# verses

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And the king of Egypt removed him at Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.


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And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and took him to Egypt.


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Jehoiakim was twenty five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.


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Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.


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Nebuchadnezzar also carried some of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.


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Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.


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Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.


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And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the beautiful vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.


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And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.


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And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning to the LORD God of Israel.


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Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much according to all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.


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And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up early, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:


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But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and mistreated his prophets, until the anger of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.


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Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.


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And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.


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And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the beautiful vessels thereof.


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And those who had escaped from the sword he took away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:


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To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.


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Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,


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Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has the LORD God of heaven given me; and he has instructed me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.


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Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,


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Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has instructed me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.


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Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.


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And whoever remains in any place where he lives, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with animals, besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.


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Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had awakened, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.


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And all those who were around them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with animals, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.


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Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;


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Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.


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And this is the number of them: thirty dishes of gold, a thousand dishes of silver, twenty nine knives,


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Thirty basins of gold, silver basins of a second kind four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.


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All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with those of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.


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Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been taken away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken away to Babylon, and came back to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his city;


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Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:


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The children of Pahath-moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve.


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The children of the gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all a hundred thirty nine.


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The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Peruda,


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The children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth of Zebaim, the children of Ami.


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And these were those that went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer: but they could not establish their father's house, and their ancestry, whether they were of Israel:


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And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name:


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These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood.


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And the governor said to them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.


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Besides their menservants and their maidservants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty seven: and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women.


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And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in its place:


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They gave according to their ability to the treasury of the work sixty one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred priests' garments.


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So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the temple servants, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.


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And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.


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Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his kindred the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his kindred, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.


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And they set the altar upon its foundation; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.


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They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required;


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And afterward offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD.


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From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.


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They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, to those of Sidon, and to those of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the permission that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.


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Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their kindred the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to supervise the work of the house of the LORD.


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Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his kindred, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to supervise the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their kindred the Levites.


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And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they stood the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel.


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And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endures for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.


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But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were elderly men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:


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So that the people could not distinguish the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.


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Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;


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Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said to them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as you do; and we have sacrificed unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assur, who brought us up to here.


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But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said to them, You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.


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Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,


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And hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.


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And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote to him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.


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And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue.


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Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this manner:


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Then wrote Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions; the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, and the Elamites,


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And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar brought over, and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest that are on this side of the river, and at such a time.


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This is the copy of the letter that they sent to him, even to Artaxerxes the king; Your servants the men on this side of the river, and at such a time.


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Be it known to the king, that the Jews which came up from you to us have come to Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and repaired the foundations.


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Be it known now to the king, that, if this city be built, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so you shall hurt the revenue of the kings.


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Now because we have support from the king's palace, and it was not proper for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore have we sent and informed the king;


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That search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers: so shall you find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have rebelled within the same since a long time ago: for which cause was this city destroyed.


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We inform the king that, if this city be built again, and the walls thereof set up, by this means you shall have no portion on this side of the river.


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Then sent the king an answer to Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and to the rest beyond the river, Peace, and at such a time.


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And I commanded, and search has been made, and it is found that this city of old time has made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein.


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There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river; and toll, tribute, and custom, was paid to them.


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Give now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not built, until another commandment shall be given from me.


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Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.


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Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.


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Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even to them.


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Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.


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At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side of the river, and Shethar-boznai, and their companions, and said thus to them, Who has commanded you to build this house, and to finish this wall?


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Then we answered to them in this manner, What are the names of the men that are doing this building?


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But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter.


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The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side of the river, and Shethar-boznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, which were on this side of the river, sent to Darius the king:


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Be it known to the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work progresses quickly, and prospers in their hands.


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Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to finish these walls?


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We asked their names also, to inform you, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them.


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And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and set up.


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But after our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to anger, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and took the people away into Babylon.


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But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.


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And the vessels also of gold and silver from the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one, whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor;


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And said to him, Take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place.


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Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem: and since that time even until now has it been being built, and yet it is not finished.


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Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let there be search made in the king's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made by Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his wishes to us concerning this matter.


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Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the scrolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.


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And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a scroll, and therein was a record thus written:


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In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be built, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be firmly laid; the height thereof sixty cubits, and the breadth thereof sixty cubits;


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With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house:


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And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took away out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored, and brought back to the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to its place, and place them in the house of God.


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Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, stay away from there:


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Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place.


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Moreover I make a decree what you shall do for the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even from the tribute beyond the river, immediately expenses be given to these men, that they be not hindered.


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And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the decision of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail:


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That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savors unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.


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Also I have made a decree, that whoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being raised up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this.


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And the God that has caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed.


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Then Tatnai, governor on this side of the river, Shethar-boznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily.


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And the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.


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And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.


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And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,


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And offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.


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And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.


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For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover lamb for all the children of the captivity, and for their kindred the priests, and for themselves.


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And the children of Israel, which had come again out of captivity, and all those who had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat,


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And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.


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Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,


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This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a learned scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.


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And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the temple servants, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.


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For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.


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For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.


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Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.


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Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.


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I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are inclined of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with you.


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Seeing that you are sent by the king, and of his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand;


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And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,


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And all the silver and gold that you can find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem:


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That you may buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their food offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.


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And whatever shall seem good to you, and to your kindred, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do according to the will of your God.


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The vessels also that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, those deliver before the God of Jerusalem.


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And whatever more shall be needful for the house of your God, which you shall have occasion to provide, give it out of the king's treasure house.


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And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, let it be done speedily,


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Up to a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.


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Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?


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Also we inform you, that concerning any of the priests and Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.


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And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God, that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all those that know the laws of your God; and teach those who know them not.


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And whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.


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Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:


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And has extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.


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These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.


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Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh; Zechariah: and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty.


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And of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these, Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males.


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And I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and there we stayed in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi.


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Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding.


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And I sent them with instruction for Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say to Iddo, and to his brethren the temple servants, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.


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And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen;


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Also of the temple servants, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty temple servants: all of them were mentioned by name.


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Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all of our possessions.


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For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy along the way: because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek him; but his power and his anger is against all those who forsake him.


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Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kindred with them,


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And weighed out to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his counselors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered:


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I even weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels a hundred talents, and of gold a hundred talents;


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


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


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So the priests and the Levites took the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.


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Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of those that lay in wait by the way.


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


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Also the children of those that had been taken away, which had come out of the captivity, offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety six rams, seventy seven lambs, twelve he goats for a sin offering: all this was a burnt offering unto the LORD.


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And they delivered the king's orders to the king's officials, and to the governors on this side of the river: and they helped the people, and the house of God.


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Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.


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For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy descendents have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.


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And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished.


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Then were assembled to me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been taken away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice.


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And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my mourning; and having torn my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,


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And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass has grown up unto the heavens.


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Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass until this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plundering, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.


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And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a tent peg in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our slavery.


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For we were slaves; yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.


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Which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, The land, to which you go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.


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Now therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever: that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.


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And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that you our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this;


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Should we again break your commandments, and join in marriage with the people of these abominations? would you not be angry with us till you had consumed us, so that there would be no remnant nor escaping?


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O LORD God of Israel, you are righteous: for we remain yet delivered, as it is this day: behold, we are before you in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before you because of this.


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Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, there assembled to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very bitterly.


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And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken foreign wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.


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Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and those that are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.


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Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they swore.


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Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came to there, he ate no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of those who had been taken away.


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And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem;


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And that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited, and he himself separated from the congregation of those that had been taken away.


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Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the heavy rain.


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And Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, You have transgressed, and have taken foreign wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.


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Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his will: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the foreign wives.


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But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.


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Let now our rulers from all the congregation stand, and let all those who have taken foreign wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce anger of our God for this matter be turned from us.


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Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed concerning this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.


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And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chiefs of the fathers, according to the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.


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And they made an end with all the men that had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month.


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And among the sons of the priests there were found some that had taken foreign wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.


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And they solemnly pledged that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.


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Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.


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Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.


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And of the sons of Pahath-moab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.


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


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That Hanani, one of my kindred, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.


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And they said to me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.


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And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,


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And said, I plead with you, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keeps covenant and mercy for those who love him and observe his commandments:


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


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We have dealt very corruptly against you, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which you commanded your servant Moses.


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Remember, I plead with you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, If you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:


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But if you turn to me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were some of you cast out to the farthest part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen to set my name there.


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


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O Lord, I plead with you, let now your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants, who delight to fear your name: and prosper, I pray you, your servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.


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And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now before then I had not been sad in his presence.


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


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And said to the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lies waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?


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


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


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Moreover I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may bring me over till I come into Judah;


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And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which is next to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king consented, according to the good hand of my God upon me.


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


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When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there had come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.


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And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither did I tell any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any animal with me, except the animal that I rode on.


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And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.


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Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass.


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Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.


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And the rulers did not know where I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.


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


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


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But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you do? will you rebel against the king?


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Then I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.


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Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his kindred the priests, and they built the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even to the tower of Meah they sanctified it, to the tower of Hananeel.


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But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.


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And next to them repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz. And next to them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel. And next to them repaired Zadok the son of Baana.


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And next to them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles did not put their necks to the work of their Lord.


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Moreover the old gate was repaired by Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.


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And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, to the throne of the governor on this side of the river.


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Next to him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next to him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries, and they fortified Jerusalem to the broad wall.


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And next to them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even opposite his house. And next to him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabniah.


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Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces.


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And next to him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.


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The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits on the wall to the dung gate.


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But the dung gate was repaired by Malchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.


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But the gate of the fountain was repaired by Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and to the stairs that go down from the city of David.


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After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Beth-zur, to the place opposite the sepulchers of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty.


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After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of the half part of Keilah, in his part.


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And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another piece over by the going up to the armory at the turning of the wall.


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After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.


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


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After him repaired Benjamin and Hashub opposite their house. After him repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah by his house.


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After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another piece, from the house of Azariah to the turning of the wall, even to the corner.


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Palal the son of Uzai, repaired over by the turning of the wall, and the tower which stands out from the king's high house, that was by the court of the prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh.


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Moreover the temple servants dwelt in Ophel, and repaired as far as the place opposite the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stands out.


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After them the Tekoites repaired another piece, over by the great tower that stands out, even to the wall of Ophel.


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After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer opposite his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east gate.


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After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another piece. After him repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah opposite his chamber.


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After him repaired Malchiah the goldsmith's son to the place of the temple servants, and of the merchants, over by the gate Miphkad, and to the going up of the corner.


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But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and became greatly upset, and mocked the Jews.


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And he spoke before his kindred and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they finish in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?


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Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox goes up, he shall even break down their stone wall.


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Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:


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And do not cover their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before you: for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.


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So we built the wall; and all the wall was repaired even to the half of it: for the people had a mind to work.


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But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were built up, and that the broken places began to be filled in, then they were very angry,


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Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.


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And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is becoming exhausted, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.


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And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.


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And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said to us over and over, From all places from which you shall return to us they will be upon you.


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Therefore I placed in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even placed the people according to their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.


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And I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them: remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your kindred, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.


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And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one to his work.


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And it came to pass from that time on, that the half of my servants labored in the work, and the other half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers stood behind all the house of Judah.


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Those who built on the wall, and those who bore burdens, with those that loaded, every one with one of his hands labored in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.


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For the builders, every one had his sword fastened by his side, and in this way they built. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.


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


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In what place therefore you hear the sound of the trumpet, come there to us: our God shall fight for us.


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So we labored in the work: and half of them held the spears from the dawning of the morning till the stars appeared.


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Likewise at the same time said I to the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labor during the day.


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So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us took off our clothes, except that every one took them off for washing.


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For there were some that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we must buy grain for them, that we may eat, and live.


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Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy grain, because of the famine.


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There were also some that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute on our lands and vineyards.


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Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our kindred, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.


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Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said to them, You require interest, every one from his brother. And I called a great assembly against them.


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And I said to them, We according to our ability have redeemed our kindred the Jews, which were sold to the heathen; and will you even sell your kindred? or shall they be sold to us? Then they held their peace, and had nothing to answer.


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Also I said, It is not good what you do: ought you not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?


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I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might require of them money and grain: I pray you, let us leave off charging interest.


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Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the wine, and the oil, that you require of them.


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Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as you say. Then I called the priests, and took an oath from them, that they should do according to this promise.


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Also I shook my garment, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that does not fulfill this promise, even thus may he be shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.


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Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor.


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But the former governors that had been before me were costly to the people, and had taken from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bore rule over the people: but so I did not, because of the fear of God.


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Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither did we buy any land: and all my servants were gathered there to the work.


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Moreover there were at my table a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came to us from among the heathen that are around us.


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Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days an abundance of all sorts of wine: yet for all this I did not ask for the bread allowance of the governor, because the forced service was heavy upon this people.


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Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no broken place left in it; (though at that time I had not set up the doors on the gates;)


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


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


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Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;


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In which was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews think to rebel: for which reason you build the wall, that you may be their king, according to these words.


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And you have also appointed prophets to preach about you at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.


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Then I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.


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For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.


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Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up in his house; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay you; yea, in the night will they come to slay you.


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


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And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.


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Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.


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My God, think on Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.


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And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard of it, and all the heathen that were around us saw these things, they were brought very low in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was done by our God.


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


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For there were many in Judah sworn to him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.


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Also they reported his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.


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


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


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And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them: and appoint watches from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be next to his house.


