is blind, but he that is sold? or who is blind, but the servant of the Lord?


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 Thou that seest many things, wilt thou not observe them? thou that hast ears open, wilt thou not hear?


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 But this is a people that is robbed and wasted: they are all the snare of young men, and they are hid in the houses of prisons: they are made a prey, and there is none to deliver them: a spoil, and there is none that saith: Restore.


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 Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to robbers? hath not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned? And they would not walk in his ways, and they have not hearkened to his law.


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 And he hath poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and a strong battle, and hath burnt him round about, and he knew not: and set him on fire, and he understood not.


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 AND now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and called thee by thy name: thou art mine.


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 When thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee: when thou shalt walk in the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flames shall not burn in thee:


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 For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I have given Egypt for thy atonement, Ethiopia and Saba for thee.


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 Since thou becamest honourable in my eyes, thou art glorious: I have loved thee, and I will give men for thee, and people for thy life.


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 I will say to the north: Give up: and to the south: Keep not back: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.


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 And every one that calleth upon my name, I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, and made him.


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 All the nations are assembled together, and the tribes are gathered: who among you can declare this, and shall make us hear the former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, let them be justified, and hear, and say: It is truth.


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 You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know, and believe me, and understand that I myself am. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there shall be none.


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 I have declared, and have saved. I have made it heard, and there was no strange one among you. You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and I am God.


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 And from the beginning I am the same, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall turn it away?


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 Thus saith the Lord your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their bars, and the Chaldeans glorying in their ships.


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 Who brought forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the strong: they lay down to sleep together, and they shall not rise again: they are broken as flax, and are extinct.


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 Behold I do new things, and now they shall spring forth, verily you shall know them: I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.


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 The beast of the field shall glorify me, the dragons and the ostriches: because I have given waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, to my chosen.


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 Thou hast not offered me the ram of thy holocaust, nor hast thou glorified me with thy victims: I have not caused thee to serve with oblations, nor wearied thee with incense.


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 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy victims. But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities.


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 Thus saith the Lord that made and formed thee, thy helper from the womb: Fear not, O my servant Jacob, and thou most righteous whom I have chosen.


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 For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land: I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy stock.


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 One shall say: I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand, To the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.


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 Thus saith the Lord the king of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts: I am the brat, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.


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 Who is like to me? let him call and declare: and let him set before me the order, since I appointed the ancient people: and the things to come, and that shall be hereafter, let them shew unto them.


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 Fear ye not, neither be ye troubled, from that time I have made thee to hear, and have declared: you are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me, a maker, whom I have not known?


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 The makers of idols are all of them nothing, and their best beloved things shall not profit them. They are their witnesses, that they do not see, nor understand, that they may be ashamed.


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 Behold, all the partakers thereof shall be confounded: for the makers are men: they shall all assemble together, they shall stand and fear, and shall be confounded together.


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 The smith hath wrought with his file, with coals, and with hammers he hath formed it, and hath wrought with the strength of his arm: he shall hunger and faint, he shall drink no water, and shall be weary.


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 The carpenter hath stretched out his rule, he hath formed it with a plane: he hath made it with corners, and hath fashioned it round with the compass: and he hath made the image of a man as it were a beautiful man dwelling in a house.


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 He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the rain hath nourished.


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 And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it.


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 Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.


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 But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it, saying: Deliver me, for thou art my God.


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 They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart.


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 They do not consider in their mind, nor know, nor have the thought to say: I have burnt part of it in the fire, and I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh and have eaten, and of the residue thereof shall I make an idol? shall I fall down before the stock of a tree?


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 Part thereof is ashes: his foolish heart adoreth it, and he will not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand.


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 Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art my servant, O Israel, forget me not.


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 I have blotted out thy iniquities as a cloud, and thy sins as a mist: return to me, for I have redeemed thee.


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 Give praise, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath shewn mercy: shout with joy, ye ends of the earth: ye mountains, resound with praise, thou, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified.


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 Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, and thy maker, from the womb: I am the Lord, that make all things, that alone stretch out the heavens, that establish the earth, and there is none with me.


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 That make void the tokens of diviners, and make the soothsayers mad. That turn the wise backward, and that, make their knowledge foolish.


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 That raise up the word of my servant and perform the counsel of my messengers, who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be inhabited: and to the cities of Juda: You shall be built, and I will raise up the wastes thereof.


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 Who say to Cyrus: Thou art my shepherd, and thou shalt perform all my pleasure. Who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be built: and to the temple: Thy foundations shall be laid.


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 THUS saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut.


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 I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the bars of iron.


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 And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name, the God of Israel.


