# verse

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


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 For we were slaves, yet our God has not left us in our bondage, but has given mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us some life, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its waste, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. 


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 which You commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, The land into 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 the other with their uncleanness. 


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 And now do not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever, so that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your sons forever. 


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 And after all that has come on us for our evil deeds and for our great sin, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such an escape as this, 


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 should we again break Your commandments and join hands with the people of these abominations? Would You not be angry with us until You had crushed us, until there is no remnant nor survivor? 


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 O Jehovah, the God of Israel, You are righteous. For we are left a remnant that has escaped, as today. Behold, we are before You in our sins, for we cannot stand before You because of this. 


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 And when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there gathered to him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children, for the people wept with a great weeping. 


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 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have sinned against our God and have taken strange women from the people of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. 


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 And now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the women, and such as have been born of them, according to the counsel of the Lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. And let it be done according to the Law. 


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 Then Ezra arose and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel 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 room of Johanan the son of Eliashib. And he went there, and he ate no bread nor drank water. For he mourned because of the sin of those who had been exiled. 


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 And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the sons of the captivity, to gather themselves to Jerusalem, 


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 and that who ever would not come within three days, according to the advice of the rulers and the elders, all he owned would be lost, and he himself separated from the congregation of the exiles. 


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


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 And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, You have sinned, and have taken strange women to increase the sin of Israel. 


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 And now confess to Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and do His pleasure. And separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange women. 


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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. And the work is not of one or two days. For we who have sinned in this thing are many. 


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 And let our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all those who have taken strange women in our cities, come at a set time, and with them the elders of every city and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter has turned from us. 


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 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah made a stand against this. And Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them. 


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 And the sons of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by names, were separated. And they 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 who had taken strange women by the first day of the first month. 


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 And among the sons of the priests, these were found who had taken strange women: From the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers were Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. 


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


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 And from the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. 


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 And from Israel: From the sons of Parosh, Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah and Benaiah. 


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 And from 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 happened in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 


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 Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 


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


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 And it happened when I heard these words, I sat down and wept. And I mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven. 


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 And I said, I pray You, O Jehovah, the God of Heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments; 


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


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


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 I pray You, remember the Word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations, 


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 but if you turn to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though you were cast out to the outermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather you from there and will bring you to the place that I have chosen to set My name there. 


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 And 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 Jehovah, I pray You, let now Your ear be open to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name. And I pray You, bless Your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. (For I was the king's cupbearer.) 


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


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


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 And I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire? 


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 and I said to the king, If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I pray that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, so 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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 And I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors Beyond the River, so that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 


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


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 And I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. And the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 


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 And Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard. And it grieved them very much that there had come a man to seek the good of the sons of Israel. 


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 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me. And I did not tell to a man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. And there was no animal with me, except the animal that I rode upon. 


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 And I went out by night by the Valley Gate, even before the Jackal Fountain, and to the Dung Gate, and looked at the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and its gates which were burned with fire. 


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 And I went on to the Fountain Gate, and to the King's Pool. But there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass. 


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 And I went up in the night by the brook and looked at the wall, and turned back, and entered by the Valley Gate, and returned. 


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 And the rulers did not know where I had gone, nor what I was doing. Nor had I told the Jews as yet, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. 


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 And I said to them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem is wasted, and the gates of it are burned with fire. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no more be a reproach. 


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


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


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 And I answered them and said to them, The God of Heaven, He will bless us, and we, His servants, will arise and build. But you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem. 


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 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They sanctified it and set up its doors, even to the Tower of Meah they sanctified it, to the Tower of Hananeel. 


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 But the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate, who laid its beams and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars. 


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


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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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 And the Old Gate was repaired by Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah. They laid its beams and set up its doors and its locks and its bars. 


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 And next to them Melatiah of Gibeon repaired, and Jadon of Meron, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, to the throne of the governor Beyond the River. 


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 Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths, repaired. And next to him Hananiah, the son of one of the perfumers, repaired. And they fortified Jerusalem to the Broad Wall. 


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


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


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 Hanun, and the people of Zanoah, repaired the Valley Gate. They built it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars, 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 its doors, its locks, and its bars. 


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 And the Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallum the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah. He built it and covered it, and set up its doors, its locks, and its bars, and the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the King's Garden, and to the stairs that go down from the City of David. 


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 After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Beth-zur, repaired across from the tombs of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men. 


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


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 After him their brothers, Bavai the son of Henadad, the ruler of the half part of Keilah, repaired. 


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 And next to him, Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, repaired another piece across from the ascent to the armory at the corner. 


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


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


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


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


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 Palal the son of Uzai repaired across from the corner, and the tower which lies out from the king's high house, by the court of the prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh repaired. 


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 And the temple-slaves who lived in Ophel repaired across from the Water Gate toward the east, and the tower that sticks out. 


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 After them the Tekoites repaired another piece, opposite the great tower that sticks out, even to the wall of Ophel. 


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 After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired across from his house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired. 


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 After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another piece. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired across from his room. 


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 After him Malchiah the goldsmith's son repaired to the place of the temple-slaves, and of the merchants, across from the Miphkad Gate, and to the going up of the corner. 


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 And between the going up of the corner to the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired. 


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 But it happened when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was angry and greatly displeased, and mocked the Jews. 


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 And he spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they bring to life the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? 


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 And Tobiah the Ammonite was beside 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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 Oh our God, hear, for we are despised. And turn their curse 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 do not let their sin be blotted out from before You. For they have provoked You to anger before the builders. 


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 So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to the half of it. For the people had a mind to work. 


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 And it happened, when Sanballat and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem had gone up, and that the breaks were being filled, they were very angry. 


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


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 And our foes have said, They shall not know, or see, until we come in the middle of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease. 


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 And it happened when the Jews who lived near them came in, they said to us ten times, From all places where you shall turn to us, they will be against us. 


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 And I stationed in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people according to their families with their sword, 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, Do not be afraid of them. Remember Jehovah, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. 


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


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 And it was from that time forth that half of my servants worked in the work, and the other half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the scale-armor. And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah, 


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 the ones who built on the wall, and the ones who carried burdens; with those who were lifting, one a worker in the work, and one held a weapon. 


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 For of the builders, each one had his sword tied by his side, and built. And he who sounded the trumpet was beside 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, far from one another. 


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 In whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather there to us. Our God will fight for us. 


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 And we labored in the work. And half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared. 


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 Also at the same time I said to the people, Let everyone with his servant stay inside Jerusalem, so that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labor in the day. 


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 And none, I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes except that everyone had his vessel of water. 


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 For certain ones said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain for them, so that we may eat and live. 


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 Some also said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses. Let us buy grain because of the famine. 


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 Yet now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons like their sons. And, lo, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage, to be slaves, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage. And there is no power for our hand, for other men have our lands and vineyards. 


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 And my heart within myself ruled, and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, You exact interest, each one from his brother. And I held a great gathering against them. 


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 And I said to them, According to our ability we have redeemed our brothers, the Jews who were sold to the nations. And will you even sell your brothers? Or shall they be sold to us? And they were silent and did not find an answer. 


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


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 And also I, my brothers and my servants, might take from them silver and grain. Please let us leave this lending at interest. 


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 Please even today give back to them their lands, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the wine, and the oil, that you take from them. 


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 And they said, We will restore, and will ask nothing from them. So we will 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 lap and said, So let God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, who does not keep this promise, even may he be shaken out this way and emptied. And all the congregation said, amen, and praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise. 


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 And from the time that I was chosen to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. 


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 But the former governors that had been before me were too heavy upon the people, and had taken bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people. But I did not do this, because of the fear of God. 


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 And I also kept on in the work of this wall. Nor did we buy any land. And all my servants gathered there to the work. 


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


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 And that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep; and birds were prepared; and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this I did not seek the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. 


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 And it happened, 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 break left in it (though at that time I had not set the doors on the gates), 


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


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 And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so 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 the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, in which was written, 


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 It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews are thinking of rebelling, for this reason you build the wall, so that you may be their king, according to these words. 


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 And you have also set up prophets to preach about you at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah. And now it shall be reported to the king according to these words. And now come and let us talk it over together. 


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 And I sent to him saying, These things which you are saying are not happening, but you pretend them out of your own heart. 


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 For they all were alarmers of us, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work so that it may not be done. And now, O God, make my hands strong. 


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 And I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up. And he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill you. Yea, in the night they will come to kill you. 


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


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 And, behold, I understood that God had not sent him, but that he said this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 


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 Therefore he was hired that I should be afraid, and do so, and I should sin, and be for them an evil name, with which they might reproach me. 


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 My God, think upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid. 


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 And it happened when all our enemies heard, and all the nations around us saw, they were very much lowered in their own eyes. For they saw that this work was done by our God. 


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 And in those days the nobles of Judah were increasing their letters going to Tobiah; and Tobiah's came to them. 


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


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


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 And it happened when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were chosen, 


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 I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem. For he was a faithful man, and feared God above many. 


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 And I said to them, Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they stand by, let them shut and bar the doors. And set guards from the people of Jerusalem, each one in his watch, and each one to be across from his house. 


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


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 These are the sons of the province who went up out of the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And they came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one to his city, 


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


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


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


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 And these were they who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-haresha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer. But they could not show their father's house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel: 


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


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 These sought their register among those who were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found. Therefore they were put out, as defiled from the priesthood. 


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


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 besides their manservants and their maidservants; these were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. And they had two hundred and forty-five singing men and singing women. 


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 And some of the chiefs of the fathers gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priest's garments. 


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 And some of the chiefs of the fathers gave to the treasury of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand two hundred minas of silver. 


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 And what the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold and two thousand minas of silver, and sixty-seven priests' garments. 


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 And the priests, and the Levites, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and some of the people, and the temple slaves, and all Israel, lived in their cities. And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities. 


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 And all the people gathered themselves as one man into the street before the water gate. And they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which Jehovah 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 in it before the street in front of the Water Gate from the morning until noon, in front of the men and the women, and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people listened 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 the 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 Jehovah, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, amen, lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped Jehovah with their faces to the ground. 


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 And 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 were in their place. 


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 And they read in the Book of the Law of God, clearly. And they gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. 


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 And Nehemiah, the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to Jehovah your God. Do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law. 


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 Then he said to them, Go eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our LORD. And do not be sorry, for the joy of Jehovah is your strength. 


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 And the Levites quieted all the people, saying, Be quiet, for the day is holy. And do not be grieved. 


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 And all the people went to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words which were declared to them. 


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


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 And they found written in the Law which Jehovah had commanded by Moses, that the sons of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month, 


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 and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mountain and bring 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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 And the people went out and brought in, and made themselves booths, each one upon his roof, 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 again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths. For since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day, the sons of Israel had not 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 was an assembly, according to the Law. 


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 And in the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel were gathered with fasting and with sackcloth, and with earth upon them. 


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 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers. 


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 And they stood up in their place, and read in the Book of the Law of Jehovah their God a fourth part of the day. And another fourth part they confessed and worshiped Jehovah their God. 


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


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


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 You, even You, are Jehovah alone. You have made the heavens, heaven of the heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things on it, the seas, and all in them, and You preserve them all. And the host of the heavens worships You. 


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 You are Jehovah, the God who chose Abram and brought him 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 Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed. And You have performed Your words, for You are righteous. 


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 and gave out signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants and upon all the people of his land. For You knew that they were acting proudly against them. So You got Yourself a name, as today. 


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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 pursuers You threw into the deep, like a stone into the mighty waters. 


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 And 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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 And You came down on 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 You made known to them Your holy sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses Your servant. 


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 And You gave them bread from the heavens for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst. And You 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 acted proudly and hardened their necks, and did not listen to Your commandments. 


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 And they refused to obey, neither were they mindful of Your wonders which You did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. 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 them a molten calf, and said, This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt, and had worked great blasphemies, 


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 yet You in Your great 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, nor the pillar of fire by night, to show them light and the way in which they should go. 


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


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 And forty years You sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing; their clothes did not become old, and their feet did not swell. 


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 And You gave them kingdoms and nations, and divided them into corners. And 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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 And You multiplied their sons like the stars of the heavens, 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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 And the sons went in and possessed the land, and You humbled the people of the land before them, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, so that they might do with them as they would. 


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 And they took strong cities and a rich land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards and olive-yards, and fruit trees in abundance. And they ate and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in Your great goodness. 


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


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 And You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who troubled them. And in the time of their trouble, they cried to You, and You heard 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, and You left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the rule over them. But they returned and cried to You, and You heard from Heaven. And many times You delivered them according to Your mercies, 


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 and testified against them that You might bring them again to Your Law. But they acted proudly and did not listen to Your commandments, but sinned against Your judgments (which if a man do, he shall live in them), and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. 


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 And many years You had patience with them, and testified against them by Your Spirit, by Your prophets, but they would not give ear. And You gave them into the hand of the people of the lands. 