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And my God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of those that came up at the first, and found written therein,


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These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been taken away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one to his city;


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Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this;


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The children of Pahath-moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen.


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The gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, a hundred thirty eight.


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The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida,


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The children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth of Zebaim, the children of Amon.


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And these were those that went up also from Tel-melah, Tel-haresha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer: but they could not establish their father's house, nor their ancestry, whether they were of Israel.


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And of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai, who took one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite as wife, and was called after their name.


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These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.


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And the governor said to them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.


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Besides their menservants and their maidservants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty seven: and they had two hundred forty five singing men and singing women.


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And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasure a thousand drams of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' garments.


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And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the treasure of the work twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand two hundred pounds of silver.


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And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand pounds of silver, and sixty seven priests' garments.


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


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And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.


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And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.


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And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.


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


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And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:


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And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.


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


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So they read in the book in the law of God clearly, and gave the meaning, and caused them to understand the reading.


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


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Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink sweet drinks, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.


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So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be grieved.


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


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And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law.


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And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:


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And that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.


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So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.


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And all the congregation of those who had come back out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.


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


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


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And the descendents of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.


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And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshiped the LORD their God.


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


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Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.


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You, even you, are LORD alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and you preserve them all; and the host of heaven worships you.


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You are the LORD the God, who chose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham;


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And found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his descendents, and have performed your words; for you are righteous:


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And showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for you knew that they acted proudly against them. So did you get yourself a name, as it is this day.


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And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors you threw into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.


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Moreover you led them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way in which they should go.


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You came down also upon mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:


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And made known to them your holy sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses your servant:


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And gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promised them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them.


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But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and did not listen to your commandments,


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And refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their slavery: but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and did not forsake them.


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Yea, when they had made themselves a molten calf, and said, This is your God that brought you up out of Egypt, and had committed great provocations;


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Yet you in your manifold mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.


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You gave also your good spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.


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Yea, forty years did you sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes did not become old, and their feet did not swell.


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Moreover you gave them kingdoms and nations, and divided them into the farthest parts of the land: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.


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Their children also you multiplied as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land, concerning which you had promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.


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


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And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells dug, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness.


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Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and thrust your law behind their backs, and slew your prophets which testified against them to turn them to you, and they committed great provocations.


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Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who troubled them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried out to you, you heard them from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them deliverers, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.


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But after they had rest, they did evil again before you: therefore you left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried out to you, you heard them from heaven; and many times did you deliver them according to your mercies;


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And testified against them, that you might bring them back to your law: yet they dealt proudly, and did not listen to your commandments, but sinned against your judgments, (which if a man does, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.


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Yet many years did you bear with them, and testified against them by your spirit in your prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore you gave them into the hand of the people of the lands.


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Nevertheless for your great mercies' sake you did not completely consume them, nor forsake them; for you are a gracious and merciful God.


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Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before you, that has come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day.


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However you are just in all that is brought upon us; for you have done right, but we have done wickedly:


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Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies, with which you did testify against them.


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For they have not served you in their kingdom, and in your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and fat land which you gave before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.


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Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:


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


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And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, set their seal on it.


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And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all those who had separated themselves from the people of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding;


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They stayed by their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;


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And that we would not give our daughters to the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons:


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And if the people of the land bring merchandise or any food on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it from them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would forsake the crops of the seventh year, and the demanding of every debt.


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Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God;


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For the showbread, and for the continual food offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.


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And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law:


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And to bring the first fruits of our ground, and the first fruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the LORD:


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Also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests that minister in the house of our God:


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And that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites, that these Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.


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And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house.


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For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine, and the oil, to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, and the priests that minister, and the gatekeepers, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.


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And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities.


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Now these are the chiefs of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, that is, Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the temple servants, and the children of Solomon's servants.


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And at Jerusalem dwelt certain of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin. Of the children of Judah; Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalaleel, of the children of Perez;


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And Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Colhozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of Shiloni.


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


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And Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer: and Judah the son of Senuah was second over the city.


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


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And their brethren that did the work of the house were eight hundred twenty two: and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashur, the son of Malchiah,


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And his brethren, chief of the fathers, two hundred forty two: and Amashai the son of Azareel, the son of Ahasai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,


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And their brethren, mighty men of valor, a hundred twenty eight: and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of one of the great men.


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


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And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chief of the Levites, had the oversight of the external affairs of the house of God.


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And Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, was the leader to begin the thanksgiving in prayer: and Bakbukiah the second among his brethren, and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.


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Moreover the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren that kept the gates, were a hundred seventy two.


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And the remainder of Israel, of the priests, and the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, every one in his inheritance.


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The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha. Of the sons of Asaph, the singers were over the business of the house of God.


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For it was the king's commandment concerning them, that a certain portion should be for the singers, due every day.


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And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabeel, of the children of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people.


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And for the villages, with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt at Kirjath-arba, and in the villages thereof, and at Dibon, and in the villages thereof, and at Jekabzeel, and in the villages thereof,


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Zanoah, Adullam, and in their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and in the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom.


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The children also of Benjamin from Geba dwelt at Michmash, and Aija, and Bethel, and in their villages,


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


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


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Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren.


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And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;


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The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers: also the priests, until the reign of Darius the Persian.


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


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And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren opposite them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch beside watch.


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


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


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And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.


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And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophathi;


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Also from the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had built themselves villages round about Jerusalem.


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And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.


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Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of those who gave thanks, of which one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate:


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And certain of the priests' sons with trumpets; namely, Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph:


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And his kindred, Shemaiah, and Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe before them.


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And at the fountain gate, which was over by them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even to the water gate eastward.


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And the other company of those who gave thanks went opposite them, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even to the broad wall;


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And from above the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, even to the sheep gate: and they stood still in the prison gate.


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So stood the two companies of those who gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me:


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


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And Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loudly, with Jezrahiah their overseer.


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Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.


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And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that served.


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And both the singers and the gatekeepers obeyed the instruction of their God, and the instruction of the purification, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son.


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


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And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the gatekeepers, every day its portion: and they sanctified holy things for the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them for the children of Aaron.


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On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;


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Because they did not meet the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing.


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Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.


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And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah:


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And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where formerly they laid the food offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers; and the offerings of the priests.


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But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem: for in the thirty second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I came to the king, and after certain days I obtained leave of the king:


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And I came to Jerusalem, and learned of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.


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And it grieved me much: therefore I threw away all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.


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Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and there I brought back the vessels of the house of God, with the food offering and the frankincense.


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And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, had fled every one to his field.


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


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And I appointed treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah: for they were counted faithful, and their office was to distribute to their brethren.


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


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In those days I saw in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food.


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There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of merchandise, and sold on the sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.


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


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Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.


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And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and directed that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants I set at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.


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Then I testified against them, and said to them, Why do you lodge before the wall? if you do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time on they came no more on the sabbath.


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And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy.


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And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.


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And I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.


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Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did foreign women cause to sin.


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Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying foreign wives?


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


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


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Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners, and assigned the duties of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business;


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And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.


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Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus who reigned, from India even to Ethiopia, over a hundred and twenty seven provinces:)


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


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In the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his princes and his servants; the might of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him:


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When he displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even a hundred and eighty days.


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And when these days were expired, the king made a feast for all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both for great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace;


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Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the couches were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.


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And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being different one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the bounty of the king.


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And the drinking was according to the law; no one was forced: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.


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Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.


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


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To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, to show the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.


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But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his officers: therefore was the king very angry, and his anger burned in him.


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Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment:


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And those next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;)


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What shall we do to the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the officers?


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And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen has not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.


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For this deed of the queen shall come abroad to all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she did not come.


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Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media which have heard of the deed of the queen say this day to all the king's princes.  Thus shall there arise more than enough contempt and strife.


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If it pleases the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to another that is better than she.


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


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For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people according to their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be announced according to the language of every people.


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After these things, when the anger of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.


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Then said the king's servants that ministered to him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:


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And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins to Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, to the custody of Hege the king's officer, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them:


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And let the maiden which pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.


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


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Who had been taken away from Jerusalem with the captives which had been taken away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken away.


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And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.


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So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also to the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.


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And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were suitable to be given her, out of the king's house: and he advanced her and her maids to the best place of the house of the women.


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Esther had not made known her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make it known.


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And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what would become of her.


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Now when every maid's turn came to go in to king Ahasuerus, after she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, that is, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)


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Then thus came every maiden to the king; whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women to the king's house.


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In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's officer, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she were called by name.


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Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in unto the king, she asked for nothing but what Hegai the king's officer, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked upon her.


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


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


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Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he provided a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the bounty of the king.


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Esther had not yet made known her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had instructed her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, just as when she was brought up with him.


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In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's officers, Bigthan and Teresh, of those who kept the door, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus.


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And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it to Esther the queen; and Esther informed the king thereof in Mordecai's name.


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And when inquiry was made concerning the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.


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After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.


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And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow, nor did him reverence.


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


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Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he did not listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's case would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew.


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And he was not content to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had revealed to him the people of Mordecai: therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.


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In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.


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And Haman said to king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; and their laws are different from all people; neither do they keep the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's benefit to leave them alone.


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If it pleases the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.


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And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.


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And the king said to Haman, The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.


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Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded to the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people according to their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring.


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And the letters were sent by messengers into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a possession.


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The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was made known to all people, that they should be ready for that day.


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The messengers went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.


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When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;


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And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.


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And in every province, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.


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So Esther's maids and her officers came and told it to her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he did not accept them.


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Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king's officers, whom he had appointed to wait upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was.


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


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Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and to declare it to her, and to instruct her that she should go in to the king, to make supplication to him, and to make request before him for her people.


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All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.


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Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not to yourself that you shall escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews.


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For if you altogether hold your peace at this time, then shall release and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but you and your father's house shall be destroyed: and who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?


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Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and let them fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.


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Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, in front of the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, opposite the gate of the house.


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And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.


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Then said the king to her, What do you desire, queen Esther? and what is your request? it shall be given you even to the half of the kingdom.


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And Esther answered, If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.


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Then the king said, Cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Esther has said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.


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And the king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, What is your petition? and it shall be granted you: and what is your request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.


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If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said.


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Then Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he did not stand up, nor moved for him, he was full of anger against Mordecai.


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Nevertheless Haman restrained himself: and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends, and Zeresh his wife.


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


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Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen let no man come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow I am invited to her also with the king.


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Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak to the king that Mordecai may be hanged on it: then go in merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.


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On that night the king could not sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.


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And it was found written, that Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus.


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And the king said, What honor and dignity has been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants that ministered to him, Nothing has been done for him.


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And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king's house, to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.


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


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


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Let the royal apparel be brought which the king uses as clothing, and the horse that the king rides on, and the royal crown which is set upon his head:


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And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may dress the man with it whom the king delights to honor, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.


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Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sits at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that you have spoken.


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Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and dressed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.


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And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.


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And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife to him, If Mordecai be one of the lineage of the Jews, before whom you have begun to fall, you shall not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.


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And while they were yet talking with him, came the king's officers, and hasted to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.


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And the king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is your petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted you: and what is your request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.


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


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For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could not compensate for the damage to the king.


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Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said to Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that dares to presume in his heart to do so?


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And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.


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And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his anger went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.


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Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the couch on which Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.


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And Harbonah, one of the officers, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, stands in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him on it.


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


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On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews' enemy to Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her.


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


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And Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and pleaded with him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.


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Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,


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And said, If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seems right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces:


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For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come to my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?


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Then the king Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.


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You write also for the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.


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Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the twenty third day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, a hundred twenty seven provinces, to every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people according to their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.


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And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by messengers on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young Arabian camels:


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Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the forces of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,


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Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.


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The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was made known to all people, and that the Jews should be prepared on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.


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So the messengers that rode on mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.


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


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


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Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over those who hated them;)


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The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hands on those that sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people.


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And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.


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For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai grew greater and greater.


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


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


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And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is your petition? and it shall be granted you: or what is your request further? and it shall be done.


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


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And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.


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For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the spoil they did not lay their hand.


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But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy five thousand, but they did not lay their hands on the spoil,


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On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.


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But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.


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


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


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To establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,


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As the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned for them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions of food one to another, and gifts to the poor.


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Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;


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But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.


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Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come to them,


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The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their descendents, and upon all those that joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;


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And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their descendents.


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Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.


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


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To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had instructed them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their descendents, the matters of the fastings and their cry.


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And all the deeds of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?


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For Mordecai the Jew was next to king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted by the multitude of his kindred, seeking the prosperity of his people, and speaking peace to all his people.


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


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His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.


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And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one on his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.


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And it was so, when the days of their feasting were ended, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.


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


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And the LORD said to Satan, Where do you come from? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.


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And the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil?


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Have you not made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions are increased in the land.


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


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


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And there came a messenger to Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them:


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And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.


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


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While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans divided into three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have taken them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.


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


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And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.


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Then Job arose, and tore his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped,


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


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


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And the LORD said to Satan, From where do you come? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.


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


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And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man has will he give for his life.


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So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with severe boils from the sole of his foot to his crown.


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


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Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.


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And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they tore every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.


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So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him: for they saw that his grief was very great.