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 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have made a likeness of thee, and thou hast not known me.


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 I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God, besides me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me:


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 That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else:


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 I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things.


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 Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him.


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 Woe to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the earthen pots: shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it: What art thou making, and thy work is without hands?


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 Woe to him that saith to his father: Why begettest thou? and to the woman: Why dost thou bring forth?


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 Thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel, his maker: Ask me of things to come, concerning my children, and concerning the work of my hands give ye charge to me.


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 I made the earth: and I created man upon it: my hand stretched forth the heavens, and I have commanded all their host.


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 I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and let go my captives, not for ransom, nor for presents, saith the Lord the God of hosts.


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 Thus saith the Lord: The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and of Sabaim, men of stature shall come over to thee, and shall be thins: they shall walk after thee, they shall go bound with manacles: and they shall worship thee, and shall make supplication to thee: only in thee is God, and there is no God besides thee.


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 Israel is saved in the Lord with as eternal salvation: you shall not be con- founded, and you shall not be ashamed for ever and ever.


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 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it, the very maker thereof: he did not create it in vain: he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other.


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 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I have not said to the seed of Jacob: Seek me in vain. I am the Lord that speak justice, that declare right things.


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 Assemble yourselves, and come, and draw near together, ye that are saved of the Gentiles: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven work, and pray to a god that cannot save.


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 Tell ye, and come, and consult together: who hath declared this from the beginning, who hath foretold this from that time? Have not I the Lord, and there is no God else besides me? A just God and a saviour, there is none besides me.


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 Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other.


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 I have sworn by myself, the word of justice shall go out of my mouth, and shall not return: For every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall swear.


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 Therefore shall he say: In the Lord are my justices and empire: they shall come to him, and all that resist him shall be confounded.


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 BEL is broken, Nebo is destroyed: their idols are put upon beasts and cattle, your burdens of heavy weight even unto weariness.


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 They are consumed, and are broken together: they could not save him that carried them, and they themselves shall go into captivity.


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 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by my womb.


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 Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will save.


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 You that contribute gold out of the bag, and weigh out silver in the scales: and hire a goldsmith to make a god: and they fall down and worship.


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 They bear him on their shoulders and carry him, and set him in his piece, and he shall stand, and shall not stir out of his place. Yea, when they shall cry also unto him, he shall not hear: he shall not save them from tribulation.


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 Remember the former age, for I am God, and there is no God beside, neither is there the like to me:


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 Who shew from the beginning the things that shall be at last, and from ancient times the things that as yet are not done, saying: My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done:


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 Who call a bird from the east, and from a far country the man of my own will, and I have spoken, and will bring it to pass: I have created, and I will do it.


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 I have brought my justice near, it shall not be afar off: and my salvation shall not tarry. I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory in Israel.


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 COME down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called delicate and tender.


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 Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers.


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 Thy nakedness shall be discovered, and thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me.


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 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.


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 I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and have given them into thy bend: thou hast shewn no mercy to them: upon the ancient thou hast laid thy yoke exceeding heavy.


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 And thou hast said: I shall be a lady for ever: thou hast not laid these things to thy heart, neither hast thou remembered thy latter end.


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 And now hear these things, thou that art delicate, and dwellest confidently, that sayest in thy heart: I am, and there is none else besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know barrenness.


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 These two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day, barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon thee, because of the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great hardness of thy enchanters.


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 And thou best trusted in thy wickedness, and hast said: There is none that seeth me. Thy wisdom, and thy knowledge, this hath deceived thee. And thou best said in thy heart: I am, and besides me there is no other.


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 Evil shall come upon thee, and then shalt not know the rising thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.


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 Stand now with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be it may profit thee any thing, or if thou mayst become stronger.


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 Thou hast failed in the multitude or thy counsels: let now the astrologers stand and save thee, they that gazed at the stars, and counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that shall come to thee.


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 Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burnt them, they shall not deliver them- selves from the power of the dames: there are no coals wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat.


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 Such are all the things become to thee, in which thou best laboured: thy merchants from thy youth, every one hath erred in his own way, there is none that can save thee.


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 HEAR ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda, you who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice.


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 For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.


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 The former things of old I have declared, and they went forth out of my mouth, and I have made them to be heard: I did them suddenly and they came to pass.


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 I foretold thee of old, before they came to pass I told thee, lest thou shouldst say: My idols have done these things, and my graven and molten things have commanded them.


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 See now all the things which thou hast heard: but have you declared them? I have shewn thee new things from that time, and things are kept which thou knowest not:


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 They are created now, and not of old: and before the day, when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say: Behold I knew them.