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 But for Your great mercies, You did not completely destroy them nor forsake them. For You are a gracious and merciful God. 


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 And now, our God, the great, the mighty, and the fearful God, who keeps covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble that has come upon us, on our kings, on our rulers, 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, seem little before You. 


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 But You are just in all that is brought upon us, for You have done right, but we have done wickedly. 


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 And our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our fathers, have not kept Your Law, nor listened to Your commandments and Your words with which You testified against them. 


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 For they have not served You in their kingdom, and in Your great goodness which You gave them, and in the large and rich land which You gave before them, and they did not turn from their wicked works. 


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 Behold, we are servants today. And the land that You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit, and its good, 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. And they rule 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 are cutting a sure covenant, and write it, and our princes, Levites, and priests are sealing it. 


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 And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple-slaves, and all those who had separated from the people of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters (everyone who had knowledge, and who had understanding), 


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 were holding fast to their brothers, their honored ones. And they 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 be careful to do all the commandments of Jehovah our Lord, and His judgments and His statutes. 


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 And we swore 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 should bring goods or any food on the Sabbath day to sell it, that we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath or on the holy day, and that we would leave the seventh year, and the interest of every debt. 


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 Also we put commands upon ourselves, 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 meal 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, and the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring 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 Jehovah our God, as it is written in the Law 


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


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 and to bring the first-born 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 who minister in the house of our God; 


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 and that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all kinds of trees, of wine and of oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites, and they, the Levites, might have the tithes in all the cities we farmed. 


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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 rooms, into the treasure house. 


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 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine, and the oil, to the rooms where the vessels of the sanctuary are, and the priests who 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 lived at Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots, to bring one of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine parts in other cities. 


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 And these are the rulers of the province who lived in Jerusalem. But in the cities of Judah everyone lived in his possession in their cities: Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the temple-slaves, and the sons of Solomon's servants. 


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 And at Jerusalem lived certain of the sons of Judah, and of the sons of Benjamin. From the sons 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 sons 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, the ruler of the house of God. 


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 And their brothers who did the work of the house were eight hundred and twenty-two. And Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashur, the son of Malchiah, 


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 and his brothers, chief of the fathers, two hundred and 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 brothers, mighty men of power, were a hundred and twenty-eight. And their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of one of the great men. 


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 And from the Levites were 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, were over the outward business 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 was second among his brothers, and then Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. 


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 And the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers who kept the gates, were a hundred and seventy-two. 


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


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 And the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha. Of the sons of Asaph, the singers 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 for every day. 


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


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 And for the villages, with their fields, some of the sons of Judah lived at Kirjath-arba, and in its villages, and at Dibon, and in its villages, and at Jekabzeel, and its villages, 


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


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 And these are the priests and the Levites who 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 brothers in the days of Jeshua. 


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 And the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah. Mattaniah was over the thanksgiving, he and his brothers. 


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


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 The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers and 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 were Hashabiah, Sherebiah; and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers next to them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the command of David the man of God, watch by watch. 


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 Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub, were guarding the gates, the guard 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, and with thanksgiving, and with singing, with cymbals, harps and with lyres. 


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


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


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


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 Then I brought up the rulers of Judah on the wall, and chose two great choirs of praise. One went to the right upon the wall toward the Dung Gate. 


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


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


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 And at the Fountain Gate, across from 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 choirs of praise went across from them, and I after them, and half of the people on 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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 And stood the two praise choirs to give thanks in the house of God, and I, and half of the rulers with me. 


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 And the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, were 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 loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. 


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 And that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced. For God had made them rejoice with great joy. And the wives and the sons rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. 


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 And at that time some were chosen over the rooms for the treasuries, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather to 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 who waited. 


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 And both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God, and the charge of the cleansing, according to the command of David and of Solomon his son. 


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


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 And all Israel gave the portions of the singers and the gatekeepers, every day its portion, in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah. And they set the holy things apart for the Levites, and the Levites set them apart for the sons of Aaron. 


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 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the ears of the people. And in it was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God forever, 


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 because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them so that he should curse them. But our God turned the curse into a blessing. 


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 And before this, Eliashib the priest, who was set over the rooms of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah. 


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 and he had prepared for himself a large room where they had in days of old laid the food offering, 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 some days I was given permission to leave the king. 


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 And I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil which Eliashib did for Tobiah in preparing him a room in the courts of the house of God. 


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 Then I commanded, and they purified the rooms. And I brought there again the vessels of the house of God, with the food offering and the frankincense. 


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


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 And 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 made 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 brothers. 


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


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 In those days I saw in Judah some treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading asses and also wine, grapes, and figs, and all kinds 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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 And men of Tyre lived in it, who brought fish and all kinds of goods, and sold on the Sabbath to the sons of Judah and in Jerusalem. 


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


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 Did not your fathers do this, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by defiling the Sabbath. 


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 And it happened when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I set some of my servants at the gates, so that there should be no burden brought in on the Sabbath day. 


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 And the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods stayed the night outside Jerusalem once or twice. 


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 And I testified against them, and said to them, Why do you stay around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time on they did not come 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 sons spoke half Ashdod's speech, and there was no caring to speak Jewish, 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 I made them swear by the name of God, saying, You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters to your sons, or for yourselves. 


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


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 Shall we then listen to you, to do all this great evil, to sin against our God in living with foreign women? 


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 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; and 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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 So I cleansed them from all strangers, and appointed charges to the priests and the Levites, every one in his business, 


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


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 And it happened in the days of Ahasuerus (this is the Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces). 


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 in the third year of his reign, he made a feast to all his princes and his servants. The power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, were before him. 


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 And he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, a hundred and eighty days. 


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


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 White, green, and blue hangings were fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble. The beds were of gold and silver, on a pavement of red and white, and pearl, and black marble. 


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


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 And the drinking was according to the law, no one compelling, for so the king had commanded every chief 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 eunuchs who served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, 


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 to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, in order to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was beautiful to look on. 


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 But the Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command by his eunuchs. And the king was very angry, and his anger burned within him. 


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 And the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for so was the king's manner toward all who knew law and judgment; 


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


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 What shall we do with Queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the command of the King Ahasuerus by the eunuchs? 


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


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 For the matter of the queen shall go out to all women, so that their husbands shall be despised in their eyes, and it shall be reported that King Ahasuerus commanded to bring Vashti the queen in before him, but she did not come. 


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 And this day the princesses of Persia and Media shall say the same to all the king's princes who have heard of the deed of the queen. And there will be contempt and strife. 


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 If it please the king, let there be a royal command from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it may not be changed, that Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal state to another who is better than she is. 


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


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 And the saying pleased the king and the princes. And the king did according to the word of Memucan. 


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


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


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 And let the king choose officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, so that they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, to the hand of Hegai the king's eunuch, keeper of the women. And let their ointments be given. 


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


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 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 carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried 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 young woman was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. 


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 And it happened when the king's command and his order was heard, and when many young women had been gathered to Shushan the palace, into the hand of Hegai, Esther was also brought to the king's house, into the hand of Hegai, keeper of the women. 


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 And the young woman pleased him, and she received kindness from him. And he quickly gave to her purifiers and her portion. And seven young women who were fit to be given her, out of the king's house. And he moved her and her servant women to the best place in the house of the women. 


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 Esther had not revealed her people nor her kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her that she should not show it. 


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 And Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women's house in order to know how Esther did and what was to become of her. 


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 And when the turn of each young woman had come to go in to King Ahasuerus, after she had been purified twelve months, according to the law of the women (for so the days of their anointing were done, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with the perfumes of the women). 


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 And in this way the young woman came 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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 She went in the evening, and on the next day she returned to the second house of the women, into the hand of Shaashgaz, the king's officer who kept the concubines. She did not come in to the king any more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name. 


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 And when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her for his daughter, had come to go in to the king, she asked nothing but what was chosen by Hegai the king's officer, the keeper of the women. And Esther had favor in the sight of all who looked on her. 


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 And 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 rose in grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins. And he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. 


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 And the king made a great feast to all his princes and his servants, Esther's feast. And he ordered a release for the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king. 


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 Esther had not yet revealed her kindred nor her people, as Mordecai had commanded her. For Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as she did 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 eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, of those who kept the door, were angry and tried to lay a hand on King Ahasuerus. 


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 And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told Esther the queen. And Esther told the king in Mordecai's name. 


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 And when the matter was searched into, it was found out, and the two of them were hanged on a tree. And it was written in the Book of the Matters of the Days before the king. 


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


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 And all the king's servants in the king's gate bowed and worshiped Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow nor worship. 


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


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 And it happened when they spoke daily to him, and when he did not listen to them, they told Haman, to see if Mordecai's matters would stand. For he had told them that he was a Jew. 


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 And he scorned to lay hands only on Mordecai, for they had revealed to him the people of Mordecai. And Haman sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, 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, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, 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. And it is not for the king's gain to allow them to live. 


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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 who have 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 seems good to you. 


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 Then the king's scribes were 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 who were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province, according to the writing of it, and to every people according to their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's ring. 


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 And the letters were sent by postal riders 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, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take what they owned for a prize. 


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 The copy of the writing, for a command to be given in every province, was published to all people, to be ready for that day. 


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 The posts went out, being hurried by the king's command, 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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 And Mordecai understood all that was done, and Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into the middle of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry. 


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 And he even came 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 command 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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 And Esther's servant women and her eunuchs came and told her. And the queen was exceedingly grieved, and she sent clothing to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him. But he did not receive it. 


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 And Esther called for Hatach, one of the king's eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend on her, and gave him a command 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 silver which Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews in order to destroy them. 


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


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 And the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces 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, execution, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter so that he may live. But I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days. 


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 And Mordecai commanded them to answer Esther, Do not think within yourself that you shall escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. 


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 For if you are completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall 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 a time like this? 


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 Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink three days, night or day. My maidservants and I will also fast in the same way. And so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish. 


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 And it happened on the third day, Esther put on royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, across from the king's house. And the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, across from the gate of the house. 


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 And it happened when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she received favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter in his hand. And Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter. 


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


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


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 And the king said, Cause Haman to hurry so that he may do as Esther has said. And the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared. 


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


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


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 And Haman went forth 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 move for him, he was full of fury against Mordecai. 


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 But Haman held himself in. 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 his many sons, and all to which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. 


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 And Haman said, Yes, Esther the queen let no man but me come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared. And also tomorrow I am invited to her banquet, with the king. 


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 And Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, Make a wooden gallows, 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 wooden gallows to be made. 


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 On that night the king could not sleep, and he commanded to bring the Book of the Records of the Matter of the Days. And they were read before the king. 


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 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, the keepers of the door who tried to lay a hand on King Ahasuerus. 


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


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 And the king said, Who is in the court? And Haman had come into the outer court of the king's house to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the wooden gallows which 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 to the man whom the king delights to honor? And 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 clothing be brought, which the king wears, and the horse that the king rides on, and the royal crown which is set on his head. 


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 And let this clothing and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes so that they may dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and bring him on horseback through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him, This is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. 


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 And the king said to Haman, Make haste! Take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Do not fail to do any of all the things you have spoken. 


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 And Haman took the clothing and the horse and dressed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, This is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor! 


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


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 And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, If Mordecai is of the seed 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 still talking with him, the king's eunuchs came. And they hurried to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared. 


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


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 And 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, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish. But if we had been sold for men-slaves and women-slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could not make up for the king's damage. 


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 And King Ahasuerus answered and said to Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is the one who dares presume in his heart to do so? 


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


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 And the king, arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath, went into the palace garden. And Haman stood up to beg for his life from Esther the queen, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. 


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 And the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine. And Haman had fallen on the bed on which Esther was. And the king said, Will he also force the queen 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 eunuchs, said before the king, Also look! the wooden gallows fifty cubits high which Haman 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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 And they hanged Haman on the wooden gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. And the king's wrath lay down. 


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 On that day King Ahasuerus gave 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 begged him with tears to put away the evil of Haman the Agagite, and his plot which he had plotted against the Jews. 


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 Then the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. And Esther arose and stood before the king, 


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 and said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing is right before the king, and if I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to bring back the documents (a sly plan by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite) which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces. 


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 For how can I bear to see the evil that shall come on my people? Or how can I endure to see the slaughter of my kindred? 


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 And King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and have hanged him on the wooden gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews. 


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 And you write 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, no man may turn back. 


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


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 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's ring. And he sent letters by riders on horseback, riders on royal steeds, stallions, even sons of mares. 


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 In them the king granted the Jews in every city to gather themselves, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to kill and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province who desired to attack them, little ones and women, and to take what they owned for a prize, 


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


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 The copy of the writing for a command to be given in every province was announced to all people, even that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 


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 The runners, riders on stallions, royal steeds, went out, being hurried and pressed on by the king's command. And the order was given at Shushan the palace. 