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


text:
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.


text:
As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined to the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.


text:
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:


text:
For the thing which I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I was afraid of has come to me.


text:
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.


text:
It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before my eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,


text:
How much less in those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?


text:
His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them,


text:
Whose harvest the hungry eats up, and takes it even out of the thorns, and the robber swallows up their possessions.


text:
Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty:


text:
You shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.


text:
For you shall be in alliance with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.


text:
And you shall know that your tabernacle shall be in peace; and you shall visit your habitation, and shall not sin.


text:
You shall know also that your descendents shall be numerous, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.


text:
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison of which my spirit drinks up: the terrors of God set themselves in formation against me.


text:
Then would I yet have comfort; yea, I would strengthen myself in sorrow: let him not spare me; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.


text:
To him that is afflicted pity should be shown from his friend; but he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.


text:
Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of a hireling?


text:
When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro until the dawning of the day.


text:
As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away: so he that goes down to the grave shall come up no more.


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


text:
I have sinned; what shall I do for you, O you preserver of men? why have you considered me as a target for you, so that I am a burden to myself?


text:
And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and you shall seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.


text:
How long will you speak these things? and how long shall the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?


text:
If you were pure and upright; surely now he would awake for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.


text:
He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.


text:
Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nothing.


text:
He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and has prospered?


text:
If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.


text:
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covers the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?


text:
My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.


text:
Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?


text:
Remember, I plead with you, that you have made me as the clay; and will you bring me into dust again?


text:
If I be wicked, woe to me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore you see my affliction;


text:
For it increases. You hunt me like a fierce lion: and again you show yourself to be wondrous upon me.


text:
You reinforce your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation upon me; changing troubles and war are against me.


text:
Why then have you brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!


text:
A land of darkness, like darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where even the light is as darkness.


text:
And that he would show you the secrets of wisdom, that they are greater than that which is! Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.


text:
For then shall you lift up your face without blemish; yea, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:


text:
And you shall be secure, because there is hope; yea, you shall dig around you, and you shall take your rest in safety.


text:
But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be like the giving up of the ghost.


text:
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who does not know such things as these?


text:
I am as one mocked by his neighbor, who calls upon God, and he answers him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.


text:
He that is ready to slip with his feet is like a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.


text:
The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure; into whose hand God provides abundantly.


text:
But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach you; and the birds of the air, and they shall tell you:


text:
Behold, he breaks down, and it cannot be built again: he shuts up a man, and there can be no opening.


text:
Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up: also he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.


text:
He takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.


text:
You put my feet also in the stocks, and look watchfully at all my paths; you put a mark on the heels of my feet.


text:
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with you, you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;


text:
For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.


text:
So man lies down, and does not rise: till the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.


text:
O that you would hide me in the grave, that you would keep me concealed, until your anger be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!


text:
If a man dies, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change comes.


text:
The waters wear the stones: you wash away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and you destroy the hope of man.


text:
You prevail for ever against him, and he passes away: you change his countenance, and send him away.


text:
His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; and they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them.


text:
He wanders outside for bread, saying, Where is it? he knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.


text:
Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready for the battle.


text:
And he dwells in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabits, which are ready to become heaps of ruins.


text:
He shall not be rich, neither shall his possessions continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.


text:
He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.


text:
For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.


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


text:
And you have filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me bears witness to my face.


text:
He tears me in his anger, who hates me: he gnashes at me with his teeth; my enemy sharpens his eyes upon me.


text:
They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have struck me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.


text:
I was at ease, but he has broken me apart: he has also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.


text:
His archers surround me, he breaks my kidneys apart, and does not spare; he pours out my gall upon the ground.


text:
Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the hypocrite.


text:
The righteous also shall keep to his way, and he that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.


text:
He tears himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for you? and shall the rock be removed out of its place?


text:
His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.


text:
Destruction shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is not his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.


text:
His troops come together, and build up their pathway against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.


text:
My breath is strange to my wife, though I appealed to her for the sake of the children of my own body.


text:
Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my inward parts be consumed within me.


text:
You should be afraid of the sword: for anger brings the punishments of the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.


text:
I have heard the rebuke against my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.


text:
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.


text:
He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.


text:
That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his possessions shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.


text:
Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away a house which he did not build;


text:
In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in difficulty: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.


text:
When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his anger upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.


text:
It is pulled, and comes out of the body; yea, the glittering sword comes out of his gall: terrors are upon him.


text:
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.


text:
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?


text:
How often is the candle of the wicked put out! and how often does their destruction come upon them! God apportions sorrows in his anger.


text:
For what pleasure has he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?


text:
That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.


text:
The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him, and every man shall follow after him, as there are innumerable before him.


text:
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? or is it gain to him, that you make your ways perfect?


text:
For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.


text:
If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, you shall put away iniquity far from your tabernacles.


text:
You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established for you: and the light shall shine on your ways.


text:
When men are cast down, then you shall say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.


text:
On the left hand, where he works, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, so that I cannot see him:


text:
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.


text:
Why, seeing that times are not hidden from the Almighty, do those who know him not see his days come?


text:
Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work; rising early for a prey: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.


text:
Men from the city groan, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God does not charge them with folly.


text:
There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.


text:
The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguises his face.


text:
In the dark they dig through houses, which they had taken note of for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.


text:
For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one knows them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.


text:
He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he does not behold the pathway of the vineyards.


text:
The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.


text:
They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others, and cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.


text:
How have you counseled him that has no wisdom? and how have you plentifully declared the thing as it is?


text:
Lo, these are only the edges of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?


text:
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.


text:
This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive from the Almighty.


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


text:
The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered to the grave: he opens his eyes, and he is no more.


text:
He sets an end to darkness, and searches out all perfection, even to the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.


text:
The flood bursts out away from the inhabitant; even the waters untouched by the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.


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


text:
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.


text:
If I laughed at them, they did not believe it; and the light of my countenance they did not despise.


text:
I chose their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforts the mourners.


text:
But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.


text:
Because of want and famine they were solitary; fleeing in former times into the wilderness desolate and waste.


text:
On my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they build up against me the paths of their destruction.


text:
Terrors are rushing upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passes away as a cloud.


text:
If my step has turned out of the way, and my heart walked after my eyes, and if any blot has clung to my hands;


text:
(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)


text:
This also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I would have denied the God that is above.


text:
Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and did not go out of my house?


text:
Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that my adversary had written a book.


text:
If I have eaten the fruits of it without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:


text:
Then was kindled the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his anger kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.


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


text:
When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his anger was kindled.


text:
And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and you are very old; therefore I was afraid, and did not venture to make known to you my opinion.


text:
Yea, I observed you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words:


text:
If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right:


text:
Then he is gracious to him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.


text:
He shall pray to God, and he will be favorable to him: and he shall see God’s face with joy: for he will bestow to man his righteousness.


text:
He looks at men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it did not profit me;


text:
Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.


text:
How much less to him that does not favor the persons of princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.


text:
In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.


text:
When he gives quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hides his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:


text:
Should it be done according to your opinion? he will recompense it, whether you refuse, or whether you choose; and not I: therefore speak what you know.


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


text:
For you said, What advantage will it be to you? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?


text:
If you sin, what do you do against him? or if your transgressions be multiplied, what do you do to him?


text:
Because of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out because of the arm of the mighty.


text:
But now, because it is not so, he has punished in his anger; yet he does not know it in his great distress:


text:
He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he establishes them for ever, and they are exalted.


text:
If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.


text:
Even so would he have removed you out of distress into a wide place, where there is no trouble; and that which should be set on your table should be full of fatness.


text:
Because there is wrath, beware lest he take you away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver you.


text:
With clouds he covers the light; and commands it not to shine because of the cloud that comes between.


text:
After it a voice roars: he thunders with the voice of his excellence; and he will not hold back the tempest when his voice is heard.


text:
For he says to the snow, Come down on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain in its strength.


text:
And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatever he commands them upon the face of the whole world.


text:
And now men do not see the bright light which is behind the clouds: but the wind passes, and clears them away.


text:
Concerning the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in justice, and in abundance of righteousness: he will not afflict.


text:
Who has determined the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the measuring line upon it?


text:
That you should guide it to the limit thereof, and that you should know the paths to the house thereof?


text:
Who has cleared out a waterway for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;


text:
Who provides for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of food.


text:
Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or can you watch when the deer give birth?


text:
Their young ones are in good health, they grow up with grain; they go forth, and do not return to them.


text:
She is unfeeling towards her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labor is in vain without fear;


text:
He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage: neither does he believe that it is the sound of the trumpet.


text:
He says among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.


text:
Behold, he drinks up a river, without hurrying: he trusts that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.


text:
Who is he that hides counsel without knowledge? therefore have I spoken what I did not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.


text:
And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My anger is kindled against you, and against your two friends: for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.


text:
Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: because him will I accept: so that I do not deal with you according to your folly, in that you have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.


text:
So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.


text:
And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.


text:
Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.


text:
So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.


text:
And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.


text:
And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.


text:
After this lived Job a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.


text:
Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.


text:
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.


text:
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.


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


text:
Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the farthest parts of the earth for your possession.


text:
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his anger is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him.


text:
&lt;A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.&gt; LORD, how they are increased that trouble me! many are those who rise up against me.


text:
Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for you have struck all my enemies upon the cheek bone; you have broken the teeth of the ungodly.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David.&gt; Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.


text:
O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? how long will you love vanity, and seek after lies? Selah.


text:
But know that the LORD has set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.


text:
There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.&gt; Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.


text:
My voice shall you hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto you, and will look up.


text:
But as for me, I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy: and in your fear will I worship toward your holy temple.


text:
Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before my face.


text:
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is wickedness itself; their throat is an open sepulcher; they flatter with their tongue.


text:
Destroy them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against you.


text:
But let all those that put their trust in you rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because you defend them: let them also that love your name be joyful in you.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.&gt; O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, neither punish me in your hot displeasure.


text:
&lt;Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.&gt; O LORD my God, in you do I put my trust: save me from all those who persecute me, and deliver me:


text:
So that he does not tear my soul like a lion, breaking it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.


text:
If I have repaid evil to him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is my enemy:)


text:
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay my honor in the dust. Selah.


text:
Arise, O LORD, in your anger, lift up yourself because of the rage of my enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that you have commanded.


text:
So shall the congregation of the people surround you: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.


text:
The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity that is in me.


text:
Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God examines the hearts and thoughts.


text:
He has also prepared for him the instruments of death; he fashions his arrows against the persecutors.


text:
His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own crown.


text:
I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.&gt; O LORD our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! who have set your glory above the heavens.


text:
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have you established strength because of your enemies, that you might still the enemy and the avenger.


text:
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have established;


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician upon Muth-labben, A Psalm of David.&gt; I will praise you, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all your marvelous works.


text:
You have rebuked the heathen, you have destroyed the wicked, you have extinguished their name for ever and ever.


text:
O enemy, destructions have come to a perpetual end: and you have destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.


text:
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.


text:
And those who know your name will put their trust in you: for you, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.


text:
Have mercy on me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer from those who hate me, you that lift me up from the gates of death:


text:
That I may show forth all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in your salvation.


text:
The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.


text:
The LORD is known by the judgment which he executes: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.


text:
The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor: let them be taken in the plans that they have imagined.


text:
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.


text:
His ways are always crooked; your judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffs at them.


text:
He sits in the lurking places of the villages: in the hidden places he murders the innocent: his eyes are secretly set against the poor.


text:
He lies in wait concealed as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to catch the poor: he catches the poor, when he draws him into his net.


text:
You have seen it; for you behold mischief and spite, to repay it with your hand: the poor commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.


text:
LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble: you will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear:


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; In the LORD I put my trust: how can you say to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?


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


text:
The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids examine, the children of men.


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Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.&gt; Help, LORD; for the godly man ceases; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.


text:
They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.


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For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, says the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffs at him.


text:
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of the earth, purified seven times.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; How long will you forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long will you hide your face from me?


text:
How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?


text:
So that my enemy does not say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.


text:
The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.


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They have all gone aside, they have all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.


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


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Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.


text:
&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; LORD, who shall abide in your tabernacle? who shall dwell in your holy hill?


text:
He that does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor.


text:
In whose eyes a vile person is despised; but he honors those who fear the LORD. He that swears to his own hurt, and does not change.


text:
He that does not lend his money at interest, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He that does these things shall never be moved.


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Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.


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For you will not leave my soul in the grave; neither will you permit your Holy One to see corruption.


text:
You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fulness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.


text:
&lt;A Prayer of David.&gt; Hear the right, O LORD, attend to my cry, give ear to my prayer, that does not go out of deceitful lips.


text:
You have proved my heart; you have visited me in the night; you have tried me, and shall find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth shall not transgress.


text:
Concerning the works of men, by the word of your lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.


text:
Show your marvelous loving kindness, O you who save by your right hand those who put their trust in you from those that rise up against them.


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Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, throw him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is your sword:


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From men which are your hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly you fill with your hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their wealth to their babes.


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As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,&gt; I will love you, O LORD, my strength.


text:
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.


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In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried out unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.


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Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was angry.


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He made darkness his secret place; dark waters and thick clouds of the skies were his pavilion round about him.


text:
The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.


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


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


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


text:
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with an upright man you will show yourself upright;


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As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a shield to all those that trust in him.


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You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great.


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For you have clothed me with strength for the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me.


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You have delivered me from the strife of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.


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He delivers me from my enemies: yea, you lift me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man.


text:
Great deliverance he gives to his king; and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his descendents for evermore.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.