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 Thou hast neither heard, nor known, neither was thy ear opened of old. For I know that transgressing thou wilt transgress, and I have called thee a transgressor from the womb.


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 For my name's sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my praise I will bridle thee, lest thou shouldst perish.


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 For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another.


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 My hand also hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together.


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 Assemble yourselves together, all you, and hear: who among them hath declared these things? the Lord hath loved him, he will do his pleasure in Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.


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 Come ye near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and now the Lord God hath sent me, and his spirit.


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 Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest.


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 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea,


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 And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face.


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 Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, declare it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.


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 They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out.


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 GIVE ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he hath been mindful of my name.


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 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow: in his quiver he hath hidden me.


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 And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain: therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.


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 And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength.


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 And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.


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 Thus saith the Lord the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the soul that is despised, to the nation that is abhorred, to the servant of rulers: Kings shall see, end princes shall rise up, and adore for the Lord's sake, because he is faithful, and for the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.


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 Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed:


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 That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to them that are in darkness: Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain.


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 They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink.


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 Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country.


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 Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones.


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 Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.


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 Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these se with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee.


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 For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, end they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away.


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 The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in.


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 And thou shalt-say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were they?


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 Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their shoulders.


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 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him.


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 For thus saith the Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty, shall be delivered. But I will judge those that have judged thee, and thy children I will save.


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 And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob.


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 THUS saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your mother, with which I have put her away? or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away.


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 Because I came, and there was not a man: I called, and there was none that would hear. Is my hand shortened and become little, that I cannot redeem? or is there no strength in me to deliver? Behold at my rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn the rivers into dry land: the fishes shall rot for want of water, and shall die for thirst.


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 The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a master.


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 I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me.


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 The Lord God is my helper, therefore am I not confounded: therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded.


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 He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me? let us stand together, who is my adversary? let him come near to me.


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 Behold the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.


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 Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the voice of his servant, that hath walked in darkness, and hath no light? let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.


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 Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with dames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the dames which you have kindled: this is done to you by my hand, you shall sleep in sorrows.


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 GIVE ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out.


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 Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him.


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 The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise.


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 Hearken unto me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a light of the nations.


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 My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people: the islands shall look for me, and shall patiently wait for my arm.


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 Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not fail.


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 Hearken to me, you that know what is just, my people who have my law in your heart: fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies.


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 For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall consume them as wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice from generation to generation,


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 Arise, arise, put on strength, O thou arm of the Lord, arise as in the days of old, in the ancient generations. Hast not thou struck the proud one, and wounded the dragon?


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 Hast not thou dried up the sea, the water of the mighty deep, who madest the depth of the sea a way, that the delivered might pass over?


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 And now they that are redeemed by the Lord, shall return, and shall come into Sion singing praises, and joy everlasting shall be upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning shall flee away.


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 I, I myself will comfort you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal man, and of the son of man, who shall wither away like grass?


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 And thou hast forgotten the Lord thy maker, who stretched out the heavens, and founded the earth: and thee hast been afraid continually all the day at the presence of his fury who afflicted thee, and had prepared himself to destroy thee: where is now the fury of the oppressor?


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 He shall quickly come that is going to open unto you, and he shall not kill unto utter destruction, neither shall his bread fail.


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 But I am the Lord thy God, who trouble the sea, and the waves thereof swell: the Lord of hosts is my name.


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 I have put my words in thy mouth, and have protected thee in the shadow of my hand, that thou mightest plant the heavens, and found the earth: and mightest say to Sion: Thou art my people.


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 Arise, arise, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk even to the bottom of the cup of dead sleep, and thou hast drunk even to the dregs.


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 There is none that can uphold her among all the children that she hath brought forth: and there is none that taketh her by the hand among all the children that she hath brought up.


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 There are two things that have happened to thee: who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword, who shall comfort thee?


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 Thy children are cast forth, they have slept at the head of all the ways, as the wild ox that is snared: full of the indignation of the Lord, of the rebuke of thy God.


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 Thus saith thy Sovereign the Lord and thy God, who will fight for his people: Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of dead sleep, the dregs of the cup of my indignation, thou shalt not drink it again any more.


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 And I will put it in the hand of them that have oppressed thee, and have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as a way to them that went over.


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 ARISE, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion, put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One: for henceforth the uncircumcised, and unclean shall no more pass through thee.


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 Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem: loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion.


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 For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt at the beginning to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them without any cause at all.


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 And now what have I here, saith the Lord: for my people is taken away gratis. They that rule over them treat them unjustly, saith the Lord, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day long.


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 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: of him that sheweth forth good, that preacheth salvation, that saith to Sion: Thy God shall reign!