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 And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal clothing 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 where the king's command and his order 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 on them. 


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 And in the twelfth month, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and his order came to be done, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them; though it was turned around, so that the Jews had rule over the ones who hated them. 


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 The Jews gathered themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, in order to lay hand on any who sought their harm. And no man could withstand them, for the fear of them fell on all people. 


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 And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants and the governors and officers of the king helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell on them. 


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 For Mordecai was great in the house of the king, and his fame went throughout all the provinces. For this man Mordecai was going on and growing greater. 


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


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 they killed the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the spoil. 


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 On that day the number of those who were killed in Shushan the palace was brought before the king. 


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


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


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 And the king commanded it to be done. And the order was given at Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons. 


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 For the Jews in Shushan gathered themselves on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men at Shushan. But they did not lay their hands on the spoil. 


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 But the rest of the Jews in the king's provinces gathered themselves and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of their foes. But they did not lay their hands on the spoil. 


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 And 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 at Shushan gathered on the thirteenth of it and on the fourteenth of it. And on the fifteenth of the same, they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 


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


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


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 to establish 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 to 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 to one 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 plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, the lot, to finish them and to destroy them. 


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 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked plot which he had plotted against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the wooden 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 which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come to them, 


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 the Jews ordained, and took on them and on their seed, and on all such as joined themselves to them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their 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 these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed. 


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 And 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 and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 


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 in order to confirm these days of Purim in their set times, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had ordered them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed the matters of the fastings and of their cry. 


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 And all the acts of his power and of might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, with which the king made him great, 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 pleasing to the multitude of his brothers, seeking the wealth of his people and speaking peace to all his seed. 


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


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 And his possessions were seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, 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 the house of each one on his day. And they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 


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 And when they had gone around the day of feasting, 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. So Job did always. 


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 And a day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah. And Satan also came among them. 


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


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


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


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 And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay your hand upon him. And Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah. 


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 And a day came when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. 


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


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 And the Sabeans fell on and took them away. Yea, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only have escaped alone to tell you. 


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 While he was still speaking, there also came another and said, The fire of God has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and destroyed them. And I only have escaped alone to tell you. 


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 While he was still speaking, there also came another and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands and swooped down upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and have killed the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only have escaped alone to tell you. 


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


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 And, behold, a great wind came 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 have escaped alone to tell you. 


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 And Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshiped. 


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 And he said, I came naked out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away. Blessed be the name of Jehovah. 


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 And it happened that a day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah. And Satan also came among them to present himself before Jehovah. 


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


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 And Jehovah said unto Satan, Have you set your heart on My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil? And still he is keeping hold of his integrity, although you moved Me against him to destroy him without cause. 


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


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 But indeed put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse You to Your face. 


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 And Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah and struck Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. 


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


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 And Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, and they each one came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had met 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 did not know him, they lifted up their voice and wept. And each one tore his robe, and they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward Heaven. 


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


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 Let that day be darkness. Let not God look upon it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. 


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 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it. Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let the blackness of the day terrify it. 


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 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year, Let it not come into the number of the months. 


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 Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it look for light, but have none. Let it not see the eyelids of the dawn. 


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 For now I should have lain still and been quiet; I should have slept. Then I would have been at rest 


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


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 The roar of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. 


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 It stood still, but I could not tell the form of it. An image was before my eyes; silence; then I heard a voice, 


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


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 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, nor is there any to deliver them. 


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 Their harvest the hungry eats, and takes it even out of the thorns; and the snare swallows up their wealth. 


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


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 You shall be hidden from the whip of the tongue; neither shall you be afraid of robbery when it comes. 


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 At destruction and famine you shall laugh; neither shall you be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 


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 For you shall be in covenant with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. 


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 And you shall know that your tent is in peace; and you shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing. 


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 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their fury is drinking my spirit; the terrors of God are set against me. 


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 And it is yet my comfort; yea, I would rejoice in pain, though He did not spare me; for I have not hidden the words of the Holy One. 


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 When I lie down, I say, When shall I rise? But the night is long, and I am full of tossing to and fro until the dawning of the day. 


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


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 I have sinned. What shall I do to You, O Watcher of men? Why have You set me as a target for You, so that I am a burden to myself? 


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 And why do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I shall sleep in the dust, and You shall seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. 


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 if you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you, and make the dwelling-place of your righteousness blessed. 


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 He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold fast to it, but it shall not endure. 


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 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and been blessed; 


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 If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me; though I am perfect, He shall declare me perverse. 


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


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 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint on my self; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 


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 Is it good to You that You should press down, that You should despise the work of Your hands, and shine on the counsel of the wicked? 


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 Remember, I beseech You, that You have formed me as the clay; and will You bring me into the dust again? 


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 If I am wicked, woe to me; and if I am righteous, I will not lift up my head, being filled with shame, and looking on my affliction. 


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 You renew Your witnesses against me, and increase Your anger on me; changes and warfare are against me. 


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 Why then have You brought me from the womb? Oh that I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me! 


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 I should have been as though I had not been; I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. 


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 a land of obscurity, the darkness of the shadow of death, without any order, and the shining is as darkness. 


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 and would tell you the secrets of His wisdom, that sound wisdom is manifold? Know therefore that God forgets for you some of your iniquity. 


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 surely then you shall lift up your face without spot; yea, you shall be steadfast and shall not fear; 


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 And your lifetime shall be clearer than the noonday; though there be darkness, you shall be as the morning. 


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 And you shall be safe, because there is hope; yea, you shall look around you, and you shall take your rest in safety. 


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 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall have no escape, and their hope shall be like the giving up of the spirit. 


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 But I have understanding as well as you; I do not fall short of you; yes, who does not know such things as these? 


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 I am a laughing-stock to his friends; who calls on God, and He answers him; the just, the upright one is a mockery; 


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 a flaming brand despised in the thoughts of him who feels secure; it is ready for those with slipping feet. 


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 The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, in whatever God brings to their hand. 


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 But now ask the animals, and they shall teach you; and the birds of the air, and they shall tell you; 


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 Behold, He withholds the waters, and they dry up; also He sends them out, and they overturn the earth. 


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 He gives greatness to the nations, and destroys them. He spreads out the nations, and leads them away. 


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 He takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the land, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path. 


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 You put my feet also in the stocks, and look closely to all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet. 


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 For his days are fixed, the number of his months is with You, and You have set his bounds so that he cannot pass; 


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


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 so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be awakened out of their sleep. 


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 Who will grant that You would hide me in the grave, that You would keep me secret, until Your wrath is past, that You would set me a fixed time and remember me? 


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 The waters wear away the stones; the outpouring of it washes the dust of the earth; and You cause the hope of man to perish. 


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 The wicked man labors in pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden for the ruthless one. 


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 He shall not be rich, nor shall his wealth hold out, nor shall he stretch out his gain on the earth. 


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 He shall not escape from darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and at the breath of his mouth he shall turn away. 


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 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. 


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 And You have plucked me, for it is a witness, and my failure rises up against me, and it answers to my face. 


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 His anger has torn and hated me; He gnashes on me with His teeth; my enemy sharpens his eyes at me; 


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 They have gaped on me with their mouth; and have scornfully beaten me on the cheek; they gather themselves against me. 


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 I was at ease, but He has broken me in pieces; yea, He has also taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces and set me up for His mark. 


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 His archers hem me in; He splits my inward parts, and does not spare; He pours out my gall on the ground. 


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 He tears himself in his anger; shall the earth be forsaken for you? And shall the rock be moved out of its place? 


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 Those who dwell in my house, and my slave-girls, count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. 


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 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not a stranger's; though my heart be exhausted in my bosom. 


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 Fear for yourselves because of the sword; for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment. 


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 I have heard the rebuke meant to shame me, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer. 


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 He flies away like a dream, and shall not be found, and shall be chased away like a vision of the night. 


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 giving back his gain, and he will not eat. As to the wealth of his trading, even he shall not enjoy it. 


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 It shall happen at the filling of his belly, God shall cast the fury of His wrath on him, and He shall rain on him while he is eating. 


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 All darkness shall be hidden in his secret places; a fire not blown shall consume him; those left in his tent shall be broken. 


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 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and their trouble comes on them! He shares out pains in His anger; 


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 And the clods of the valley shall be sweet to him and every man shall draw after him, as there is no numbering of those before him. 


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


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


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


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 You shall also order a thing, and it shall be fulfilled to you; and the light shall shine on your ways. 


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 on the left hand, where He works, but I cannot behold Him. He turns to the right, but I do not see Him. 


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 nor have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion. 


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 Behold, like wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, rising early for a prey. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. 


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 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God does not charge foolishness. 


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 And the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye will see me; and he puts a covering on his face. 


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 In the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the daytime; they do not know the light. 


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 For the morning is to them like the shadow of death; for they know the terrors of the shadow of death. 


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 He is swift on the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; he does not behold the way of the vineyards. 


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


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 They are lifted up for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are gathered in like all others, and are cut off like the heads of the ears of grain. 


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 Lo, these are the edges of His ways; but what a whisper of a word we hear of Him! And the thunder of His power who can understand? 


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 I hold fast by my righteousness, and I will not let it go; my heart shall not shame me any of my days. 


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


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


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 He sets an end to darkness, and to every extremity He searches out the stones of darkness and the shadow of death. 


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 He opens a shaft far from the visitor; they are forgotten by man's foot; they hang far away from men, they swing to and fro. 


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


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 I smiled kindly on them when they did not believe; and they did not make the light of my face fall. 


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 I chose out their way, and sat as chief; and I lived like a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners. 


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 But now those younger laugh at me, whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock. 


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 They are dried up with want and famine; they who gnaw the dry ground, which was before waste and ruin, 


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 Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me, they have also thrown off the bridle before me. 


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 Terrors have turned on me; they pursue my soul like the wind; and my good passes away like a cloud. 


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 By the great force of my disease my clothing is exposed; it binds me about like the mouth of my coat. 


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 If my step has turned out of the way, or my heart has walked after my eyes, and if any blot has held fast to my hands; 


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 then let me tremble before a great multitude, and be terrified by the scorn of families; and I will be silent and not go out the door. 


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 Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my mark. Let the Almighty answer me, and my Accuser write an indictment. 


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 And burned the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. His wrath burned against Job, because he had justified himself rather than God. 


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


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


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 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and you are very old; therefore I was afraid, and dared not show you my opinion. 


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


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 then He is gracious to him and says, Deliver him from going down to the Pit; for I have found a ransom. 


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 he shall pray to God, and He will be gracious to him; and he shall see His face with joy, for He will restore to man his righteousness. 


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 He will observe to men, and say, I have sinned and perverted righteousness; and it was not equally repaid to me, 


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 Therefore listen to me, O man of heart; far be it from God to commit iniquity; and from the Almighty, to do wrong. 


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 How much less to Him who does not lift up the face of rulers, nor regard the rich before the poor? For all of them are the work of His hands. 


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 In a moment they die, and a people are shaken at midnight and pass away; and the mighty shall be taken away without a hand. 


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 And He gives quietness, who then can condemn? And when He hides His face, who can behold Him? And it may be against a nation and a man together; 


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 Must He repay because you rejected it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore speak what you know. 


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


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


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 who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens? 


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 He withdraws not His eyes from the righteous, but they are like kings on the throne; yes, He causes them to sit forever, and they are very high. 


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 If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in blessedness, and their years in pleasures. 


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 And He also would have lured you from the mouth of distress to a wide place not cramped; and the setting of your table would be full of fatness. 


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 If your cry for help is set in order, then it will not be in distress, but with all the forces of strength. 


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 After it a voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He will not hold them when His voice is heard. 


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 For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth; also to the shower of rain, and to the shower of heavy rains in its strength. 


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 and it is turned around by His guidance, so that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the world in the earth. 


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 The Almighty, whom we cannot find out, is exalted in power; and to judgment and overflowing righteousness He does no violence. 


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 How is it, the way the light is distributed, and how does the east wind spread itself on the earth? 


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 Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? Can you observe the calving of deer? 


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 Their young ones are strong, they multiply with grain; they go forth and do not return to them again. 


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 He swallows the ground with quivering and rage; and he does not stand still at the sound of the trumpet. 


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 When the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! And he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. 


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 Behold, though a flood presses, he does not run away; he feels safe even if Jordan swells up to his mouth. 


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 Who is he who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken what I did not understand; things too wonderful for me; yea, I did not know. 


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 And it happened after Jehovah had spoken these words to Job, Jehovah said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 


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 And now take to yourselves seven young bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And My servant Job will pray for you. Surely I will lift up his face so as not to do with you according to your foolishness, in that you have not spoken of Me what is right, like My servant Job. 


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 And Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as Jehovah commanded them. Jehovah also accepted the face of Job. 


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 And Jehovah turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also Jehovah added to Job all that had been his, to double. 