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Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun,


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Its going forth is from the end of the heaven, and its path to the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from its heat.


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The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.


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The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.


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The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.


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More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.


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Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent of the great transgression.


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


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; The LORD hear you in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend you;


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


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Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; The king shall joy in your strength, O LORD; and in your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!


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For you have made him most blessed for ever: you have made him exceedingly glad with your countenance.


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You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.


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For they intended evil against you: they imagined a mischievous plan, which they are not able to perform.


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Therefore shall you make them turn their back, when you shall make ready your arrows upon your strings against their face.


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&lt;To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.&gt; My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?


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I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my body.


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My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue clings to my jaws; and you have brought me into the dust of death.


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For dogs have surrounded me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.


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You that fear the LORD, praise him; all you the descendents of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all you the people of Israel.


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For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has he hid his face from him; but when he cried out unto him, he heard.


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The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.


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All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before you.


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All those who are fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all those who go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.


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They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, that he has done this.


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


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


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


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and those who dwell therein.


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


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Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be ye lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.


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Lift up your heads, O you gates; even lift them up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.


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Lead me in your truth, and teach me: for you are the God of my salvation; on you do I wait all the day.


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Remember, O LORD, your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses; for they have been continually from of old.


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Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to your mercy remember me for your goodness' sake, O LORD.


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in my integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?


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When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.


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Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.


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


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For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.


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And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.


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Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.


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


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


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; Unto you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit.


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Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto you, when I lift up my hands toward your holy oracle.


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Do not draw me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.


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Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their actions: give them after the work of their hands; repay them as they deserve.


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Because they do not regard the works of the LORD, or the working of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.


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The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him.


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The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, and makes the forests bare: and in his temple every one speaks of his glory.


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&lt;A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.&gt; I will extol you, O LORD; for you have lifted me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me.


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O LORD, you have brought up my soul from the grave: you have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.


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For his anger endures but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.


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LORD, by your favor you have made my mountain to stand strong: you hid your face, and I was troubled.


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What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? shall it declare your truth?


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You have turned for me my mourning into singing: you have put off my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness;


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To the end that my glory may sing praise to you, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto you for ever.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; In you, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in your righteousness.


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I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy: for you have considered my trouble; you have known my soul in adversities;


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Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: my eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.


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For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones are consumed.


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I was a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to my acquaintances: those who saw me outside fled from me.


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For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.


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Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon you: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.


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Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak wicked things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.


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Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you; which you have accomplished for those who trust in you before the sons of men!


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You shall hide them in the secret of your presence from the pride of man: you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.


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For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes: nevertheless you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out unto you.


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O love the LORD, all you his saints: for the LORD preserves the faithful, and plentifully repays the proud doer.


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&lt;A Psalm of David, Maschil.&gt; Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.


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Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.


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For day and night your hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.


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I acknowledged my sin unto you, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.


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For this shall every one that is godly pray unto you in a time when you may be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near to him.


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You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.


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


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Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous: and shout for joy, all you that are upright in heart.


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The LORD brings the counsel of the heathen to nothing: he makes the purposes of the people of none effect.


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Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.


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&lt;A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.&gt; I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.


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The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but those who seek the LORD shall not be without any good thing.


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


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; Plead my cause, O LORD, with those who strive with me: fight against those who fight against me.


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Draw out also the spear, and close up the way against those who pursue me: say to my soul, I am your salvation.


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Let them be disappointed and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.


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For without any reason have they hid for me their net in a pit, which for no reason they have dug for my soul.


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Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly; and let his net that he has hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.


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All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that plunders him?


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But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.


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I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down with grief, as one that mourns for his mother.


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But in my adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the outcasts gathered themselves together against me, and I did not know it; they tore me, and did not cease:


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Let not those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me for no reason.


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For they do not speak peace: but they devise deceitful purposes against those who are quiet in the land.


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Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.


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Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at my hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me.


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Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD.&gt; The transgression of the wicked says within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.


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He devises mischief upon his bed; he directs himself in a way that is not good; he does not abhor evil.


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Your righteousness is like the great mountains; your judgments are a great deep: O LORD, you preserve man and beast.


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How excellent is your loving kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings.


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They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures.


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O continue your loving kindness to those who know you; and your righteousness to the upright in heart.


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; Fret not yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity.


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Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked plans to pass.


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For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, you shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.


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The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to throw down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conduct.


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But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.


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For those who are blessed by him shall inherit the earth; and those who are cursed by him shall be cut off.


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


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For the LORD loves justice, and does not forsake his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the descendents of the wicked shall be cut off.


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Wait for the LORD, and keep to his way, and he shall exalt you to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.


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And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.


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&lt;A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.&gt; O LORD, rebuke me not in your wrath: neither punish me in your hot displeasure.


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There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.


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They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.


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


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.&gt; I said, I will be careful of my ways, that I do not sin with my tongue: I will restrain my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.


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


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Behold, you have made my days as a handbreadth; and my age is as nothing before you: truly every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.


text:
Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are anxious in vain: he heaps up riches, and knows not who shall gather them.


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When you with rebukes correct man for iniquity, you make his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.


text:
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not hold your peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with you, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; I waited patiently for the LORD; and he turned to me, and heard my cry.


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


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And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.


text:
Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust, and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.


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Many, O LORD my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are towards us: they cannot be recounted in order to you: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.


text:
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears have you opened: burnt offering and sin offering have you not required.


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I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not restrained my lips, O LORD, you know.


text:
I have not hid your righteousness within my heart; I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation: I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great congregation.


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Do not withhold your tender mercies from me, O LORD: let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.


text:
For innumerable evils have surrounded me: my iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head: therefore my heart fails me.


text:
Let them be ashamed and disappointed together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.


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Let all those that seek you rejoice and be glad in you: let those that love your salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.


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But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks of me: you are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; Blessed is he that considers the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.


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The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and you will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.


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And if he comes to see me, he speaks vanity: his heart gathers iniquity to itself; when he goes away, he tells it.


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Yea, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.&gt; As the deer pants for the brooks of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.


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When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept the festival.


text:
Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted in me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.


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O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember you from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.


text:
Deep calls to deep at the noise of your pouring waters: all your waves and your billows have gone over me.


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Yet the LORD will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.


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I will say unto God my rock, Why have you forgotten me? why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?


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Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.


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Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.


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For you are the God of my strength: why do you cast me off? why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?


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O send out your light and your truth: let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill, and to your tabernacles.


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Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise you, O God my God.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.&gt; We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work you did in their days, in the times of old.


text:
How you drove out the heathen with your hand, and planted them; how you afflicted the people, and cast them out.


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For they did not get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your countenance, because you showed them favor.


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Through you will we push down our enemies: through your name will we tread them under that rise up against us.


text:
All this has come upon us; yet have we not forgotten you, neither have we dealt falsely in your covenant.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves.&gt; My heart is composing a good presentation: I speak of the things which I have written concerning the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.


text:
You are fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into your lips: therefore God has blessed you for ever.


text:
And in your majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and your right hand shall teach you awesome things.


text:
You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.


text:
All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made you glad.


text:
Kings' daughters were among your honorable women: upon your right hand stood the queen in gold of Ophir.


text:
Listen, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget also your own people, and your father's house;


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And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall appeal for your favor.


text:
She shall be brought to the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought to you.


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I will make your name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise you for ever and ever.


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&lt;To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.&gt; God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.


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Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;


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Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with their swelling. Selah.


text:
There is a river, the streams of which shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.


text:
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in pieces; he burns the chariot in the fire.


text:
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.&gt; O clap your hands, all you people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.


text:
The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong to God: he is greatly exalted.


text:
&lt;A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah.&gt; Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.


text:
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.


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As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.


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According to your name, O God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth: your right hand is full of righteousness.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.&gt; Hear this, all you people; give ear, all you inhabitants of the world:


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For he sees that wise men die, likewise the fool and the stupid person perish, and leave their wealth to others.


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Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they name their lands after their own names.


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Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.


text:
&lt;A Psalm of Asaph.&gt; The mighty God, even the LORD, has spoken, and called to the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.


text:
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.


text:
Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, even your God.


text:
I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.


text:
But to the wicked God says, What have you to do to declare my statutes, or that you should take my covenant in your mouth?


text:
These things have you done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself: but I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes.


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Now consider this, you that forget God, so that I do not tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.


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He who offers praise glorifies me: and to him that orders his conduct rightly will I show the salvation of God.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.&gt; Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness: according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions.


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Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight: that you might be justified when you speak, and be blameless when you judge.


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Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom.


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Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.


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The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.


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Then you shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon your altar.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said to him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.&gt; Why do you boast yourself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endures continually.


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God shall likewise destroy you for ever, he shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.


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Lo, this is the man that did not make God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.


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


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I will praise you for ever, because you have done it: and I will wait for your name; for it is good before your saints.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.&gt; The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that does good.


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


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Every one of them is gone back: they have altogether become filthy; there is none that does good, no, not one.


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Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.


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There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God has scattered the bones of him that encamps against you: you have put them to shame, because God has despised them.


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Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.


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&lt;To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Does not David hide himself with us?&gt; Save me, O God, by your name, and judge me by your strength.


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For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.


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&lt;To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David.&gt; Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not yourself from my supplication.


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Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they throw iniquity upon me, and in anger they hate me.


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Day and night they go around it on the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.


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For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:


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Let death seize upon them, and let them go down alive into the grave: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.


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God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abides from of old. Selah. Because they suffer no reverses, therefore they do not fear God.


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The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.


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Cast your burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain you: he shall never permit the righteous to be moved.


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But you, O God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in you.


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&lt;To the chief Musician upon Jonath-elem-rechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.&gt; Be merciful to me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresses me.


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In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.


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They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they watch my steps, when they wait for my soul.


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For you have delivered my soul from death: will you not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?


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&lt;To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.&gt; Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me: for my soul trusts in you: yea, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities pass over.


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He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.


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My soul is among lions: and I lie even among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.


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They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have dug a pit before me, into the midst of which they are fallen themselves. Selah.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.&gt; Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do you judge uprightly, O you sons of men?


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Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as if cut in pieces.


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As a snail which melts, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.


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Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, while living, and in his anger.


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The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.


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So that a man shall say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous: truly he is a God that judges in the earth.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.&gt; Deliver me from my enemies, O my God: defend me from those who rise up against me.


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For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.


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You therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.


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Do not slay them, lest my people forget: scatter them by your power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.


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For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.


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Consume them in anger, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah.


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But I will sing of your power; yea, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning: for you have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.


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&lt;To the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he fought with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, when Joab returned, and struck down of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.&gt; O God, you have cast us off, you have scattered us, you have been displeased; O turn yourself to us again.


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You have given a banner to those who fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.


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God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth.


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Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of my head; Judah is my lawgiver;


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&lt;To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David.&gt; Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.


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From the end of the earth will I cry unto you, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.&gt; Truly my soul waits for God: from him comes my salvation.


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How long will you imagine mischief against a man? you shall be slain all of you: as a tilting wall shall you be, and as a tottering fence.


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They only consult to cast him down from his excellence: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.


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


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Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.


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Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.


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&lt;A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.&gt; O God, you are my God; early will I seek you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;


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My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips:


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But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that swears by him shall glory: but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.


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Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:


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They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, Who shall see them?


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They search for iniquity; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.


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And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider his doing.


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The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm and Song of David.&gt; Praise waits for you, O God, in Zion: and to you shall the vow be performed.


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Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach unto you, that he may dwell in your courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple.


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By awesome things in righteousness will you answer us, O God of our salvation; who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of those who are afar off upon the sea:


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They also that dwell in the farthest parts are afraid at your tokens: you make the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.


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You visit the earth, and water it: you greatly enrich it with the river of God, which is full of water: you prepare them grain, when you have so provided for it.


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You water the ridges thereof abundantly: you settle the furrows thereof: you make it soft with showers: you bless the sprouting thereof.


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The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with grain; they shout for joy, they also sing.


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Say unto God, How awesome you are in your works! through the greatness of your power shall your enemies submit themselves to you.


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He rules by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.


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You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but you brought us out into a fruitful place.


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I will offer unto you burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.


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&lt;To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song.&gt; God be merciful to us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.


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O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for you shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David.&gt; Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.


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As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.


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Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rides on the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.


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God places the solitary in families: he brings out those who are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.


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The earth shook, the heavens also poured down at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.


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Though you have lain among the pots, yet shall you be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.


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Why do you leap, you high hills? this is the hill which God desires to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.


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The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.


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You have ascended on high, you have led captivity captive: you have received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.


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But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a one as continues in his trespasses.


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The Lord said, I will bring back from Bashan, I will bring my people back from the depths of the sea:


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The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the maidens playing with timbrels.


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There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.


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Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submits himself with pieces of silver: scatter the people that delight in war.


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To him that rides upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he sends out his voice, and that a mighty voice.


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O God, you are awesome out of your holy places: the God of Israel is he that gives strength and power to his people. Blessed be God.


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&lt;To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David.&gt; Save me, O God; for the waters have come in unto my soul.


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I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.


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Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head: those who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I did not take away.


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Let not those who wait for you, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek you be disappointed for my sake, O God of Israel.


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For the zeal of your house has consumed me; and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me.


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But as for me, my prayer is unto you, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of your mercy hear me, in the truth of your salvation.