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 The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shah praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall convert Sion


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 Rejoice, and give praise together, O ye deserts of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people: he hath redeemed Jerusalem.


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 The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.


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 Depart, depart, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing: go out of the midst of her, be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of the Lord.


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 For you shall not go out in a tumult, neither shall you make haste by flight: For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will gather you together.


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 Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high.


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 As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.


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 He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth at him: for they to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that heard not, have beheld.


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 And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him:


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 Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.


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 Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.


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 But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.


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 All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.


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 He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.


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 He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his generation? because he is cut oh out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him.


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 And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth.


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 And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand.


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 Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities.


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 Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.


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 GIVE praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise, and make a joyful noise, thou that didst not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband, saith the Lord.


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 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles, spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.


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 For thou shalt pass on to the right hand, and to the left: and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and shall inhabit the desolate cities.


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 Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded, nor blush: for thou shalt not be put to shame, because thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt remember no more the reproach of thy widowhood.


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 For he that made thee shall rule over thee, the Lord of hosts is his name: and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the God of all the earth.


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 For the Lord hath called thee as woman forsaken and mourning in spirit, end se a wife cast off from her youth, said thy God.


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 In a moment of indignation have I hid my face a little while from thee, but with everlasting kindness have I had mercy on thee, said the Lord thy Redeemer.


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 This thing is to me as in the days of Noe, to whom I swore, that I would no more bring in the waters of Noe upon the earth: so have I sworn not to be angry with thee, and not to rebuke thee.


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 For the mountains shall be moved, and the hills shall tremble; but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and the covenant of my peace shall not be moved: said the Lord that hath mercy on thee.


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 O poor little one, tossed with tempest, without all comfort, behold I will lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy foundations with sapphires,


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 And I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones.


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 And thou shalt be founded in justice: depart far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.


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 Behold, an inhabitant shall come, who was not with me, he that was a stranger to thee before, shall be joined to thee.


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 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the killer to destroy.


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 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every tongue that resisteth thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their justice with me, saith the Lord.


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 ALL you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money make haste, buy, and eat: come ye, buy wine and milk without money, and without any price.


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 Why do you spend money for that which is not breed, and your labour for that which doth not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness.


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 Incline your ear and come to me: hear and your soul shall lire, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful mercies of David.


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 Behold thou shalt call a nation, which thou knewest not: and the nations that knew not thee shall run to thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.


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 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive.


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 For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.


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 And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:


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 So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.


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 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall sing praise before yen, and all the trees of the country shah clap their hands.


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 Instead of the shrub, shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the nettle, shall come up the myrtle tree: and the Lord shall be named for an everlasting sign, that shall not be taken away.


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 THUS saith the Lord : Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my justice to be revealed.


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 Blessed is the man that doth this, and the son of man that shall lay hold on this: that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, that keepeth his hands from doing any evil.


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 And let not the son of the stranger, that adhereth to the Lord, speak, saying: The Lord will divide and separate me from his people. And let not the eunuch say: Behold I am a dry tree.


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 For thus saith the Lord to the eunuchs, They that shall keep my sabbaths, and shall choose the things that please me, and shall hold fast my covenant:


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 I will give to them in my house, and within my walls, a place, and a name better than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name which shall never perish.


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 And the children of the stranger that adhere to the Lord, to worship him, and to love his name, to be his servants: every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and that holdeth fast my covenant:


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 I will bring them into my holy mount, and will make them joyful in my house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please me upon my altar: for my house shall be called the house of prayer, for all nations.


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 The Lord God, who gathereth the scattered of Israel, saith: I will still gather unto him his congregation.


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 His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams.


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 And meet impudent dogs, they never had enough: the shepherds themselves knew no understanding: all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last.


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 Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as to day, so also to morrow, and much more.


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 THE just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and men of mercy are taken away, because there is none that understandeth; for the just man is taken away from before the face of evil.


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 Upon whom have you jested? upon whom have you opened your mouth wide, and put out your tongue? are not you wicked children, a false seed,


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 Who seek your comfort in idols under every green tree, sacrificing children in the torrents, under the high rocks?


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 In the parts of the torrent is thy portion, this is thy lot: and thou hast poured out libations to them, thou hast offered sacrifice. Shall I not be angry at these things?


text:
 And behind the door, and behind the post thou best set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself near me, and hast received an adulterer: thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made a covenant with them: thou hast loved their bed with open hand.


text:
 And thou hast adorned thyself for the king with ointment, and hast multiplied thy perfumes. Thou hast sent thy messengers far off, and wast debased even to hell.