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 And came to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had known him before. And they ate bread with him in his house, and consoled him and comforted him over all the evil that Jehovah had brought on him. Each one also gave him a piece of money, and each one a ring of gold. 


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


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 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. 


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 And in all the land there were not found women as beautiful as the daughters of Job. And their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. 


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


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 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the scornful. 


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 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed. 


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


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 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers plot together, against Jehovah and against His anointed, saying, 


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 I will declare the decree of Jehovah. He has said to Me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You. 


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 Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. 


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


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 A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom. O Lord, how my foes have increased! Many are the ones who rise up against me. 


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


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 To the Chief Musician, for stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness; You gave room to me in trouble; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. 


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


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


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 To the Chief Musician, for flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Jehovah; consider my meditation. 


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


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 But I, in the abundance of Your grace, I will come into Your house; I will worship in Your fear toward Your holy temple. 


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


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


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


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


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 To the Chief Musician, for eight-stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. O Jehovah, rebuke me not in Your anger, nor chasten me in the heat of Your fury. 


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 Let all my enemies be ashamed and exceedingly troubled; let them turn back and be ashamed in a moment. 


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 A song of David, which he sang to Jehovah, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite. O Jehovah my God, in You I put my trust; save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me, 


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 let the enemy persecute my soul and take it; yea, let him trample down my life on the earth and lay my honor in the dust. Selah. 


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


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


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


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 Behold, he labors in pain with iniquity, and he has conceived mischief, and has brought forth falsehood. 


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 I will praise Jehovah according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of Jehovah most high. 


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 To the Chief Musician, on the harp. A Psalm of David. O Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens! 


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 Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained strength, because of ones vexing You, to cause the enemy and the avenger to cease. 


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


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 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and all that pass through the paths of the seas. 


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 To the Chief Musician. To die for the Son. A Psalm of David. I will praise You, O Jehovah, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. 


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 You have rebuked the heathen, You have destroyed the wicked, You have put out their name forever and ever. 


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


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


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 Have mercy on me, O Jehovah; see my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death, 


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


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


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


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 The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; let them be taken in the plans that they have imagined. 


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


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 He sits in the hiding-places of the villages; in the secret places he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the poor. 


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


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 You have seen it; for You behold mischief and vexation, to repay it with Your hand. The poor commits himself to You; You are the Helper of the fatherless. 


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


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. I put my trust in Jehovah; how can you say to me, Flee like a bird to the mountains; 


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


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


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


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 To the Chief Musician, on eight. A Psalm of David. Help, Jehovah, for the godly man ceases; for the faithful fail from among the sons of men. 


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


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 The Words of Jehovah are pure Words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. How long will You forget me, O Jehovah? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? 


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 How long shall I take counsel in my heart having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall my enemy be lifted up over me? 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart, There is no God! They acted corruptly; they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. 


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


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


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 Who will bring the salvation of Israel out of Zion? When Jehovah brings back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. 


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


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


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 he has not put out his money at interest, nor has he taken a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall not be moved forever. 


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


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


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 A Prayer of David. Hear the right, O Jehovah; listen to my cry; Give ear to my prayer, for it is not in lips of deceit. 


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 You have proved my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me, and You will find nothing; my thoughts do not pass beyond my mouth. 


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


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 Set out Your wonderful loving-kindness, O Savior of those seeking refuge in You, by Your right hand, from those who rise up against me. 


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 from men by Your hand, O Jehovah, from men of the world whose portion is in this life, and whose belly You fill with Your treasure. They are satisfied with sons, and will leave their riches to their babes. 


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


text:
 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of Jehovah, who spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul; and he said: I love You, O Jehovah, my strength. 


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 Jehovah is my strength, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock; I will trust in Him; He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. 


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


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


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 A smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire devoured out of His mouth; coals were kindled by it. 


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 He made darkness His secret place, His pavilion around Him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. 


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 At the brightness before Him, His dark clouds passed through, hailstones and coals of fire passed. 


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


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


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 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. 


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


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 And Jehovah has returned to me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes. 


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 With the merciful, You will show Yourself merciful; with an upright man You will show Yourself upright; 


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


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


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 For You have girded me with strength for the battle; You have humbled under me those who rose up against me. 


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


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


text:
 magnifying the salvations to His king, and working mercy to His anointed, to David, and to his seed forevermore. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse proclaims His handiwork. 


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


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 going forth from the end of the heavens, and its course is to their ends. And there is nothing hid from its heat. 


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


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 The Precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart; the Commandments of Jehovah are pure, giving light to the eyes. 


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


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 and keep Your servant back from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be upright, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. 


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


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. May Jehovah hear you in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob set you on high, 


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


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


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The king shall rejoice in Your strength, O Jehovah; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 


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 For You have made him most blessed forever; You have rejoiced him in the gladness in Your holy face. 


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


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


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 To the Chief Musician, on the deer of the dawn. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me, and are far from my deliverance, and from the words of my groaning? 


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 I am poured out like water, and all My bones are spread apart; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels. 


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 and You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercers of My hands and My feet. 


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


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


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 My praise shall be of You in the great congregation; I will pay My vows before the ones who fear Him. 


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


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 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to Jehovah; and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. 


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 All the fat ones on the 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 yet be born, that He has done this. 


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


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


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 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah forever. 


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 A Psalm of David. The earth is Jehovah's, and the fullness of it; the world, and those who dwell in it. 


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 He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, and has not sworn deceitfully. 


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 Lift up your heads, O gates; and be lifted up, O everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 


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 Lift up your heads, O gates; even lift up, O 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 I wait all the day long. 


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 Do not remember the sins of my youth, or my rebellings; according to Your mercy remember me for Your goodness' sake, O Jehovah. 


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 A Psalm of David. Judge me, O Jehovah; for I have walked in my truthfulness. I have trusted also in Jehovah; I shall not slide. 


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


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 Though an army should camp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I am trusting. 


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


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 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His shelter, in the secrecy of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me up on a rock. 


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 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies, my encirclers; and I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle. I will sing; yea, I will sing praises to Jehovah. 


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 Hide not Your face from me. Turn 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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 Deliver me not over to the will of my enemies; for false witnesses have risen up against me, and he that breathes out cruelty. 


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


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 A Psalm of David. I will cry to You, O Jehovah; my Rock, do not be deaf to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit. 


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


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


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 Because they do not pay attention to the works of Jehovah and to the work of His hands, He shall destroy them and never build them up. 


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


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 The voice of Jehovah causes the does to calve, and uncovers the forests; and in His temple all of it is saying, Glory! 


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 A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the House of David. I will praise You, O Jehovah; for You have lifted me up, and have not allowed my foes to rejoice over me. 


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


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


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


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 What profit is in my blood, in going down to the pit? Shall the dust praise You? Shall it tell of Your truth? 


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


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 so that my glory may sing praise to You, and not be silent. O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks to You forever. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. In You, O Jehovah, 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 looked on my affliction; You have known my soul in troubles; 


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 Have mercy on me, O Jehovah, for I am in trouble; my eye has become old with grief, my soul and my belly. 


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


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 I was a reproach among all my foes, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to my friends; those who saw me outside fled from me. 


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 For I have heard the slander of many; fear is on every side; because of their plottings together against me, they planned to take away my life. 


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 My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. 


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


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 Let the lying lips be put to silence; the lips which speak proudly against the righteous, with pride and scorn. 


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


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 You shall hide them in the secrecy of Your presence from the pride of man; You shall hide them in a shelter away from the strife of tongues. 


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


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 O love Jehovah, all you saints of His; Jehovah preserves the faithful, and plentifully rewards the proud doer. 


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 A Psalm of David. A Contemplation. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 


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 Blessed is the man to whom Jehovah does not charge iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 


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


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


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


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 You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall circle me with songs of deliverance. Selah. 


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 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you, My eye shall be on you. 


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


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 By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. 


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 A Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless Jehovah at all times; His praise always shall be in my mouth. 


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 The young lions lack, and suffer hunger; but those who seek Jehovah shall not lack any good thing. 


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 A Psalm of David. Strive, O Jehovah, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me. 


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


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 Let them be humbled and put to shame, those who seek after my soul; let them be turned back and be brought to blushing, those who plot evil to me. 


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


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 Let destruction come upon him, he will not know; and let his net which he has concealed catch him, let him fall in it, into destruction. 


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 All my bones shall say, O Jehovah, who is like You, who delivers the poor from those stronger than he; yea, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him? 


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


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


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 But in my stumbling they rejoiced, and gathered themselves; the defamers gathered themselves against me, and I knew not; they tore and were not silent, 


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


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 Let not those who are my lying enemies rejoice over me, those who hate me without cause wink with the eye. 


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 Let those who delight in my justification shout and rejoice; and they shall say without ceasing, The Lord be magnified, delighting in the peace of His servant. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of Jehovah. The oracle utters transgression to the wicked within my heart. There is no fear of God before his eyes. 


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


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 How precious is Your loving-kindness, O God! And the sons of men take refuge under the shadow of Your wing. 


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


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


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 A Psalm of David. Do not fret yourself with evil doers; and do not be envious against the workers of iniquity. 


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 Rest in Jehovah, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of him who practices wickedness. 


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 It is but a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, you shall search his place, and he shall not be. 


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


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 But the wicked shall pass, and the enemies of Jehovah shall be like the beauty of pastures; they are consumed, like smoke they perish. 


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


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 For Jehovah loves judgment and does not forsake His saints; they are kept forever; but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. 


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


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 And Jehovah 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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 A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. O Jehovah, do not rebuke me in Your wrath; neither chasten me in Your fury. 


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 And those who seek my life lay snares for me; and those who seek my hurt speak sly things, and utter deceits all the day long. 


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


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 To the Chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked are before me. 


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


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 Surely a man walks about like a shadow! Surely they are in an uproar in vain. He heaps up, and does not know who shall gather them. 


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


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


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for Jehovah; and He bowed down 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 on a rock, and gave sureness to my steps. 


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


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 Blessed is the man who makes Jehovah his trust and does not turn to the proud, nor to those who turn aside to a lie. 


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 O Jehovah my God, many things You have done, Your wonderful works and Your thoughts which are toward us; they cannot be set in order to You; I will declare and speak, for they are more than can be numbered. 


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 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not asked. 


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 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not kept back My lips, O Jehovah, You know. 


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 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not hidden Your loving-kindness and Your truth from the great congregation. 


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 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Jehovah; let Your loving-kindness and Your truth always watch over me. 


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 For evils without number have hemmed me in; my sins have taken hold on me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me. 


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 Let them be ashamed and humbled together, those who seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame, those who wish me evil. 


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 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You, and the ones loving your salvation always say, Let Jehovah be magnified. 


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 But I am poor and needy; Jehovah will care for me; You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not wait. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Blessed is he who acts wisely toward the poor; Jehovah will deliver him in time of trouble. 


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 Jehovah will watch over him and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed on the earth; and You will not deliver him to the soul of his enemies. 


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 And when he comes to see me, he speaks vanity; his heart gathers iniquity to itself; he goes out and speaks of it. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A contemplation; for the sons of Korah. As the hart pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God. 


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 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul on me; for I had gone with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping the feast. 


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 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and moan within me? Hope in God; for I shall praise Him for the salvation of His face. 


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 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember You from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermons, from mount Mizar. 


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 Deep calls to deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and Your billows have gone over me. 


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 Jehovah will command His loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, my prayer to the God of my life. 


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 I will say to God my rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the cruelty of the enemy? 


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 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why do you moan within me? Hope in God; for I still praise Him, the salvation of my face, and my God. 


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 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. 


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 For You are the God of my strength; why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning under the affliction of the enemy? 


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 Oh 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 I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; yea, on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God. 


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 To the Chief Musician. For the sons of Korah, a contemplation. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work which You did in their days, in the days of old. 


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 You drove out the nations with Your hand, and planted them; You brought evil on peoples 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 it was Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them. 


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 Through You we will push our enemies; through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. 


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 Yea, for Your sake we are put to death all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. 


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 To the Chief Musician. Concerning the Lilies, for the sons of Korah, a contemplation; A Song of Loves. My heart is overflowing with a good matter; I speak of my works to the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 


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 You are the fairest of the sons of men; grace is poured into Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever. 


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 And ride prosperously in Your majesty, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Your right hand shall teach You fearful things. 


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 You love righteousness, and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows. 


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 All Your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad. 


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 Kings' daughters are among Your precious ones; on Your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. 


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 Listen, O daughter, and look; and bow down your ear; and forget 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 peoples shall stroke your face. 


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 She shall be brought to the king in clothing of needlework; the virgins, her companions after her, shall be brought to You. 


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 I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever. 


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 To the Chief Musician. For the sons of Korah. A Song "For the Virgins". God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 


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 Therefore we will not fear when the earth changes, and when mountains are slipping into the heart of the seas. 