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Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.


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Let not the flood of water overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.


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Hear me, O LORD; for your loving kindness is good: turn to me according to the multitude of your tender mercies.


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Reproach has broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.


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Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.


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For they persecute him whom you have stricken; and they talk to the grief of those whom you have wounded.


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For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.


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The offspring also of his servants shall inherit it: and those who love his name shall dwell therein.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.&gt; Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.


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Let them be ashamed and disappointed that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.


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Let all those that seek you rejoice and be glad in you: and let those that love your salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.


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But I am poor and needy: make haste to me, O God: you are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.


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Be thou my strong habitation, to which I may continually resort: you have given commandment to save me; for you are my rock and my fortress.


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Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.


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By you have I been held up from the womb: you are he that took me out of my mother's body: my praise shall be continually of you.


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Let them be put to shame and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt.


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My mouth shall show forth your righteousness and your salvation all the day; for I do not know the number of your blessings.


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I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours only.


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Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me; until I have shown your strength to this generation, and your power to every one that is to come.


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Your righteousness also, O God, is very high, who have done great things: O God, who is like unto you!


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You, who have shown me great and evil troubles, shall revive me again, and shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth.


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I will also praise you with the psaltery, even your truth, O my God: to you will I sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel.


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My tongue also shall talk of your righteousness all the day long: for they are brought into perplexity, for they are brought to shame, that seek my hurt.


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&lt;A Psalm for Solomon.&gt; Give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son.


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He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.


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The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.


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He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.


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And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.


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There shall be a handful of grain in the earth on the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.


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His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.


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And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.


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For, lo, those who are far from you shall perish: you have destroyed all those who go a whoring from you.


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But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all your works.


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&lt;Maschil of Asaph.&gt; O God, why have you cast us off for ever? why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?


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Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old; the rod of your inheritance, which you have redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein you have dwelt.


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Lift up your footsteps towards the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.


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They have thrown fire into your sanctuary, they have defiled the dwelling place of your name by throwing it down to the ground.


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They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.


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We do not see our signs: there is no longer any prophet: neither is there among us any that knows how long.


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You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.


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Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed your name.


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O do not deliver the soul of your turtledove to the multitude of the wicked: do not forget the congregation of your poor for ever.


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Have respect to the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.


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Do not forget the voice of your enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against you increases continually.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.&gt; To you, O God, do we give thanks, to you do we give thanks: because your wondrous works declare that your name is near.


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For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of a mixture; and he pours out from it: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall squeeze them out, and drink them.


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&lt;To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.&gt; In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.


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The strong-hearted are plundered, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have used their hands.


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Vow, and pay to the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents to him who should be feared.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.&gt; I cried out to God with my voice, even to God with my voice; and he heard me.


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In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore flowed in the night, and did not cease: my soul refused to be comforted.


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I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with my own heart: and my spirit searched diligently.


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The voice of your thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.


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&lt;Maschil of Asaph.&gt; Give ear, O my people, to my law: turn your ears to the words of my mouth.


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We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he has done.


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For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:


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That the generation to come might know them, even the children which would be born; who would arise and declare them to their children:


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And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that did not direct their heart rightly, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.


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Behold, he struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?


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Therefore the LORD heard this, and was angry: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;


text:
The anger of God came upon them, and killed the fattest of them, and struck down the chosen men of Israel.


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But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them: yea, many times he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.


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He sent forth upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending angels of destruction among them.


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He made a way for his anger; he did not spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;


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And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.


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He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.


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But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.


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For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their sculptured images.


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From following the ewes large with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.


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So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.


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&lt;A Psalm of Asaph.&gt; O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance; your holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps of ruins.


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The dead bodies of your servants have they given to be food to the birds of the heaven, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.


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Pour out your anger on the heathen that have not known you, and on the kingdoms that have not called on your name.


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O do not remember against us former iniquities: let your tender mercies speedily go before us: for we are brought very low.


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Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name: and deliver us, and cleanse away our sins, for your name's sake.


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Why should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the avenging of the blood of your servants which is shed.


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Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you; according to the greatness of your power preserve those that are appointed to die;


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And return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, with which they have reproached you, O Lord.


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So we your people and sheep of your pasture will give you thanks for ever: we will show forth your praise to all generations.


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&lt;To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-eduth, A Psalm of Asaph.&gt; Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you that led Joseph like a flock; you that dwell between the cherubims, shine forth.


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And the vineyard which your right hand has planted, and the branch that you made strong for yourself.


text:
Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.&gt; Sing aloud to God our strength: make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.


text:
This he ordained in Joseph as a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.


text:
You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder: I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.


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


text:
The haters of the LORD would have submitted themselves to him: but their time would have endured for ever.


text:
He would have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied you.


text:
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.


text:
&lt;A Song or Psalm of Asaph.&gt; Keep not silence, O God: hold not your peace, and be not still, O God.


text:
They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.


text:
Let them be brought into perplexity and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:


text:
&lt;To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.&gt; How amiable are your tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!


text:
My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.


text:
Yea, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.


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


text:
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.&gt; LORD, you have been favorable to your land: you have brought back the captives of Jacob.


text:
I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace to his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.


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For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon you.


text:
All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord; and shall glorify your name.


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O God, the proud have risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set you before them.


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But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.


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O turn to me, and have mercy on me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your handmaid.


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Show me a token for good; that those who hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because you, LORD, have helped me, and comforted me.


text:
I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.


text:
And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.


text:
&lt;A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.&gt; O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:


text:
Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom you remember no more: and they are cut off from your hand.


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You have put away my acquaintances far from me; you have made me an abomination to them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.


text:
My eye mourns because of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon you, I have stretched out my hands to you.


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&lt;Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.&gt; I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known your faithfulness to all generations.


text:
For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: your faithfulness shall you establish in the very heavens.


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And the heavens shall praise your wonders, O LORD: your faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.


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For who in the heaven can be compared to the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the LORD?


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God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence by all those who are around him.


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You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; you have scattered your enemies with your strong arm.


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The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours: as for the world and the fulness thereof, you have founded them.


text:
Righteousness and justice are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face.


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Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of your countenance.


text:
Then you spoke in vision to your holy one, and said, I have granted help to one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.


text:
Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not completely take from him, nor permit my faithfulness to fail.


text:
You have made void the covenant of your servant: you have profaned his crown by throwing it down to the ground.


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What man is he that lives, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.


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Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants; how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;


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With which your enemies have reproached, O LORD; with which they have reproached the footsteps of your anointed.


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&lt;A Prayer of Moses the man of God.&gt; Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.


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Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.


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For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.


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You carry them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which grows up.


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The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.


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Make us glad according to the days in which you have afflicted us, and the years in which we have seen evil.


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And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.


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He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings shall you trust: his truth shall be your shield and buckler.


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A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.


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You shall tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under foot.


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Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name.


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He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him.


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&lt;A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.&gt; It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to your name, O most High:


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When the wicked spring up as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:


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For, lo, your enemies, O LORD, for, lo, your enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.


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My eye also shall see my desire on my enemies, and my ears shall hear my desire concerning the wicked that rise up against me.


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The LORD reigns, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, with which he has girded himself: the world also is established, so that it cannot be moved.


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


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He that chastises the heathen, shall he not correct? he that teaches man knowledge, shall he not know?


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But judgment shall return even to righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow after it.


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Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?


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And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.


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For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if you will hear his voice,


text:
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:


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Say among the heathen that the LORD reigns: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.


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Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.


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Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and justice are the habitation of his throne.


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The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.


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Let all those who serve sculptured images be put to shame, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all you gods.


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You that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserves the souls of his saints; he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.


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&lt;A Psalm.&gt; O sing to the LORD a new song; for he has done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, have gotten him the victory.


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The LORD has made known his salvation: his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the heathen.


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He has remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.


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Before the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.


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The king's strength also loves justice; you establish equity, you execute justice and righteousness in Jacob.


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Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.


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He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.


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You answered them, O LORD our God: you were a God that forgave them, though you took vengeance on their inventions.


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Know that the LORD he is God: it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.


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Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful to him, and bless his name.


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I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.


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I will set no wicked thing before my eyes: I hate the work of those who turn aside; it shall not cling to me.


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He who secretly slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that has a high look and a proud heart will I not allow.


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My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me.


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He that works deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that tells lies shall not remain in my sight.


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I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.


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&lt;A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before the LORD.&gt; Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto you.


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Hide not your face from me in the day when I am in trouble; turn your ear to me: in the day when I call answer me quickly.


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This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.


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I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: your years are throughout all generations.


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They shall perish, but you shall endure: yea, all of them shall grow old like a garment; as a robe shall you change them, and they shall be changed:


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The children of your servants shall continue, and their descendents shall be established before you.


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.


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


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Bless the LORD, you his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearing and obeying the voice of his word.


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Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with honor and majesty.


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Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters: who makes the clouds his chariot: who walks upon the wings of the wind:


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They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys to the place which you have established for them.


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He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for the use of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;


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And wine that makes glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart.


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O LORD, how manifold are your works! in wisdom have you made them all: the earth is full of your riches.


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So is this great and wide sea, in which are creeping things innumerable, both small and great beasts.


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You hide your face, they are troubled: you take away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.


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Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.


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He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.


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That I may see the good of your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance.


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Our fathers did not understand your wonders in Egypt; they did not remember the multitude of your mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.


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He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.


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And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.


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Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.


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And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.


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Therefore was the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, so that he abhorred his own inheritance.


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Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.


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Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks to your holy name, and to triumph in your praise.


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Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.


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And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.


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Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!


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They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.


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Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.


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He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and does not permit their cattle to decrease.


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Whoever is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the LORD.


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&lt;A Song or Psalm of David.&gt; O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.


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For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.


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Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.


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Let there be none to extend mercy to him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.


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Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.


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Because he did not remember to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.


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As he loved cursing, so let it come to him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.


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As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.


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Let it be to him as the garment which covers him, and for a belt with which he is clothed continually.


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Let this be the recompense of my adversaries from the LORD, and of those who speak evil against my soul.


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Let my adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.


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Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.


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He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill their places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.


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Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.


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He sent redemption to his people: he has commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.


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The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all those who do his commandments: his praise endures for ever.


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Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that fears the LORD, that delights greatly in his commandments.


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Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.


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He has distributed, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honor.


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The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.


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Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your mercy, and for your truth's sake.


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They have hands, but they do not handle: feet have they, but they do not walk: neither do they speak through their throat.


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


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The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.


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O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid: you have loosed my bonds.


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For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endures for ever. Praise ye the LORD.


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The LORD takes my side with those who help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon those who hate me.


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They surrounded me like bees; they are quenched as a fire among thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.


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The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.


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God is the LORD, who has shown us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar.


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My hands also will I lift up to your commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate on your statutes.


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JOD. Your hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.


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Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate on your precepts.


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The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.


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&lt;A Song of degrees of David.&gt; I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.


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To which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, to the testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.


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Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until he shall have mercy upon us.


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Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.


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&lt;A Song of degrees of David.&gt; If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;


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Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.


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&lt;A Song of degrees.&gt; Those who trust in the LORD shall be like mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but remains for ever.


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


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For the power of the wicked shall not remain upon the portion of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands to iniquity.


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As for those that turn aside to their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.


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&lt;A Song of degrees.&gt; When the LORD turned back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream.


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Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD has done great things for them.


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He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.


text:
&lt;A Song of degrees for Solomon.&gt; Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain that build it: unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.


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It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he gives his beloved sleep.


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Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.


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Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of your house: your children like olive plants round about your table.


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The LORD shall bless you out of Zion: and you shall see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.


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Neither do those who go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.


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My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning: I say, more than those who watch for the morning.


text:
Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plentiful redemption.


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&lt;A Song of degrees of David.&gt; LORD, my heart is not puffed up, nor my eyes lofty: neither do I occupy myself with great matters, or in things too high for me.


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Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned from his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.


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The LORD has sworn in truth to David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne.


text:
If your children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon your throne for evermore.


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&lt;A Song of degrees of David.&gt; Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!


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It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the borders of his garments;


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As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.


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&lt;A Song of degrees.&gt; Behold, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD.


text:
Whatever the LORD pleased, that he did in heaven, and in the earth, in the seas, and all deep places.


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He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain; he brings the wind out of his storehouses.


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For there those who took us away captive required of us a song; and those who oppressed us required of us cheerfulness, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.


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If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth; if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.


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Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.


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O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that repays you as you have treated us.


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; I will praise you with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto you.


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I will worship toward your holy temple, and praise your name for your loving kindness and for your truth: for you have magnified your word above all your name.


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Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me: you shall stretch out your hand against the anger of my enemies, and your right hand shall save me.


text:
The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: your mercy, O LORD, endures for ever: forsake not the works of your own hands.


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Yea, the darkness does not hide from you; but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to you.


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I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well.


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My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and carefully formed in the depths of the earth.


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Your eyes saw my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which continually were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.


text:
Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate you? and am I not grieved with those that rise up against you?


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&lt;To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.&gt; Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;


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Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have resolved to overthrow my goings.


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The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set traps for me. Selah.


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Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked plans; so that they do not exalt themselves. Selah.


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Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be thrown into the fire; into deep pits, so that they do not rise up again.


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Do not let an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; LORD, I cry unto you: make haste to me; give ear to my voice, when I cry unto you.


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Let my prayer be set forth before you as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.


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Do not turn my heart towards any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.


text:
Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.


text:
&lt;Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.&gt; I cried out unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.


text:
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then you knew my path. In the way in which I walked have they secretly laid a snare for me.


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I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.


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Attend to my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.


text:
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise your name: the righteous shall surround me; for you shall deal bountifully with me.


text:
&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in your faithfulness answer me, and in your righteousness.


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And do not enter into judgment with your servant: for in your sight shall no man living be justified.


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For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has struck my life down to the ground; he has made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.


text:
Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit fails: do not hide your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit.


text:
Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning; for in you do I trust: cause me to know the way in which I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto you.


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Teach me to do your will; for you are my God: your spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.


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And in your mercy cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul: for I am your servant.


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&lt;A Psalm of David.&gt; Blessed be the LORD my strength, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:


text:
My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdues my people under me.


text:
Send your hand from above; rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;


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I will sing a new song to you, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises to you.


text:
Rescue me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaks vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:


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That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the likeness of a palace:


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That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:


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That our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.


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&lt;David's Psalm of praise.&gt; I will extol you, my God, O king; and I will bless your name for ever and ever.


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They shall abundantly proclaim the memory of your great goodness, and shall sing of your righteousness.


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My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.


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Who executes justice for the oppressed: who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free:


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The LORD opens the eyes of the blind: the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down: the LORD loves the righteous:


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The LORD preserves the strangers; he gives relief to the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.


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Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is attractive.


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Who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow upon the mountains.


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He has not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.


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Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.


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He also exalts the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise ye the LORD.


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A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain to wise counsels:


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If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us wait secretly for the innocent without cause:


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So are the ways of every one that is greedy for gain; which takes away the life of the possessors thereof.


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She cries in the chief public meeting place, in the entrances of the gates: in the city she speaks forth her words, saying,


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How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?


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Turn back at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make known my words to you.


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When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you.


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Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:


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Let not mercy and truth forsake you: bind them about your neck; write them upon the table of your heart:


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For they do not sleep, unless they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause someone to fall.


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But the path of the righteous is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.


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So that strangers are not filled with your wealth; and your labor is not in the house of a stranger;


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Let her be as the loving deer and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.


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Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, when you have come into the hand of your friend; go, humble yourself, and urge your friend.


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When you go, it shall lead you; when you sleep, it shall keep you; and when you awake, it shall talk with you.


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For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:


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For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.


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But he who commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding: he that does it destroys his own soul.


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He goes after her at once, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;


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Till a dart strikes through his liver; as a bird hurries to the snare, and does not know that it is for his life.


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All the words of my mouth are spoken in righteousness; there is nothing crooked or perverse in them.


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For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.


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The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the wayward mouth, do I hate.


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While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the chief part of the dust of the world.


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When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:


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Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;


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He that reproves a scorner gets to himself shame: and he that rebukes a wicked man gets himself a blemish.


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Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.


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The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father: but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.


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The LORD will not permit the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casts away the possessions of the wicked.


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In the lips of him that has understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that lacks understanding.


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The way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.


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The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.


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The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.


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The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own iniquity.


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A hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.


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When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.


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By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.


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Those who are of an obstinate heart are an abomination to the LORD: but those who are upright in their way are his delight.


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Though hand joins with hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the descendents of the righteous shall be delivered.


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There is that which scatters, and yet increases; and there is that which withholds more than is proper, but it tends to poverty.


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He that withholds grain, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that sells it.


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He that troubles his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.


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A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that makes ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.


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The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.


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A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.


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He who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he who follows vain persons lacks understanding.


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A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompense of a man's hands shall be returned to him.


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The slothful man does not roast that which he took in hunting: but the possessions of a diligent man are valuable.


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A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.


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There is a man who makes himself rich, yet has nothing: there is a man who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.


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Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction: but he that regards reproof shall be honored.


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The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is an abomination to fools to depart from evil.


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A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.


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Much food is in the cultivated land of the poor: but there are those who are destroyed for lack of judgment.


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The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall suffer from want.


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The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.


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In the multitude of people is the king's honor: but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.


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Wisdom rests in the heart of him that has understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.


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The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.


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The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but he loves him that follows after righteousness.


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The heart of him that has understanding seeks knowledge: but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.


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The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.


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The heart of the righteous studies how to answer: but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.


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Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.


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How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver!


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He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city.


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A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brothers.


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He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.


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The beginning of strife is as when one lets out water: therefore leave off contention, before you meddle with it.


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He that justifies the wicked and he that condemns the just, even they both are an abomination to the LORD.


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He that has an obstinate heart finds no good: and he that has a perverse tongue falls into mischief.


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Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.


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A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.


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A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.


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A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.


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Better is the poor that walks in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.


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All the brothers of the poor hate him: how much more do his friends go far from him? he pursues them with words, yet they do not help him.


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A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.


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The fear of the LORD tends to life: and he that has it shall dwell satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.


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Strike a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that has understanding, and he will understand knowledge.


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He who wastes the wealth of his father, and chases away his mother, is a son that causes shame, and brings reproach.


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A man’s fear of a king is like the roaring of a lion: he who provokes him to anger sins against his own soul.


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The sluggard will not plow because of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.


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Love not sleep, so that you do not come to poverty; open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.


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Take the garment of him who is a guarantee for a stranger: and take a pledge from him for a strange woman.


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He that goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flatters with his lips.


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The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.


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When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.


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The righteous man wisely considers the house of the wicked: but God overthrows the wicked for their wickedness.


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There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spends it all.


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Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.


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He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he that gives to the rich, shall surely come to want.


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For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; they shall together be established in your lips.


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That I might make you know the certainty of the words of truth; that you might answer the words of truth to those who send to you?


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Do you see a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before lowly men.


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Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.


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For as he thinks in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you.


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For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.


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The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begets a wise child shall have joy from him.


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Who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of eyes?


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Do not look upon the wine when it is red, when it shows its color in the cup, when it moves itself pleasantly.


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Yea, you shall be as he that lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lies upon the top of a mast.


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They have struck me, shall you say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.


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If you say, Behold, we knew it not; does not he that examines the heart consider it? and he that keeps your soul, does he not know it? and shall he not return to every man according to his works?


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So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul: when you have found it, then there shall be a reward, and your expectation shall not be cut off.


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Lay not in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; do not plunder his resting place:


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Prepare your work outside, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterwards build your house.


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And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.


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Do not put yourself forward in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of great men:


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For better it is that it be said to you, Come up here; than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince whom your eyes have seen.


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Do not go forth hastily to strive, lest you know not what to do in the end thereof, when your neighbor has put you to shame.


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As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him: for he refreshes the soul of his masters.


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Have you found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for you, lest you be filled therewith, and vomit it.


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Withdraw your foot from your neighbor's house; so that he will not be weary of you, and so hate you.


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As he that takes away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon soda, so is he that sings songs to a heavy heart.


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It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.


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He that passes by, and meddles with strife not belonging to him, is like one that takes a dog by the ears.


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Your own friend, and your father's friend, do not forsake; neither go into your brother's house in the day of your calamity: for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.


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He that blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.


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He who keeps the fig tree shall eat the fruit of it: so he that waits on his master shall be honored.


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Though you should pound a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.


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And you shall have goats' milk enough for your food, for the food of your household, and for the support of your maidens.


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For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.


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Better is the poor that walks in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.


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He that by extortion and unjust gain increases his wealth, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.


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He who causes the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.


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The prince that lacks understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hates covetousness shall prolong his days.


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He that tills his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that follows after vain persons shall have poverty enough.


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A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent.


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He who robs his father or his mother, and says, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer.


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He that is of a proud heart stirs up strife: but he that puts his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.


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He that gives to the poor shall not suffer from want: but he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse.


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He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.


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When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bear rule, the people mourn.


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He who loves wisdom brings joy to his father: but he that keeps company with harlots spends his wealth.


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The righteous considers the cause of the poor: but the wicked does not have understanding to know it.


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An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.


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The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spoke to Ithiel, even to Ithiel and Ucal,


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Who has ascended up into heaven, or descended? who has gathered the wind in his fists? who has bound the waters in a garment? who has established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if you can tell?


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Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food suitable for me:


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Lest I be full, and deny you, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.


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There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor off of the earth, and the needy from among men.


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The leech has two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things do not say, It is enough:


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The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that does not say, It is enough.


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The eye that mocks his father, and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.


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The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.


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Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no wickedness.


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If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have thought evil, lay your hand upon your mouth.


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Surely the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood: so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife.


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She rises also while it is yet night, and gives food to her household, and a portion to her maidens.


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The wind goes toward the south, and turns back to the north; it whirls around continually, and the wind returns again according to its circulation.


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All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again.


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All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.


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The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.


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Is there any thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? it has been already of old time, which was before us.


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There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.


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And I applied my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this hard toil has God given to the sons of man to be occupied with.


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I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.


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I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all those who have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.


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And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.


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I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove you with cheerfulness, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.


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I sought in my heart to give myself to wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.


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I obtained servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:


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I gathered also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got for myself men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.


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So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.


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And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor.


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Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.


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And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that comes after the king? even that which has been already done.


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The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happens to them all.


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Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.


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For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; for that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how does the wise man die? like the fool.


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Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is distressful to me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.


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Yea, I hated all my labor which I had done under the sun: because I would leave it to the man that shall be after me.


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And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.


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For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that has not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.


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For what has man from all his labor, and of the vexation of his heart, in which he has labored under the sun?


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For all his days are sorrows, and his toil grief; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. This is also vanity.


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There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.


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For God gives to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives toil, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.


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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 cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;


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He has made everything beautiful in his time: also he has put the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end.


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And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.


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I know that, whatever God does, it shall be for ever: nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it: and God does it, that men should fear before him.


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That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.


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And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.


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I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.


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I said in my heart concerning the condition of the sons of men, that God might make them known, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.


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For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man has no pre-eminence over a beast: for all is vanity.


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Who knows the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the beast that goes downward to the earth?


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Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?


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So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of those that were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.


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Yea, better is he than both of them, who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.


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Again, I considered all toil, and every right work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.


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There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he has neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labor; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither says he, For whom do I labor, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a hard toil.


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For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up.


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And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.


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I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the king’s second child that shall stand in his place.


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There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.


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Watch your foot when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they do not consider that they do evil.


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Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to speak any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few.


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For a dream comes through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words.


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When you vow a vow unto God, do not delay to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you have vowed.


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Do not permit your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; neither say before the angel, that it was a mistake: why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?


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If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, do not marvel at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regards it; and there is one higher than they.


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He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase: this is also vanity.


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When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, except the beholding of them with their eyes?


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The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.


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There is a great evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.


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As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor which he may carry away in his hand.


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And this also is a great evil, that in all respects as he came, so shall he go: and what profit has he that has labored for the wind?


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Behold that which I have seen: it is good and pleasant for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he does under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him: for it is his portion.


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Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.


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For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answers him in the joy of his heart.


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A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.


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If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he has no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.


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Yea, though he lives a thousand years twice told, yet has he seen no good: do not all go to one place?


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Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.


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That which has been has been named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.


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For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?


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It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will keep it in his heart.


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The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of partying.


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Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.


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Do not say, What is the reason that the former days were better than these? for you do not inquire wisely concerning this.


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For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellence of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to those who have it.


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In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has appointed the one along with the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.


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All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness.


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It is good that you should take hold of this; yea, also from that withdraw not your hand: for he that fears God shall come forth from them all.


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I applied my heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:


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And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: he who pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.


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Which yet my soul seeks, but I do not find: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.


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Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.


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Who is like the wise man? and who knows the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom makes his face to shine, and the fierceness of his face shall be changed.


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Be not hasty to go out of his sight: do not persist in an evil thing; for he does whatever pleases him.


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He who keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment.


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There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.


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All this have I seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: there is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.


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And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.


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Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.


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Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, which fear before him:


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But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he fears not before God.


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There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.


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Then I recommended cheerfulness, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall remain with him of his labor the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.


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When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is the man who neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes:)


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Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man thinks to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.


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For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knows either love or hatred from all that is before them.


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All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrifices, and to him that does not sacrifice: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that swears, as he that fears an oath.


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This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event for all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.


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For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.


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For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.


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Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.


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Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God now accepts your works.


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Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of the life of your vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity: for that is your portion in this life, and in your labor which you do under the sun.


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Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor devising, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, to which you go.


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I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.


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For man also does not know his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.


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There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:


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Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.


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Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.


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Dead flies cause the ointment of the perfumer to send forth a stinking odor: so does a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.


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Yea also, when he that is a fool walks in the way, his wisdom fails him, and he says to every one that he is a fool.


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If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place; for yielding pacifies great offenses.


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If the iron be blunt, and he does not sharpen the edge, then must he put forth more strength: but wisdom is profitable to guide.


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The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.


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A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?


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Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat at the right time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!


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By much slothfulness the building decays; and through idleness of the hands the house drips through.


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Do not curse the king, no not in your thought; and do not curse the rich in your bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.


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If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be.


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As you do not know what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so you do not know the works of God who makes all.


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In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand: for you know not which shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.


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But if a man lives many years, and rejoices in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.


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Rejoice, O young man, in your youth; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes: but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.


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Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.