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 There is a river, its channels gladden the city of God glad, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. 


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 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her at the turning of the morning. 


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 who makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots in the fire. 


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 Be still, and know that I am God! I will be praised among the nations, I will be praised in the earth. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Clap your hand, all you peoples; shout to God with the voice of triumph. 


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 The rulers of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth are God's; He is lifted up on high. 


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 A Song and Psalm for the Sons of Korah. Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. 


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 Beautiful on high, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. 


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 as we have heard, so we have seen in the city of Jehovah of Hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. Selah. 


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 According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness; let mount Zion rejoice! 


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 Set your heart on its ramparts, pass between its strongholds; so that you may tell it to the coming generation. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world; 


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 For he sees wise men die; likewise the fool and the animal-like ones perish, and leave their wealth to others. 


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 Their inward thought is that their houses shall go on forever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. 


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 Like sheep they are appointed to the grave; death shall reign for them; and the upright shall have the rule over them in the morning; and their form is for rotting; the grave is their home. 


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 A Psalm of Asaph. The mighty God, Jehovah, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. 


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 Our God comes, and He is not silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very stormy all around Him. 


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 But to the wicked, God says, What is it to you, to declare My Precepts, and to take up My covenant in your mouth? 


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 When you saw a thief, then you were pleased to be with him, and you have taken part with adulterers. 


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 These things you have done, and I have kept silence; you thought that I was like yourself, but I will rebuke you, and set in order before your eyes. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. 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 evil in Your sight; that You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You judge. 


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 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom. 


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 Deliver me from the guilt of shedding blood, O God, O 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 shall You be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then they shall offer bulls on Your altar. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A contemplation. A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said to him, David has come to the house of Ahimelech. Why do you boast yourself in evil, O mighty man? The mercy of God endures forever. 


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 God will likewise destroy you forever; He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah. 


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 Behold, the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, he was strong 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 forever and ever. 


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 I will praise You forever, because You have done it; and I will wait on Your name; for it is good before Your saints. 


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 To the Chief Musician on Mahalath. A contemplation. A Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They acted corruptly, and have worked out abominable wickedness; there is not one doing good. 


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 God looked down from Heaven on the sons of mankind to see if any was discerning, who was seeking God. 


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 Every one has turned away; they have altogether become filthy; not one is doing good, no, not even one. 


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 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? They eat up my people as they eat bread; they have not called on God. 


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 There they dreaded with dread, where no dread was; for God has scattered the bones of him who camps against you; you have put them to shame because God rejects them. 


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 Who will give from Zion the salvation of Israel? When God brings back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. 


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 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation. A Psalm of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Does not David hide himself among us? Save me, O God, by Your name, and judge me by Your strength. 


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 For strangers have risen up against me, and cruel men seek after my soul; they have not set God before them. Selah. 


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 To the Chief Musician. For stringed instruments. A contemplation. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not Yourself from my cry. 


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 from the voice of the enemy, from the oppression of the wicked, for they shake trouble over me, and in wrath they hate me. 


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 Swallow up, O Jehovah, and divide their tongues; for I have seen violence and fighting in the city. 


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 For it is not an enemy who reviled me; then I could have borne it; it is not one who hates me who magnified himself against me; or I would hide myself from him; 


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 Let desolation take hold on them, and let them go down alive into hell; for evils are among them in their dwellings. 


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 He has delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me; for there were many with me. 


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 God shall hear and answer them, even He who is enthroned of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they do not fear God. 


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 The butterings of his mouth were forked, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. 


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 But You, O God, will bring them down into the pit of ruin; bloody and deceitful men shall not live half their days; but I will trust in You. 


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 To the Chief Musician. Concerning the silent dove, those far off. Of David, a secret treasure, when the Philistines took him in Gath. Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; fighting daily, he presses me down. 


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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 to me. 


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 For You have delivered my soul from death; have You not kept my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of the living? 


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 To the Chief Musician. Do not destroy. A secret treasure of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me; for my soul trusts in You; yea, in the shadow of Your wings I will make my hiding-place, until these great troubles pass by. 


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 He shall send from Heaven, and save me from the scorn of him who would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth. 


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 My soul is among lions; I lie among those on fire, 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, they have fallen into it. Selah. 


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 To the Chief Musician. Do not destroy. A secret treasure of David. Will you indeed speak righteousness in silence? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? 


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 Let them melt away like waters; they run off to them; he bends his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off. 


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


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 And man shall say, Truly, there is a reward for the righteous; truly, there is a God judging in the earth. 


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 To the Chief Musician. Do not destroy. A secret treasure of David, when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him. 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 Jehovah. 


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 And You, O Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the nations; do not be merciful to any plotting evil. Selah. 


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 Do not kill them, lest my people forget; scatter them by Your power and bring them down, O Jehovah our shield. 


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 For the sin of their mouth is the word of their lips, even let them be taken in their pride; and for cursing and the lying which they speak. 


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 Consume them in wrath; consume, so that they may not be; and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah. 


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 But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my strong tower and hiding-place in the day of my trouble. 


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 To the Chief Musician. On the Lily of Testimony. A secret treasure of David, to teach; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram of Zobah, when Joab returned and struck twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. O God, You have cast us off, You have scattered us, You were angry; take us back. 


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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; and Ephraim is the strength of My head, Judah is My lawgiver; 


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 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. 


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 To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. Only to God is my soul in silence; from Him comes my salvation. 


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 How long will you imagine mischief against a man? You will shatter him, all of you; you shall be like a bowing wall and a tottering fence. 


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 Surely they have plotted to cast him down from his great height; they delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse in their heart. Selah. 


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 Trust in Him at all times; you people, pour out your heart before Him; God is a hiding-place for us. Selah. 


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 Surely the sons of men are vanity; the sons of men are a lie; they go up in the scales; they are altogether lighter than vanity. 


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 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 


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 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; I will seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You, as 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; everyone who swears by Him shall glory; but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; guard my life from fear of the enemy. 


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 so that they may shoot at the blameless one from a lurking place; suddenly they shoot at him, and fear not. 


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 They encourage themselves in an evil plan; they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, Who shall see them? 


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 They search out injustice, saying, We have finished hiding a hidden plot. Yea, the inward part of man and the heart are deep. 


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 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall in wisdom think of His doing. 


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 The righteous shall be glad in Jehovah, and shall trust in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm and Song of David. To You silence is praise, O God, in Zion; and to You is a vow paid. 


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 Blessed is the one whom You choose, and cause to come near You. He shall dwell in Your courts; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, of Your holy temple. 


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 By awesome things in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation; who are the hope of all the ends of the earth and the sea, of those far away. 


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 And the inhabitants of the furthermost places are afraid of Your signs; You make the beginning of the morning and the evening rejoice. 


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 You visit the earth and water it; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, for in this way You have prepared it. 


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 You fill its terraces with water; You deepen its furrows; You make it soft with showers; You bless the sprouting of it. 


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 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with grain; they shout for joy and sing. 


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 Say to God, How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power, Your enemies pretend obedience to You. 


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 He rules by His power forever; His eyes behold the nations; let not the rebels lift themselves up. Selah. 


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 You have allowed men to ride at our head; we have gone through fire and through water, but You have brought us out to plenty. 


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 I will offer to You burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bulls with goats. Selah. 


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 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 


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 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song. Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; also let those who hate Him flee before Him. 


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 As smoke is driven away, You drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish in the presence of God. 


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 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; praise Him who rides on the heavens by His name JEHOVAH, and rejoice before Him. 


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 God causes the lonely to live at home; 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 dropped at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 


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 When you lie among the sheepfolds, the wings of a dove are covered with silver, and its pinions with the shimmer of gold. 


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 Why do you gaze in envy, O mountain range, at the mountain God has chosen for His resting place? Yes, Jehovah will dwell in it forever. 


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 The chariots of God are myriads, thousands of thousands; the Lord is among them, in Sinai, in the holy place. 


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 You have gone up on high; You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts for men, yes, for the rebellious also, that You might dwell among them, O Jehovah God. 


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 Yea, God shall wound the head of His enemies, and the hairy crown of him who walks on in his guilt. 


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 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan; I will bring back My people from the depths of the sea; 


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 The singers went before, then the musicians came; among them were the virgins playing the timbrels. 


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 There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the leaders of Judah and their multitude, the leaders of Zebulun, and the leaders of Naphtali. 


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 Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the herd of bulls, with the calves of the peoples, trampling down with the pieces of silver. He scatters the people who delight in war. 


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 O God, You are overwhelming out of Your holy places; the God of Israel is He who gives strength and powers to the people. Blessed is God. 


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 To the Chief Musician. Concerning the Lilies. A Psalm of David. Save me, O God! for the waters have come in on my soul. 


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 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 


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 They who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they who would destroy me are mighty, my lying enemies. Then I restored what I did not take away. 


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 Do not let those who wait on You, O Jehovah, the God of Hosts, be ashamed for my sake; let not the ones who seek You be ashamed for my sake, O God of Israel, 


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 For the zeal of Your house has eaten Me up; and the reproaches of those who reproached You have fallen on Me. 


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 But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Jehovah, in a pleasing 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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 Do not let the flood of waters overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut its mouth on me. 


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 Hear me, O Jehovah, 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 mourn with me, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 


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 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah; so that they may dwell there, and possess it. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Jehovah. 


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 Let them be ashamed and turned pale, those who seek after my soul; let them be turned backward and blush, those who desire my hurt. 


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 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and let those who love Your salvation say without ending, 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 Jehovah, wait no longer! 


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 Be a rock of refuge for me, to which I may always go; You have commanded 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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 On You I have rested from the womb; You are He who took me out of my mother's bowels; my praise always shall be of You. 


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 Let them be ashamed; let those who are enemies of my soul be consumed; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, those who 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 how many they are. 


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 I will go in the strength of the Lord Jehovah; I will speak of Your righteousness, of Yours alone. 


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 And now when I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not leave me; until I have declared Your strength to this generation, and Your power to everyone who is to come. 


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 who has shown me great and evil distresses; You will turn me; You will make me live. You will turn me from the depths of the earth, You will bring me up. 


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 I will also praise You with a harp. O my God, I will sing Your truth; to You I will sing with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. 


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 My tongue also shall muse on Your righteousness all the day long; for those who seek my evil have turned pale, they are brought to shame. 


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 A Psalm of Solomon. 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 crush in pieces the cruel one. 


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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 their blood shall be precious in His sight. 


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 And He shall live, and to Him shall be given the gold of Sheba; and prayer shall always be made for Him; He shall bless Him all the day long. 


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 There shall be a fullness of grain in the earth on the top of the mountains; its fruit shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 


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 His name shall endure forever; 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 forever; and all the earth is 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 who go lusting away from You. 


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 And I, it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in Jehovah God, to declare all Your works. 


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 An Instruction of Asaph. O God, have You cast us off forever? Will 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 in which You have dwelt. 


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 Lift up Your feet to the never-ending ruins, even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary. 


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 They have cast fire into Your sanctuary; they have defiled the dwelling-place of Your name to the ground. 


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 They said in their hearts, Together let us rage against them; they have burned up all God's meeting-places in the land. 


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 We did not see our signs; there is no prophet any more; neither is there among us any who knows how long. 


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 You cracked open the heads of leviathan, and gave him to be food to the people living in the wilderness. 


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 Do not deliver the soul of Your turtle dove to the multitude; forget not the congregation of Your poor forever. 


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 Forget not the voice of Your enemies; the noise of those who rise up against You keeps on increasing. 


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 To the Chief Musician. Do not destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song. To You, O God, we have given thanks, to You we have given thanks; for Your name is near, Your wonderful works declared. 


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 For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed; and He pours out from it; but the dregs of it, all the wicked of the earth shall drain its dregs and drink. 


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 Also I will cut off all the horns of the wicked; but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up. 


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 To the Chief Musician. For stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song. God is known in Judah, His name is great in Israel. 


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 The stouthearted have been stripped; they slept their sleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands. 


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 To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. I cried to God with my voice, to God is my voice; and He gave ear to me. 


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 In the day of my trouble I sought Jehovah; my hand was poured in the night, and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted. 


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 The voice of Your thunder was in the sky; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. 


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 An instruction of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law; bow down your ears to the words of my mouth. 


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 We will not hide them from their sons, showing to the generations to come the praises of Jehovah, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He has done. 


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 For He set up a testimony in Jacob, and ordered a Law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their sons; 


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 so that the generation to come might know; sons shall be born, and they shall arise and tell their sons, 


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 so that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His Commandments; 


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 and might not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set their heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful with God. 


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 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 


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 Behold! He struck the rock so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He also give bread? Can He provide flesh for His people? 


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 Therefore Jehovah heard, and was made furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, 


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 the wrath of God came on them and killed the fattest of them, and struck down the chosen of Israel. 