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Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days do not come, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them;


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While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:


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In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows shall be darkened,


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And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;


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Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goes to his lasting home, and the mourners go about the streets:


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Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.


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Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.


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And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.


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The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.


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The words of the wise are like goads, and as nails fastened by the leaders of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.


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And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.


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Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.


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For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.


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Because of the fragrance of your good ointments your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love you.


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Draw me, we will run after you: the king has brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in you, we will remember your love more than wine: the upright love you.


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I am black, but comely, O you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.


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Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun has looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard have I not kept.


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Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed, where you make your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of your companions?


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If you know not, O you fairest among women, go on your way in the footsteps of the flock, and feed your young goats beside the shepherds' tents.


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As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.


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I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the does of the field, that you stir not up, nor awaken my love, till he pleases.


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My beloved is like a roe or a young stag: behold, he stands behind our wall, he looks forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice.


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The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land;


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The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a pleasant smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.


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O my dove, who are in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the steps, let me see your form, let me hear your voice; for sweet is your voice, and your form is comely.


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Until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether.


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I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, but I found him not.


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It was but a little while that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loves: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.


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Who is this that comes out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?


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They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man has his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.


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He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.


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Go forth, O you daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.


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Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves' eyes within your locks: your hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.


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Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are evenly shorn, which came up from the washing; of which every one bears twins, and none is barren among them.


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Your lips are like a thread of scarlet, and your speech is comely: your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within your locks.


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Your neck is like the tower of David built for an armory, on which there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.


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Until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away, I will go up to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.


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Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.


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You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.


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How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is your love than wine! and the smell of your ointments than all spices!


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Your lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under your tongue; and the smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.


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Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:


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Awake, O north wind; and come, you south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.


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I have come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.


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I sleep, but my heart wakes: it is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.


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I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.


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I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spoke: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.


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The watchmen that went about the city found me, they struck me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.


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I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him, that I am sick from love.


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What is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women? what is your beloved more than another beloved, that you do so charge us?


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His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.


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His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.


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His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.


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His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.


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Where has your beloved gone, O you fairest among women? where has your beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with you.


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My beloved has gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.


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Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me: your hair is like a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.


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Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, of which every one bears twins, and there is not one barren among them.


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My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.


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Who is she that looks forth like the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?


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I went down into the garden of nut trees to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.


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Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon you. What will you see in the Shulamite? The appearance of the company of two armies.


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How beautiful are your feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skilful workman.


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Your navel is like a round goblet, which does not lack mixed wine: your belly is like a heap of wheat surrounded with lilies.


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Your neck is as a tower of ivory; your eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim: your nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.


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Your head upon you is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.


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I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also your breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of your nose like apples;


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And the roof of your mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goes down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.


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Let us go up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourishes, whether the tender grape appears, and the pomegranates are in bloom: there will I give you my loves.


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The mandrakes give a pleasant smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.


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O that you were as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I would find you outside, I would kiss you; yea, I would not be despised.


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I would lead you, and bring you into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause you to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.


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Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree: there your mother brought you forth: there she brought you forth that bore you.


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Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm: for love is as strong as death; jealousy is as cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame.


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Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be completely despised.


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We have a little sister, and she has no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?


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If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.


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Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.


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My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: you, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.


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The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.


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Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.


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The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's feeding crib: but Israel does not know, my people do not consider.


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Ah sinful nation, a people burdened with iniquity, a generation of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.


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Why should you be stricken any more? you will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.


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From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed up, neither bound up, neither softened with ointment.


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Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.


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And the daughter of Zion is left as a shed in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.


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Unless the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been like Gomorrah.


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Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.


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To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.


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Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot bear; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.


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Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble to me; I am weary of bearing them.


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And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.


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Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil;


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Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.


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But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.


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How the faithful city has become a harlot! it was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.


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Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they do not judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.


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Therefore says the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will relieve myself of my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies:


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And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.


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And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.


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For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be brought into perplexity for the gardens that you have chosen.


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And the strong shall be as flax, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.


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And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.


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And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.


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And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.


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Therefore you have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves with the children of strangers.


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Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:


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Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:


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The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.


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For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:


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And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.


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And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the earth.


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In that day a man shall throw his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;


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To go into the openings in the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the earth.


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For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the support and the staff, the whole provision of bread, and the whole provision of water,


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The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the skilful craftsman, and the eloquent orator.


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And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.


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When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand:


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In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: do not make me a ruler of the people.


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For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.


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The appearance of their face witnesses against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe to their soul! for they have rewarded evil to themselves.


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As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.


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The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and their princes: for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.


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What do you mean that you beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? says the Lord GOD of hosts.


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Moreover the LORD says, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched out necks and wanton eyes, walking and swaying as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:


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Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will uncover their secret parts.


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In that day the Lord will take away the luster of their tinkling ornaments around their feet, and their hair nets, and their crescent necklaces,


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The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the scented bottles, and the earrings,


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And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a sash a tear; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a girdle a covering of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.


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And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.


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In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for those who are escaped of Israel.


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And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:


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When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from 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 dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for above all the glory shall be a protection.


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And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and from rain.


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Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:


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And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones from it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.


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And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.


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What could have been done more for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? why, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?


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And now consider; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:


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And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor dug; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.


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For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.


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Woe to those who join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place left, that they may dwell alone in the midst of the earth!


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In my ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.


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Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflames them!


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And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.


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Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.


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Therefore the land of darkenss has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it.


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And the lowly man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:


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But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.


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Then shall the lambs feed in their manner, and the desolate places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.


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That say, Let him act quickly, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!


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Woe to those who 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 fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.


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Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has stricken them: and the hills trembled, and their carcasses were torn 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 banner to the nations from afar, and will whistle to them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come rapidly and swiftly:


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None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their loins be loosed, nor the thong of their shoes be broken:


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Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:


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Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safely, and none shall deliver it.


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And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one looks to the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.


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In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord himself sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.


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Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.


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And one cried out to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.


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And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.


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Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.


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Then flew one of the seraphims to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar:


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And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin cleansed away.


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Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.


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And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but perceive not.


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Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and be healed.


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Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be completely desolate,


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But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a linden tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they drop their leaves: so the holy people shall be the substance thereof.


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And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.


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And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind.


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Then said the LORD to Isaiah, Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the field of laundry;


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And say to him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted because of the two remnants of these smoking twigs from the fire, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.


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Let us go up against Judah, and trouble it, and let us make a breach in it for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal:


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For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.


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And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.


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And he said, Hear now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?


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Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.


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For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that you abhor shall be forsaken by both her kings.


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The LORD shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part 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 rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.


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In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.


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And it shall come to pass, because of the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that in every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines, and valued at a thousand silver coins, it shall even be for briers and thorns.


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With arrows and with bows shall men come there; because all the land shall become briers and thorns.


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And on all hills that shall be dug with the mattock, there shall not come there those who fear briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for the treading of sheep and goats.


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Moreover the LORD said to me, Take a large roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.


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And I took to me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.


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And I went to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.


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For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.


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Because this people refuse the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;


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Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:


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And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.


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Associate yourselves together, O ye people, and you shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all you of far countries: prepare yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces; prepare yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces.


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Take counsel together, and it shall come to nothing; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.


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For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,


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Do not say, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.


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And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells in mount Zion.


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And when they shall say to you, Seek after those who have familiar spirits, and wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek after their God? for the living should they go to the dead?


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To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.


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And they shall pass through it, hard pressed and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall stir themselves up, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.


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And they shall look to the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.


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Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her distress, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more heavily afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.


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The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.


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You multiplied the nation, and did not increase the joy: but now they rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.


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For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.


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For every battle of the warrior is with a tumult, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.


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For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.


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Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from this time forwards even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.


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And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and arrogance of heart,


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The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with cut stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.


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Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;


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The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.


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Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall he have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.


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For wickedness burns as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall ascend like the rising up of smoke.


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Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother.


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And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:


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Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.


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Woe unto those who decree unrighteous decrees, and that write oppression which they have prescribed;


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To turn aside the needy from obtaining justice, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!


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And what will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from afar? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your treasures?


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Without me they shall be brought down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.


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I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a command, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.


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However he does not so intend, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.


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As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose sculptured images excelled those of Jerusalem and of Samaria;


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Therefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.


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For he says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:


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And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathers eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.


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Shall the axe boast itself against him that cuts with it? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that moves it? as if the rod should shake itself against those who lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.


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Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his splendor he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.


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And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;


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And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standard-bearer faints.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and those that are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him that struck them; but shall lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.


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For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall strike you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt.


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And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away off from your shoulder, and his yoke off from your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.


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They have gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul has fled.


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Yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.


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Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall cut off the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be cut down, and the haughty shall be humbled.


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And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:


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And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;


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And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge according to the sight of his eyes, neither reprove according to the hearing of his ears:


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But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with justice for the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.


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The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.


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And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.


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And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the serpent’s den.


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They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.


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And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand as a banner for the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the lands beyond the sea.


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And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.


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The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not trouble Ephraim.


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But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall plunder those of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.


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And the LORD shall completely destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall strike it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod.


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And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; as it was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.


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And in that day you shall say, O LORD, I will praise you: though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away, and you comforted me.


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Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.


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And in that day shall you say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his deeds among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.


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Lift up a banner upon the high mountain, raise the voice to them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.


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I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones to execute my anger, even those who rejoice in my exaltation.


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The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts assembles the army for the battle.


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They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.


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And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in birth labor: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.


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Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.


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For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.


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And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.


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Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall be moved out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.


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And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man takes in: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.


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Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined to them shall fall by the sword.


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Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.


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Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.


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Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.


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And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellence, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.


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It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.


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But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of mournful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.


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And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is drawing near, and her days shall not be prolonged.


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For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cling to the house of Jacob.


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And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD as servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.


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And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard service with which you were made to serve,


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That you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How the oppressor has ceased! the golden city ceased!


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He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hinders.


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Yea, the fir trees rejoice at you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you were brought down, no hewer has come up against us.


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The land of darkness from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming: it stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.


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Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your stringed instruments: the worm is spread under you, and the worms cover you.


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How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how you are cut down to the ground, who did weaken the nations!


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For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:


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Those who see you shall look at you intently, and consider you, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that shook kingdoms;


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That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that did not open the house of his prisoners?


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But you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, and as the garments of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under foot.


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You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, and slain your people: the posterity of evildoers shall never be renowned.


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Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.


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For I will rise up against them, says the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, says the LORD.


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I will also make it a possession for the marsh bird, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts.


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The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:


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That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart off from them, and his burden depart off from their shoulders.


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This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.


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For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who shall revoke it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?


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Rejoice not, all Philistia, because the rod of him that struck you is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth an adder, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.


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And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill your root with famine, and he shall slay your remnant.


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Howl, O gate; cry, O city; you, all Philistia, are dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.


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What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.


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The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;


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He has gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.


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In their streets they shall clothe themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.


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And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even to Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be distressful to him.


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My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee to Zoar, a heifer of three years old: for by the ascent of Luhith with weeping shall they go up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall lift up a cry of destruction.


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For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass fails, there is no green thing.


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Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.


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For the cry has gone round about the land of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim.


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For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapes of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.


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Send the lamb from Sela by the wilderness to the ruler of the land, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.


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For it shall be that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of the Arnon.


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Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; do not betray him that wanders.


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Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be a shelter to them from the face of the plunderer: for the extortioner is at an end, the plunderer ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.


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And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking justice, and hastening righteousness.


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We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his anger: but his lies shall not be established.


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Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall you mourn; surely they are stricken.


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For the fields of Heshbon droop, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the choice plants thereof, they have come even to Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they have gone over the sea.


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Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water you with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for your summer fruits and for your harvest dies away.


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And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.


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And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.


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But now the LORD has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a wage earner, and the glory of Moab shall be despised, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.


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The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a heap of ruins.


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The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.


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The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, says the LORD of hosts.


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And in that day it shall come to pass that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall become lean.


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And it shall be as when the harvest man gathers the grain, and reaps the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathers ears in the valley of Rephaim.


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Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost fruitful branches thereof, says the LORD God of Israel.


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At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.


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And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.


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In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.


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Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength, therefore shall you plant pleasant plants, and shall sow it with foreign cuttings:


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In the day shall you make your plant to grow, and in the morning shall you make your seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.


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Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!


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The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling bush before the whirlwind.


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And behold at evening trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.


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That sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, you swift messengers, to a nation scattered and smooth, to a people feared from their beginning until now; a nation measured out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have carried away!


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All you inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see, when he lifts up a banner on the mountains; and when he blows a trumpet, hear.


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For so the LORD said to me, I will take my rest, and I will observe from my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.


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For before the harvest, when the bud is mature, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the twigs with pruning knives, and take away and cut down the branches.


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They shall be left together for the birds of the mountains, and for the beasts of the earth: and the birds shall spend the summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall spend the winter upon them.


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In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and smooth, and from a people feared from their beginning until now; a nation measured out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have carried away, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.


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The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.


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And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.


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And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of it; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek the idols, and the charmers, and those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards.


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And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.


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And they shall remove the rivers far away; and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and rushes shall wither.


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The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and everything sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.


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The fishermen also shall mourn, and all those who throw a hook into the brooks shall lament, and those who spread nets upon the waters shall grow feeble.


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Moreover those who work in fine flax, and those who weave white cloth, shall be brought into perplexity.


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Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid: how can you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?


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Where are they? where are your wise men? and let them tell you now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed upon Egypt.


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The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even those who are the support of the tribes thereof.


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The LORD has mixed a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.


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In that day shall Egypt be like women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shakes over it.


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And the land of Judah shall be a terror to Egypt, every one that makes mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he has determined against it.


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In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.


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In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border of it to the LORD.


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And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.


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And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and offering; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.


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And the LORD shall strike Egypt: he shall strike and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be appealed to by them, and shall heal them.


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In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.


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In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:


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Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.


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In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ashdod, and took it;


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At the same time spoke the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth off from your loins, and put off your shoe from your foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.


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And the LORD said, As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;


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So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.


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And the inhabitant of this coastland shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, to which we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?


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The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it comes from the desert, from a terrible land.


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A severe vision is declared to me; the treacherous deals treacherously, and the plunderer plunderers. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.


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Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in birth labor: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.


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And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels; and he listened diligently with much attention:


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And he cried out, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my post whole nights:


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And, behold, here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the sculptured images of her gods he has broken to the ground.


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O my threshing, and the grain of my floor: that which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared to you.


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The burden of Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?


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The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night: if you will inquire, inquire: turn back, and come.


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The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall you lodge, O you traveling companies of Dedanim.


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The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they met with their bread him that fled.


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For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the distress of war.


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For thus has the Lord said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a wage earner, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:


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And the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it.


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The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you are wholly gone up to the housetops?


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You that are full of commotion, a tumultuous city, a joyful city: your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.


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All your rulers have fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in you are bound together, who have fled from afar.


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Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, do not try to comfort me, because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.


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For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, of breaking down the walls, and crying to the mountains.


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And it shall come to pass, that your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in formation at the gate.


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And he removed the covering of Judah, and you looked in that day to the armor of the house of the forest.


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You have seen also the broken places of the city of David, that they are many: and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.


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And you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have you broken down to fortify the wall.


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You made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but you have not looked to the maker of it, neither had respect to him that fashioned it long ago.


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And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to wearing sackcloth:


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And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.


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And it was revealed in my ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be cleansed away from you till you die, says the Lord GOD of hosts.


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Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, Depart, go to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,


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What have you here? and whom have you here, that you have cut out for yourself a sepulcher here, as he that cuts out for himself a sepulcher on high, and that carves a habitation for himself in a rock?


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He will surely violently whirl you around and toss you like a ball into a large country: there shall you die, and there your magnificent chariots shall be the shame of your lord's house.


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And I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your waistband, and I will commit your government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.


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And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so 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 glorious throne to his father's house.


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And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, all the offspring, high and low, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of bottles.


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In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall the peg that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD has spoken it.


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The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.


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Be still, you inhabitants of the isle; you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have filled.


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And by great waters the grain of Sihor, the harvest of the Nile, is her revenue; and she is a market of nations.


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Be ashamed, O Sidon: for the sea has spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I do not labor painfully, nor bring forth children, neither do I raise young men, nor bring up virgins.


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Is this your joyful city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her far off to dwell for a time.


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Who has purposed this against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?


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The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.


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He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD has given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strongholds thereof.


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And he said, You shall no longer rejoice, O you oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shall you have no rest.


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Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as a harlot.


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Take a harp, go about the city, you harlot who have been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered.


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And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.


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And her merchandise and her wages shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.


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Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty, and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof.


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And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him.


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The earth mourns and fades away, the world wears out and fades away, the haughty people of the earth become feeble.


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The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.


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Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.


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When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.


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They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.


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Therefore glorify the LORD in the fires of affliction, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.


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From the farthest part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.


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And it shall come to pass, that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth shake.


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The earth is completely broken down, the earth is entirely dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.


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The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.


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And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.


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Then the moon shall be astonished, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.


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O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.


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For you have made a city a heap; a fortified city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.


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For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.


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You shall bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.


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And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make for all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.


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And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.


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He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears off from all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from all the earth: for the LORD has spoken it.


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And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.


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For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.


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And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swims spreads forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.


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And the fortress of the high fort of your walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.


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In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.


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For he brings down those who dwell on high; the lofty city, he lays it low; he lays it low, even to the ground; he brings it even to the dust.


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Yea, in the way of your judgments, O LORD, have we waited for you; the desire of our soul is for your name, and for the remembrance of you.


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With my soul have I desired you in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek you early: for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.


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Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.


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LORD, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy of the people; yea, the fire prepared for your enemies shall devour them.


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O LORD our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us: but only through you will we make mention of your name.


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They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.


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You have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation: you are glorified: you had removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.


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As a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and cries out in her birth pangs; so have we been in your sight, O LORD.


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We have been with child, we have been in pain, we seem to have brought forth wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.


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Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.


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Come, my people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors behind you: hide yourself as if for a little moment, until the indignation be past.


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For, behold, the LORD is coming out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall reveal her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.


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In that day the LORD with his mighty and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.


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I the LORD keep it; I will water it every moment: so that no one hurts it, I will keep it night and day.


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Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.


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Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.


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He shall cause those who come from Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.


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Has he stricken him, as he struck those that struck him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of those who are slain by him?


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In measure, when it shoots forth, you will contend with it: he restrains his rough wind in the day of the east wind.


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By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be cleansed away; and this is all the result to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, the groves and images shall not stand again.


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Yet the fortified city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.


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When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat out the harvest from the channel of the river to the stream of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.


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Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are at the head of the fat valleys of those who are overcome with wine!


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Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong, who as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall throw them down to the earth with his hand.


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And the glorious beauty which is at the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower, and as the early fruit before the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees it, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.


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In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, to the remainder of his people,


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And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle to the gate.


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But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink have left the pathway; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they have left the pathway through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.


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Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.


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For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:


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To whom he said, This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.


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But the word of the LORD was to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.


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Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come to us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not be in haste.


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Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.


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And your covenant with death shall be abolished, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.


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From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be nothing but distress to understand the report of it.


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For the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on: and the covering is narrower than he can wrap himself in.


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For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.


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Now therefore do not be mockers, so that your bonds are not made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a destruction, even determined upon the whole earth.


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When he has leveled the face thereof, does he not toss out the dill, and scatter the cummin, and drop in the choice wheat and the select barley and the rye in their place?


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For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned around on the cummin; but the dill is beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.


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Bread grain is crushed; because he will not always be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor crush it with his horsemen.


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And I will encamp against you round about, and will lay siege against you with a mound, and I will raise forts against you.


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And you shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be, as of one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.


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Moreover the multitude of your strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yea, it shall be in an instant suddenly.


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You shall be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.


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And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her stronghold, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.


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It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.


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Stand, and wonder; cry out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.


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For the LORD has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers has he covered.


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And the vision of all has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I cannot; for it is sealed:


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And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I am not learned.


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Therefore the Lord said, Seeing that this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:


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Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.


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Woe to those who dig deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us?


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Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?


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Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?


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And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.


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The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.


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For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scorner is consumed, and all that look for iniquity are cut off:


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That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just for a worthless thing.


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Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now become pale.


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But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.


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They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and those who murmured shall learn doctrine.


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Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not from me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:


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That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!


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Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.


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They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.


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The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from which come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.


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For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried out concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.


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Now go, write it before them in a tablet, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:


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Who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not prophesy right things to us, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits:


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Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them:


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Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a broken place ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.


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And he shall break it like the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water with out of the pit.


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For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not.


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But you said, No; for we will flee on horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall those who pursue you be swift.


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One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall you flee: till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as a banner on a hill.


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And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious to you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy on you: for the LORD is a God of justice: blessed are all those who wait for him.


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For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more: he will be very gracious to you at the voice of your cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer you.


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And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet your teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers:


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And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.


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You shall defile also the covering of your sculptured images of silver, and the coating of your molten images of gold: you shall throw them away as a menstruous cloth; you shall say to it, Get thee away.


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Then shall he give the rain for your seed, that you shall sow the ground with; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plentiful: in that day shall your cattle feed in large pastures.


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The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that plow the ground shall eat clean feed, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.


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And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.


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Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the broken place of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.


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Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:


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And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.


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You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy festival is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.


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And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the downward stroke of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.


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And in every place where the firmly fixed staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in tumultuous battles will he fight with it.


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For Tophet is ordained from of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: there is a pile of fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.


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Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help; and rely on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!


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Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.


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Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helps shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.


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For thus has the LORD spoken to me, Like the lion and the young lion roaring over his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called out against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor humble himself because of their noise: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.


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As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.


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For in that day every man shall throw away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made for you for a sin.


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Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a lowly man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be overcome.


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And he shall pass over to his stronghold in fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the banner, says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.


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And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a shelter from the storm; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.


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The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be quick to speak plainly.


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For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.


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The schemes also of the selfish person are evil: he devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.


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Many days and years shall you be troubled, you careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.


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Tremble, you women that are at ease; be troubled, you careless ones: strip yourselves, and make yourselves bare, and put sackcloth upon your loins.


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Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyful city:


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Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;


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Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.


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And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.


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And my people shall dwell in a peaceful habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;


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Woe to you that plunder, and you were not plundered; and deal treacherously, and they did not deal treacherously with you! when you shall cease to plunder, you shall be plundered; and when you shall make an end of dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.


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O LORD, be gracious to us; we have waited for you: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.


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At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of yourself the nations were scattered.


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And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathers: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.


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And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.


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The highways lie waste, the traveling man ceases: he has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he regards no man.


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The earth mourns and is exhausted: Lebanon is ashamed and cut down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.


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The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?


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He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;


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He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the fortresses of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.


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Your heart shall meditate on terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver of payments? where is he that counted the towers?


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You shall not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than you can discern; of a stammering tongue, that you cannot understand.


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Look upon Zion, the city of our assemblies: your eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.


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But there the glorious LORD will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams; in which shall go no galley with oars, neither shall splendid ships pass by there.


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Your cords are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the wealth of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.


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And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.


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Come near, you nations, to hear; and listen, you people: let the earth hear, and all that is in it; the world, and all things that come from it.


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For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he has completely destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter.


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Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be washed away with their blood.


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And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.


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For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.


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The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.


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And the wild oxen shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.


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And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.


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It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke of it shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.


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But the cormorant and the marsh bird shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out on it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.


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They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.


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And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be a habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.


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The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.


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There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay eggs, and hatch, and gather her young under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.


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Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: not one of these shall fail, none shall lack her mate: for my mouth has commanded, and his spirit has gathered them.


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And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.


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The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.


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It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellence of our God.


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Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.


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Then shall the lame man leap as a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.


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And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.


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And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for others: the traveling men, though fools, shall not err therein.


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No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up on it, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:


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And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


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Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.


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And the king of Assyria sent Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the field of laundry.


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Then came out to him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.


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And Rab-shakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which you trust?


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You say, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?


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Lo, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.


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But if you say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar?


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Now therefore give guarantees, I pray you, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them.


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How then will you turn away the face of one captain from the least of my master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?


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And have 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.


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Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah to Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and do not speak to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.


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But Rab-shakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with you?


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Then Rab-shakeh stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.


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Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.


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Do not listen to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and every one of you will eat from his vine, and every one from his fig tree, and every one of you will drink the waters of his own cistern;


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Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.


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Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?


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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?


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Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?


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But they held their peace, and did not answer him a word: for the king's commandment was, Do not answer him.


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Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rab-shakeh.


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And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.


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And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.


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It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD your God has heard: therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.


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And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.


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Behold, I will send a blast of wind upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.


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So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.


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And he heard it said concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come out to make war with you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,


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Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.


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Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them completely; and shall you be delivered?


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Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, such as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?


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Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?


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And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.


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O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwells between the cherubims, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: you have made heaven and earth.


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Turn your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to reproach the living God.


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Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the LORD, even you only.


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Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:


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This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.


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By your servants have you reproached the Lord, and have said, By the multitude of my chariots have I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into his farthest height, and the forest of his Carmel.


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I have dug, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.


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Have you not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you should lay waste fortified cities into heaps of ruins.


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Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and put to shame: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blighted before it is grown up.


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Because your rage against me, and your tumult, has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.


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And this shall be a sign to you, You shall eat this year that which grows of itself; and the second year that which grows from it: and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.


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And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:


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Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor build a siege mound against it.


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Then the angel of the LORD went out, and struck down in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.


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And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adram-melech and Sharezer his sons struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his place.


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In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says the LORD, Set your house in order: for you shall die, and not live.


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And said, Remember now, O LORD, I plead with you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.


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Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add to your days fifteen years.


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And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.


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Behold, I will bring back the shadow of the degrees, which has gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it had gone down.


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I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the remainder of my years.


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I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.


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My years are departed, and are removed from me like a shepherd's tent: I have cut off my life like a weaver: he will cut me off with wasting sickness: from day even to night will you make an end of me.


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I was troubled till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night will you make an end of me.


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Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I mourned like a dove: my eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; come and help me.


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What shall I say? he has both spoken to me, and himself has done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.


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O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so will you restore me, and make me to live.


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Behold, instead of peace I had great bitterness: but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for you have put all my sins behind your back.


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For the grave cannot praise you, death can not honor you: those who go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth.


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The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known your truth.


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The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.


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For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.


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At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.


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And Hezekiah was glad for them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.


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Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say? and from where did they come to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country to me, even from Babylon.


text:
Then said he, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.


text:
Behold, the days are coming that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, says the LORD.