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 But He, full of pity, 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 different kinds of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 


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 He made a way to His anger; He did not save their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague, 


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 He also cast out the nations 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 they turned back, and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceiving bow. 


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 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. 


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 from following the ewes great with young He brought him to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. 


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 And he fed them according to the pureness of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. 


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 A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. 


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 They have given the dead bodies of Your servants as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth. 


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 Pour out Your wrath on the nations who have not known You, and on the kingdoms who have not called on Your name. 


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 O do not remember against us our former sins; let Your tender mercies meet us quickly; 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 atone for our sins, for Your name's sake. 


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 Why should the nations say, Where is their God? Let Him be known among the nations before our eyes by the revenging of the blood of Your servants which is shed. 


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 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You; according to the greatness of Your power, leave a remnant of those who are to die, 


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 and give to our neighbors their curse sevenfold into their bosom, the curse with which they have cursed You, O Lord. 


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 Then we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, will give You thanks forever; we will show forth Your praise to all generations. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Testimony Concerning the Lilies. A Psalm of Asaph. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You dwelling between the cherubs, shine forth. 


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 and the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and the Son that You make strong for Yourself. 


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 Let Your hand be on the Man of Your right hand, on the Son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself. 


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 To the Chief Musician. On Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph. Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob. 


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 This He ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when He went out over the land of Egypt; I heard a language I understood not. 


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 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. 


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 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 


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 The haters of Jehovah would have been found liars to Him, and their time would have lasted forever. 


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 And He would have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock I would have satisfied you. 


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 A Psalm of Asaph. God stands in the congregation of the mighty; in the midst of the gods He judges. 


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 They neither know nor will understand; they walk on in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 


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 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, so that the name Israel may be remembered no more. 


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 so that men may know that Your name is JEHOVAH, that You alone are the Most High over all the earth. 


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 To the Chief Musician. On Gittith. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. How lovely are Your tabernacles, O Jehovah of Hosts! 


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


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 Even the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, Your altars, O Jehovah of Hosts, my King and my God. 


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 Passing through the valley of weeping, they will make it a fountain; the early rain also covers it with blessings. 


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 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 


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 For Jehovah God is a sun and shield; Jehovah will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. 


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 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. O Jehovah, You have been gracious to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. 


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 I will hear what God Jehovah 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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 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 company of violent men have sought after my life, and have not set You before them. 


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 Oh 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, so that they who hate me may see and be ashamed; because You, Jehovah, have helped me and comforted me. 


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 I will mention Rahab and Babylon to those who know me; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. 


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 And to Zion it shall be said, This man and that man was born in her; and the Highest shall establish her. 


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 A Song. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. On Mahalath, to make humble. A Poem of Heman the Ezrahite. O Jehovah, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before You. 


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 free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom You remember no more; and by Your hand they are cut off. 


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 You have taken my friends away from me; You have made me a hateful thing to them. I am shut up, and I cannot go out. 


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 My eye mourns because of affliction; O Jehovah, I have called daily on You; I have stretched out my hands to You. 


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 A Poem of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the mercies of Jehovah forever; with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness to all generations. 


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 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever; You shall establish Your faithfulness in the heavens. 


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 And the heavens shall praise Your wonders, O Jehovah, Your faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. 


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 God is greatly to be feared in the congregation of the saints, and to be adored by all around Him. 


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 O Jehovah, the God of Hosts, who is a strong Jehovah like You? And Your faithfulness is round about You? 


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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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 Justice and judgment are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth shall go before Your face. 


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 Blessed is the people that knows the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Jehovah, in the light of Your face. 


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 Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, and You said, I have laid help on a mighty one; I have lifted up a chosen one out of the people. 


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 But I will not completely take My loving-kindness from him, and I will not be false in My faithfulness. 


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 Remember, Lord, the scorn of Your servants; how I bear in my bosom the insult of all the mighty people, 


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 with which Your enemies have cursed, O Jehovah; with which they have cursed the footsteps of Your anointed. 


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 A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. O Jehovah, 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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 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 strength they are fourscore years, yet their pride is labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 


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 And let the beauty of Jehovah our God be on us; and establish the work of our hands on us; yea, the work of our hands, establish it. 


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 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall 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; it shall not come near you. 


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 Because He has set His love on Me, therefore I will deliver Him; I will set Him on high, because He has known My name. 


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 He shall call on Me, and I will answer Him; I will be with Him in trouble; I will deliver Him, and honor Him. 


text:
 A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day. It is good to give thanks to Jehovah, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 


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 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity blossom, it is that they shall be destroyed forever; 


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 For, lo, Your enemies, O Jehovah; for lo, Your enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 


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 Also my eye shall see my desire on my enemies, and my ears shall hear the wicked who rise up against me. 


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 Jehovah reigns, He is clothed with majesty; Jehovah is clothed with strength. He clothed Himself and the world is established; it shall not be shaken. 


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 The floods have lifted up, O Jehovah, the floods have lifted up their voices; the floods lift up their waves. 


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 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? 


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 And He will bring on them their own iniquity, and He will cut them off in their evil. Jehovah our God shall cut them off. 


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 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if you will hear His voice, 


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 For forty years I was grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways; 


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 Say among the nations, Jehovah reigns; and the world shall be established; it shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples in uprightness. 


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 before Jehovah; 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 all around Him; righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne. 


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 The hills melted like wax at the presence of Jehovah, at the presence of Jehovah of the whole earth. 


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 All those who serve graven images are ashamed, those who boast themselves in idols; all gods bow down before Him. 


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 Zion heard and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of Your judgments, O Jehovah. 


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 You who love Jehovah, hate evil; He keeps the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. 


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 A Psalm. O sing to Jehovah a new song; for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have saved for Him. 


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 Jehovah has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has unveiled to the eyes of the nations. 


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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 Jehovah. 


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 before Jehovah; for He comes to judge the earth; with righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples in uprightness. 


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 The king's strength also loved judgment; You established uprightness; You worked judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 


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 Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel among those who called on His name; they called on Jehovah, 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 Jehovah our God; You were a God who forgave them, though You take vengeance for their deeds. 


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 Know that Jehovah, He is God. He 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 have hated the work of those who turn aside; it shall not hold on to me. 


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 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, I will cut him off; him who has a high look and a proud heart, I will not allow. 


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 My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, so that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve Me. 


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 He who works falsely shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not stay in my sight. 


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 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, so that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of Jehovah. 


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 A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before Jehovah. Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and let my cry come to You. 


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 Hide not Your face from me in the day when I am in trouble; bow down Your ear to me; in the day I call, answer me quickly. 


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 This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people who shall be created shall praise Jehovah. 


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 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; Your years are through the generation of generations. 


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 They shall perish, but You shall endure; yea, all of them shall become old like a garment; like a robe You shall change them, and they shall be changed; 


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 But the mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness is to sons of sons; 


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 Bless Jehovah, O angels of His, who excel in strength, who do His command, listening to the voice of His Word. 


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 Bless Jehovah, O my soul. O Jehovah my God, You are very great; You have put on honor and majesty, 


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 He lays the beams of His upper rooms in the waters. He sets the clouds as His chariots; He walks on 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 founded for them. 


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 You have set a bound that they may not pass over, so that they do not turn again to cover the earth. 


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 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for the service of man, to bring forth food out of the earth, 


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 and wine cheers the heart of man, and oil makes his face shine, and bread sustains the heart of man. 


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 O Jehovah, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your riches. 


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 This is the great and wide sea, in which are creeping things without number, both small and great animals. 


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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 the sinners perish from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Praise Jehovah! 


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 He also brought them out 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, to 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 rebelled at the sea, even at the Red Sea. 


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 And He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. 


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 And He said that He would destroy them, if Moses His chosen had not stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, so that He should not destroy them. 


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 and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was defiled with blood. 


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 and He remembered His covenant for them, and was moved to pity, according to the multitude of His mercies. 


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 Save us, O Jehovah our God, and gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to Your holy name and to triumph in Your praise. 


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 Blessed is Jehovah, the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting; and let all the people say, Amen. Praise Jehovah! 


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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 Jehovah for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the sons of man! 


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 They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. 


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 And let them exalt Him in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the gathering of the elders. 


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 He also blesses them, so that they are multiplied greatly; and does not allow their cattle to become few. 


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 A Song, A Psalm of David. O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and I will give praise, even with my glory. 


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 I will praise You, O Jehovah, among the peoples; and I will sing praises to You among the nations. 


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 God has spoken in His holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and I will measure out the valley of Succoth. 


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 for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me; they spoke against me with a lying tongue. 


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 Let the money-lender lay a snare for all that is his; and let strangers take the fruit of his labor. 


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 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered to Jehovah; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. 


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 because he did not remember to do mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, and sought to kill the broken-hearted. 


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 Yea, he loved cursing, so let it come to him; he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him. 


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 As he clothed himself with cursing, as with his robe, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. 


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 But You, Lord Jehovah, deal kindly with me for Your name's sake; because Your mercy is good, deliver me. 


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 Let my foes be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own shame, as with a cloak. 


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 A Psalm of David. Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand until I place Your enemies as Your footstool. 


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 Your people shall be willing in the day of Your power, in holy adornment from the womb of the morning: You have the dew of Your youth. 


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 He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill them with dead bodies; He shall shatter heads over much of the earth. 


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 Praise Jehovah! I will praise Jehovah with all my heart, in the council of the upright, and of the congregation. 


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 He sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever; holy and awesome is His name. 


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 The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; all practicing them have good understanding; His praise stands forever. 


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 To the upright there arises light in the darkness; he is gracious and full of pity and righteousness. 


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 He has scattered abroad; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn shall be lifted up with honor. 


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 The wicked shall see and be vexed; he shall gnash with his teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked shall perish. 


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 Not to us, O Jehovah, 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; they have feet, but they do not walk; they do not mutter through their throat. 


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 Jehovah has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. 


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 The sorrows of death hemmed me in, and the pains of hell took hold on me; I found trouble and sorrow. 


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 O Jehovah, 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 Jehovah endures forever. Praise Jehovah! 


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 They surround me like bees; they are put out like the fire of thorns; for in the name of Jehovah I will cut them off. 


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 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of Jehovah does mighty things. 


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 VAU: Let Your mercies come to me, O Jehovah, even according to Your salvation, according to Your Word. 


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 And I will lift up my hands to Your Commandments which I have loved; and I will think on Your Precepts. 


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 JOD: Your hands have made me and formed me; give me understanding so that I may learn Your Commandments. 


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 I beseech You, let Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your Word to Your servant. 


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 Let the proud be ashamed; for they perverted my cause with lying; I will think on Your Commandments. 


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 Therefore I count all Your Commandments concerning all things to be right; I hate every false way. 


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 Hear my voice according to Your loving-kindness; O Jehovah, according to Your judgment give me life. 


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 A Song of degrees; of David. I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of Jehovah. 


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 where the tribes go up, the tribes of Jehovah, to the testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of Jehovah. 


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 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters; as the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait on Jehovah our God, until He shall have mercy on us. 


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 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the contempt of those who are at ease, with the scorn of the proud. 


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 Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. 


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 A Song of degrees. They who trust in Jehovah shall be like Mount Zion; it is not shaken, but remains forever. 


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 As the mountains are all around Jerusalem, so Jehovah is all around His people from this time and forever. 


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 For the rod of the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands to iniquity. 


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 And those who turn aside to their crooked ways, Jehovah shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity; peace shall be on Israel. 


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 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing; then they said among the nations, Jehovah has done great things with them. 


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 He who goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. 


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 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Unless Jehovah builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless Jehovah keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 


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 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep. 


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 Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. 


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 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine by the sides of your house; your sons shall be like olive plants around your table. 


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 Jehovah shall bless you out of Zion; and you shall see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. 


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 And those who pass by have never said, The blessing of Jehovah be on you; we bless you in the name of Jehovah. 


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 Let Israel hope in Jehovah; for with Jehovah there is mercy, and with Him is plentiful redemption. 


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 A Song of degrees; of David. O Jehovah, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes lofty; nor have I walked in great things, nor in things too wondrous for me. 


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 Surely I have behaved and have quieted my soul, as one weaned by its mother; my soul on me is like one weaned. 


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 Jehovah has sworn to David in truth; He will not turn from it; Of the fruit of your body I will set on the throne for you. 


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 If your sons will keep My covenant and My testimonies which I shall teach them, their sons shall also sit on your throne forever. 


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 A Song of degrees; of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! 


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 It is like the precious ointment on the head that ran down on the beard, Aaron's beard, that went down to the mouth of his garments; 


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 like the dew of Hermon that came down on the mountains of Zion; for there Jehovah commanded the blessing, life forevermore. 


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 A Song of degrees. Behold, bless Jehovah, all servants of Jehovah, who stand by night in the house of Jehovah. 


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 Every thing Jehovah pleased, He did in the heavens and in earth, and in the seas and all deep places. 


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 He causes the vapors to rise from the end of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain; He brings wind out of His storehouses. 


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 For there our captors demanded a song from us; and our plunderers demanded gladness, 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 Jehovah, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Make it bare! Make it bare, even to the foundation of it! 


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 O daughter of Babylon, O destroyed one! Blessed is he who will repay to you your reward which you rewarded to us. 


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 A Psalm of David. I will praise You with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing praise to You. 


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 I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth's sake; for You have magnified Your Word above all Your name. 


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 If I walk in the midst of trouble, You will give me life; You shall stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand shall save me. 


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 Jehovah will perfect His work in me; Your mercy, O Jehovah, endures forever; do not forsake the work of Your own hands. 


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 Yea, the darkness does not hide from You; but the night shines as the day; as is the darkness, so is the light to You. 


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 I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well. 


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 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and skillfully formed in the lowest parts of the earth. 


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 Your eyes saw my embryo; and in Your book all my members were written, the days they were formed, and not one was among them. 


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 O Jehovah, do I not hate those who hate You? And am I not grieved with those who rise up against You? 


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 To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Deliver me, O Jehovah, from the evil man; keep me from the violent man, 


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 O Jehovah, keep me from the hands of the wicked; keep me from the violent man who purposed to trip up my steps. 


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 The proud have hidden cords and a trap for me; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set snares for me. Selah. 


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 O Jehovah, do not grant the desires of the wicked; do not help his wicked plans, lest they praise themselves. Selah. 


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 Let burning coals fall on them; let them be cast 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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 A Psalm of David. O Jehovah, I cry to You; make haste to me, give ear to my voice when I cry to 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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 Let not my heart turn aside to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity; and let me not eat of their delicacies. 


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 Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness; and let him correct me, it is oil on my head, let not my head refuse it; for still my prayer also shall be against their wickedness. 


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 An Instruction of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. I cried to Jehovah with my voice; with my voice I prayed to Jehovah. 


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 When my spirit fainted within me, then You knew my path. In the way in which I walked they have secretly laid a snare for me. 


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 I looked on my right hand, and I watched, but no one recognized me; escape was lost to me; no man cared for my soul. 


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 Hear my cry; for I am brought very low; deliver me from my pursuers; for they are stronger than I. 


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 Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall gather around me; for You shall reward me. 


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 A Psalm of David. Hear my prayer O Jehovah; give ear to my supplications; in Your faithfulness and in Your righteousness answer me. 


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 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has beaten my life down to the ground; he has made me dwell in darkness, as those long dead. 


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 Hear me quickly, O Jehovah; my spirit fails; do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the Pit. 


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 Cause me to hear Your loving-kindness in the morning, for I do trust in You; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to 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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 O Jehovah, for Your name's sake enliven me; for Your righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble. 


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 And out of Your mercy cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul; for I am Your servant. 


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 A Psalm of David. Blessed is Jehovah my Rock, who teaches My hands for war, my fingers for battle. 


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 He is my goodness and my fortress; my high tower and my deliverer; my shield and He in whom I trust; who humbles my people under me. 


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 Send Your hand from above; rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of a foreigner's sons; 


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 Rescue me, and deliver me from the hand of foreigners' sons, because their mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood; 


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 so that our sons may be like plants grown up in their youth; and our daughters may be like corner-stones, polished like a palace building; 


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 and our storehouses may be full, furnishing kind to kind; and our flocks may breed thousands and ten thousands outside; 


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 Praise, of David. I will lift You up, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever. 


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 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry, and will save them. 


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 My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah; and let all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever. 


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 who carries out judgment for the mistreated; who gives food to the hungry. Jehovah lets the prisoners loose; 


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 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; Jehovah raises those who are bowed down; Jehovah loves the righteous; 


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 Jehovah preserves the strangers; He relieves the orphan and widow, but the way of the wicked He turns upside down. 


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 who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains. 


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 let them praise the name of Jehovah; for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heavens. 


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 He also lifts up the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints, even of the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise Jehovah! 


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 If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, we will watch secretly for the innocent without cause; 


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 she cries in the chief place of gathering, in the openings of the gates; in the city she utters her words, saying, 


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 How long will you love simplicity, simple ones? And will scorners delight in their scorning? And will fools hate knowledge? 


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 when your fear comes as a wasting away, and your ruin comes like a tempest when trouble and pain come upon you. 


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 Then they shall call upon me, and I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; 


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 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; tie them around your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart; 


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 she is more precious than rubies; and all the things you can desire are not to be compared with her. 


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 When you lie down, you shall not be afraid; yea, you shall lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet. 


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 Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come back again, and tomorrow I will give; when you have it beside you: 


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 He also taught me, and said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live. 


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 For they do not sleep, except when they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. 


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 Like the loving deer and pleasant doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and be ravished always with her love. 


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 My son, do this now, and deliver yourself when you have come into the hand of your friend; go, humble yourself and make your friend sure. 


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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 harlot a man comes to a piece of bread; and another man's wife will hunt for the precious life. 


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 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 


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 He goes after her immediately, like an ox goes to the slaughter, or like a fool to the correction of the stocks; 


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 until a dart strikes through his liver; as a bird hastens to the snare and does not know that it is for his soul. 


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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 Jehovah is to hate evil; I hate pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the wicked mouth. 


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 when He gave to the sea its limit that the waters should not pass His command; when He appointed the foundations of the earth; 


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 One rebuking a scorner gets shame to himself; and one rebuking a wicked one gets himself a blemish. 


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 Give to a wise one, and he will be still wiser; teach a just one, 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 sorrow of his mother. 


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 Jehovah will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry; but He casts away the desire of the wicked. 


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 In the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found; but a rod is for the back of him who is without understanding. 


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 The integrity of the upright shall guide them; but the crookedness of traitors shall destroy them. 


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 The righteousness of the perfect shall make his way right, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. 


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 A hypocrite corrupts his neighbor with his mouth; but through knowledge the just shall be delivered. 


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 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked are destroyed, there is singing. 


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 By the blessing of the upright the city is lifted up, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. 


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 One going with slander is a revealer of secrets, but the faithful of spirit keeps the matter hidden. 


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 They who are of a perverse heart are hateful to Jehovah, but the upright in the way are His delight. 


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 Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be innocent; but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. 


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 There is one who scatters and yet increases; but one who withholds just due comes only to poverty. 


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 He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind; and the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart. 


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 A woman of virtue is a crown to her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones. 


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 The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood; but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. 


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 A man shall be praised according to his wisdom, but he who is of a perverse heart shall be despised. 


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 A righteous one understands the soul of his animal; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. 


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 A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the reward of a man's hands shall be given to him. 


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 The soul of the sluggard desires and has nothing; but the soul of the hard worker shall be made fat. 


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 Poverty and shame shall be to him who refuses instruction, but he who listens to correction shall be honored. 


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 A good man leaves an inheritance to his sons' sons, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. 


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 In the multitude of people is the king's honor, but in the lack of people is the ruin of the prince. 


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 The sacrifice of the wicked is a hateful thing to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright is His delight. 


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 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness. 


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 The thoughts of the wicked are very hateful to Jehovah, but the words of the pure are pleasant words. 


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 Everyone proud in heart is hateful to Jehovah; though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. 


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 It is a hateful thing for kings to commit wickedness; for the throne is established by righteousness. 


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 How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver! 


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 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit is better than he who takes a city. 


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 Better is a dry piece of bread, and quietness with it, than a house full of sacrifices with fighting. 


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 A wise servant shall have rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brothers. 


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 The beginning of strife is like letting out water; therefore leave off fighting, before it breaks out. 


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 He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, even both of them are hateful to Jehovah. 


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 Even a fool, when he is silent, is counted wise, and he who shuts his lips is counted as a man of understanding. 


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 A brother offended is like a strong city; and their disagreements are like the bars of a fortress. 


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 A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; he shall be satisfied with the product of his lips. 


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 All the brothers of the poor man hate him; how much more do his friends go far from him? He pursues them with words, yet they are lacking. 


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 Strike a scorner, and the simple will beware; reprove one who has understanding, and he will understand knowledge. 


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 He who assaults his father and chases away his mother is a son who causes shame and brings reproach. 


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 The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion; whoever stirs him up to anger sins against his own soul. 


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 Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes and you shall be satisfied with bread. 


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 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenty; but the thoughts of everyone who is hasty only to poverty. 


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 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a quarrelsome woman and to share a house. 


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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 wisely considers the house of the wicked; but God overthrows the wicked for their wickedness. 


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 The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of departed spirits. 


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 The sacrifice of the wicked is hateful to God; how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind? 


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 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches; and loving favor rather than silver or gold. 


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 He who crushes the poor to multiply for himself, and he who gives to the rich, only to come to poverty. 


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 that I might make you know the sureness of the words of truth; to return 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 unknown men. 


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 Will your eyes fly on it? And it is gone! For surely it makes wings for itself; it flies into the heavens like an eagle. 


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 for as he thinks in his heart, so is he; Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 


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 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice; and he who fathers a wise child shall have joy from him. 


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 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fighting? 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 gives its color in the cup, when it goes down smoothly 


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 Yes, you shall be as one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as one who lies upon the top of a mast, 


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 saying, They struck me; I was not sick; they beat me, but I did not know it. When I awaken, I will add more. I will seek it again. 


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 If you say, Behold, we did not know; does not He who searches the heart consider it? And the Keeper of your soul, does He know? And He repays to a 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 hope shall not be cut off. 


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 Wicked one, do not lie in ambush at the dwelling of the righteous; do not spoil his resting place; 


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 He who says to the wicked, You are righteous; the people shall curse him and nations shall abhor him. 


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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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 Do not say, I will do so to him as he has done to me; I will give to the man according to his work. 


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 and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face of it, and its stone wall was broken down. 


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 Do not put yourself forth in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of the great; 


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 for it is better that it should be said to you, Come up here, than that you should be put lower in the presence of a noble whom your eyes have seen. 


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 Do not go forth quickly to fight, lest you know not what to do in the end of it, when your neighbor has put you to shame. 


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 Like cold snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to his senders; for he makes return to his master's soul. 


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 Have you found honey? Eat only as much as is enough for you, lest you be filled with it and vomit it. 


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 As he who takes away a garment in cold weather, as vinegar upon niter, so is he who sings songs to a heavy heart. 


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 It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a quarreling woman and to share a house. 


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 He who passes by enraging himself over strife not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears, 


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 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; so does the sweetness of one's friend by advice from the heart. 


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 Your own friend, and your father's friend, do not forsake them; nor go to your brother's house in the day of your trouble; better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off. 


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 He who blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. 


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 Though you should pound a fool in a bowl with a bar in the midst of wheat, 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 a living for your young women. 


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 Because of the transgression of a land, many are its rulers; but it is prolonged by a man of discernment who knows right. 


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 Better is the poor who walks in his uprightness than he who is perverse in his ways, though he is rich. 


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 He who increases his wealth by interest and unjust gain, he shall gather it for him who will pity the poor. 


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 Whoever causes the righteous man to go astray in an evil way, he himself shall fall into his own pit; but the upright shall inherit good. 


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 He who covers his sins shall not be blessed; but whoever confesses and leaves them shall have mercy. 


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 A ruler lacking understanding even adds oppressions; he who hates unjust gain shall prolong his days. 


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 A man who is pressed down with the blood of a soul shall flee to the pit; do not let them uphold him. 


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 He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he pursuing vanities shall have poverty enough. 


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 A faithful man shall overflow with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent. 


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 Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, It is no sin; he shall be a companion to a destroyer. 


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 He who is of a proud heart stirs up fighting; but he who puts his trust in Jehovah shall be made fat. 


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 An unjust man is a hateful thing to the just; and he who is upright in the way is hateful to the wicked. 


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 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the prophecy: The man spoke to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal, saying, 


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 Who has gone up to Heaven and has come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in His garments? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name? Surely you know. 


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 remove far from me vanity and a lying word; give me neither poverty or riches; tear for me my portion of bread, 


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 lest I be full and deceive, and say, Who is Jehovah? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and violate the name of my God. 


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 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their own filth. 


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 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaw teeth like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. 


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 The leech has two daughters, crying, Give, give! Three things are never satisfied, yea, four things never say, Enough! 


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 The grave; and the barren womb, the earth not filled with water, and the fire, have not said, Enough. 


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 The eye that mocks at 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 snake on a rock; the way of a ship in the middle of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden. 


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 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no evil. 


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 If you have done foolishly in lifting yourself up, or if you have thought evil, lay your hand on 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 fighting. 


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 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes to lust for strong drink; 


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 She also rises while it is still night, and gives food to her household, and a share to her young women. 


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 The wind goes toward the south, and it turns around to the north; it whirls around continually; and the wind returns on its circuits. 


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 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; to the place from where the rivers come, there they return again. 


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 All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 


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 That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. 


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 Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been in days of old, which were before us. 


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 There is no memory of former things, and also no memory of after things which shall be; for neither shall be a remembrance of them with those who will be at the afterwards. 


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 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all which is done under the heavens. It is a sad task God has given to the sons of men to be humbled by it. 


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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 spoke within my own heart, saying, Lo, I have become great and have gathered more wisdom than all that have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart has seen much of wisdom and knowledge. 


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 And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I know that this also is vexation of spirit. 


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 I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore consider and behold goodness; this also is vanity. 


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 I sought in my heart to drag my flesh with wine, yet leading my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until I might see where the good for the sons of men might be, what they should do under the heavens all the days of their life. 


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 I bought slaves and slave women, and sons of the house were mine; also livestock, a herd and a great flock were mine, above all that were before me in Jerusalem. 


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 I also gathered silver and gold to myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got men singers and women singers for myself, and the delights of the sons of men, a wife and very many wives. 


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 I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. 


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 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I did not withhold my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my part 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 is vanity and vexation of spirit; and there is no profit under the sun. 


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 And I turned to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king, when they have already done it? 


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 The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness; and I also knew that one event happens to all of them. 


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 Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 


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 For there is no memory of the wise more than of the fool forever, since that which is now shall all be forgotten in the days to come. And how does the wise die above the fool! 


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 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is sad to me; for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 


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 Yes, I hated all my labor which I had done under the sun; that I must leave it to the man who shall be after me. 


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 And who knows whether he shall be wise or a fool? Yet he shall have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and acted wisely under the sun. This is also vanity. 


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 When there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and with success; yet to a man who has not labored in it, he shall leave it for his share. This also is vanity and a great evil. 


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 For what has man from all his labor, and from the troubling of his heart, in which he has labored under the sun? 


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 For all his days are sorrows, and his labor sadness; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. This is also vanity. 


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 Is it not good that he should eat and drink and make his soul see good in his labor? This I also saw, that it was from the hand of God. 


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 For God gives wisdom, and knowledge, and joy to a man who is good in His sight. But to the sinner He gives labor, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. 


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 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 


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 He has made everything beautiful in His time; also He has set eternity 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 forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God does it so that they 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 again I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. 


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 I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. 


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 I said in my heart concerning the matter of sons of men, that God might reveal them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 


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 For that which happens to the sons of men also happens to beasts, even one thing happens to them. As this one dies, so that one dies; yea, they all have one breath; so that a man has no advantage over a beast; for all is vanity. 


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 Therefore I have seen that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion; for who can bring him to see what shall be after him? 


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 So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold the tears of the oppressed ones, and they had no comforter! And on the side of those who oppressed them there was power, but they had no comforter. 


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 Yea, better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. 


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 Again, I considered all labor, 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 son nor brother; yet there is no end to all his labor; and his eyes are not satisfied with riches; and he says , For whom do I labor and take good from my soul? This is also vanity. Yes, it is an evil business. 


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 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he does not have another to help him. 


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 I saw all the living who walk under the sun, with the second child who shall stand up in his place. 


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 There is no end of all the people, of all who have been before them; they also who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit. 


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 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they do not know that they are doing evil. 


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 Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be hasty to say a word before God. For God is in Heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few. 


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 For a dream comes through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice by the multitude of words. 


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 When you vow a vow to God, do not wait to pay it. For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you have vowed. 


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 Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; do not say before the angel that it was an error. 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 who is higher than the highest watches; and there are some higher than they. 


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 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, and he who loves abundance not with gain. This is also vanity. 


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 When the good thing increases, those who eat it increase; then what profit is it to its owners, except to see it with their eyes? 


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 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep. 


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 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for their owners to their hurt. 


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 As he came forth from his mother's womb naked, he shall return to go as he came. And from his labor he may not carry anything that may go in his hand. 


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 And this also is a sore evil, that in all, as he came, so shall he go; and what profit does he have who has labored for the wind? 


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 Behold that which I have seen. it is good and right for one to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labor that he labors under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him; for it is his portion. 


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 Also every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. 


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 For he 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 of it, but a stranger eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease. 


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 If a man fathers a hundred, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also is for him no burial; I say, a miscarriage is better than he. 


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 For he comes in with vanity and goes out in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. 


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 For what has the wise more than the fool? What gain has the poor who knows how to walk before the living? 


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 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. 


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 That which has been is named already, and it is known that he is man. And he is not able to contend with Him who is mightier than he. 


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 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? 


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 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to 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 laughter. 


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 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 


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 Do not say, Why was it that the former days were better than these? For you do not ask wisely in regard to this. 


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 For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it. 


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 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity take note that God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. 


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 All things I have seen in the days of my vanity; there is a just one who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked one who prolongs life in his wickedness. 


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 It is good that you should take hold of this; yea, also from this do not withdraw your hand; for he who fears God shall come forth from all of them. 


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 I set my heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness; 


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 and I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands like bands. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her. 


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 which my soul still sought, but I find not: one man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all those I have not found. 


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 Lo, this only I have found, that God has made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. 


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 Who is as the wise? And who knows the meaning of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed. 


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 Do not be hasty to leave his presence. Do not take a stand in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him. 


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 Whoever keeps the command shall feel no evil thing; and a wise man's heart knows both time and judgment. 


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 There is no man who has power over the spirit to keep the spirit; nor power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war; nor shall wickedness deliver its owners. 


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 All this I have seen, and I gave my heart to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt. 


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 And so I saw the wicked buried, and they came and went from the holy place. And they were forgotten in the city, these things that they had 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 does evil a hundred times, and his days be made longer, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 


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 But it shall not be well with the wicked, nor shall he make his days longer like a shadow; because he does not fear before God. 


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 There is a vanity which is done on the earth: There are just ones to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked ones to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 


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 Then I praised gladness, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be glad; for that shall go with him of his labor for the days of his life which God gives him under the sun. 


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 When I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth; for neither day nor night do men see sleep with their eyes. 


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 Then I looked at all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun; because though a man labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea, further, though a wise one speaks of knowing, yet he shall not be able to find it. 


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 For all this I took to heart, even to make all this clear, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them. 


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 All happens 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 who sacrifices, and to him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner. He who swears is as he who fears an oath. 


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 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 


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 For whoever is chosen, to all those 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 do not know anything, nor do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten. 


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 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; nor do they any longer have a part forever in all that is done under the sun. 


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 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God now is pleased with your works. 


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 Look on life 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 share in this life, and in your labor which you labor under the sun. 


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 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave where you go. 


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 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all. 


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 For man also does not know his time; as the 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 on them. 


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 There was a little city, and few men in it; and a great king came against it and besieged it, and built huge bulwarks against it. 


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 And a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that poor man. 


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 And I said, Wisdom is better than strength; but the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. 


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 As dead flies cause the perfumer's ointment to stink and ferment; so a little folly is more rare than wisdom and than honor. 


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 If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place; for yielding quiets great sinners. 


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 If the iron is blunt, and he does not whet the edge, then he must put more strength to it. But wisdom is profitable to direct. 


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 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is wicked madness. 


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 A fool also makes many words; a man knows not what they 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 leaders eat in due time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! 


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 Do not curse a king, no, not in your thought; and do not curse the rich in your bedroom; 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 are full of rain, they empty on the earth; and if the tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall be. 


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 As you do not know what is the way of the spirit, as how the bones grow in the pregnant woman's womb; 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 do not withhold your hand; for you do not know what shall be blessed, either this or that, or whether they both shall be fruitful in the same way. 


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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, in your youth, young man; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 


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 Therefore remove vexation from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for childhood and prime of life 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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 So long as the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, are darkened, or the clouds return after rain, 


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 in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men are bowed, and the grinders cease because there are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened, 


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 and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and you shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music are silenced; 


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 also they are afraid of the high place, and terrors along the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets; 


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 or ever the silver cord is not loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern; 


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 then the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. 


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 And more than that, the preacher was wise; he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he listened, and looked, and set in order many proverbs. 


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 The words of the wise are like goads; yes, their collected words are like nails driven home; they are given from one Shepherd. 


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 And further, by these, my son, be warned: The making of many books has 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 is good, or whether evil. 


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 For Your ointments have a lovely fragrance; Your name is as oil poured out; therefore 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 daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. 


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 Do not look on me, that I am black, that the sun has looked on me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my vineyard I have not kept. 


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 Tell me, You whom my soul loves, where do You feed, where do You lie down at noon? For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of Your companions? 


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 If you know not, most beautiful among women, go in the footsteps of the flock; and feed your kids beside the shepherds' tents. 


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 As the apple 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 daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the does of the field, do not stir up or awake my Love until He please. 


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 My Beloved is like a roe or a young hart. Behold, He stands behind our wall, He looks forth at the windows, peering from the lattice. 


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 the flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove 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 good smell. Arise, My love, My beautiful one, and come away. 


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 O My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let Me see your face, let Me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is beautiful. 


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 Until when does the day blow, and the shadows flee away? Turn, my Beloved, and be like a gazelle, or a young deer, the stag, on 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 did not find Him. 


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 But a little while after I passed from them, 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 room of her who conceived me. 


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 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the does of the field, do not stir up nor awake my love until it pleases. 


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 Who is this coming up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, from all the merchant's powders? 


text:
 They all hold swords, instructed in war; each man has his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night. 


text:
 He made its poles of silver, its back gold, its seat of purple, its middle was paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem. 


text:
 Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, and in the day of the gladness of his heart. 


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 Behold, you are beautiful, My love. Behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are like doves' from behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead. 


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 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, which came up from the washing; they all are bearing twins and not one is barren among them. 


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 Your lips are like a cord of scarlet, and your speech is becoming; your temples are like a piece of pomegranate behind your veil. 


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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 when the day blows, and the shadows flee away, I will go 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, My spouse, drop like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue; and the smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon. 


text:
 spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices; 


text:
 Awake, O north wind; and come, south wind; blow on my garden, so that the spices of it may flow out. Let my Beloved come into His garden and eat His pleasant fruits. 


text:
 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. 


text:
 I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the sound of my Beloved that knocks, saying, Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled; for My head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night. 


text:
 I rose up to open to my Beloved; and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers flowing with myrrh on the handles of the bolt. 


text:
 I opened to my Beloved, but my Beloved had left. He passed on. My soul went out when He spoke; I sought Him, but I could not find Him. I called Him, but He did not answer me. 


text:
 The watchmen who went about the city found me and struck me; they wounded me. The keepers of the wall lifted my veil from me. 


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 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved, what do you tell Him? That I am sick with love. 


text:
 What is your Beloved more than another beloved, most beautiful among women? What is your Beloved more than another beloved, that you adjure us so? 


text:
 His cheeks are like a bed of spices, a raised bed of aromatic herbs. His lips are as lilies dropping flowing myrrh. 


text:
 His hands are like rings of gold filled with jewels; His body an ivory plate overlaid with sapphires. 


text:
 His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold; His face is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 


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 His mouth is most sweet; yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. 


text:
 Where has your Beloved gone, most beautiful among women? Where has your Beloved turned? For we seek Him along with you. 


text:
 My Beloved has gone down to His garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies. 


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 O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as inspiring as an army with banners. 


text:
 Turn away your eyes from Me, for they have overcome Me; your hair is like a flock of goats that appears from Gilead. 


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 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes which go up from the washing; they all are bearing twins, and a barren one is not among them. 


text:
 But My dove, My undefiled is one alone. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice of her who bore her. The daughters saw her and blessed her; the queens and the concubines saw her, and they praised her. 


text:
 Who is she who looks forth like the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as armies with banners? 


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 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the greenery of the valley, to see whether the vine flowered and the pomegranates budded. 


text:
 Return, return, O Shulamite! Return, return, that we may look on you. What will you see in the Shulamite? As it were the dance of two camps. 


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 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince's daughter! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful workman. 


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 Your navel is like a round goblet, which never lacks mixed wine; your belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. 


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 Your neck is like a tower of ivory; your eyes like the fish-pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Beth-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus. 


text:
 Your head on you is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple cloth; the King is held captive in its tresses. 


text:
 I said, I will go up in the palm tree, I will take hold of its stalk. And please let your breasts be like 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 smoothly for my Beloved, flowing softly over the lips of sleeping ones. 


text:
 Let us rise up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flowers, whether the tender grape appears, and the pomegranates bud forth; there I will give You my loves. 


text:
 The love-apples give a scent, and over our doors are all pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for You, O my Beloved. 


text:
 Who could give You to me as my brother, who sucked my mother's breasts? When I find You outside, I would kiss You; yea, they would not despise me. 


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 I would lead You, and bring You into my mother's house. You would instruct me; I would cause You to drink spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. 


text:
 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, why should you stir up or awaken my Love until it pleases? 


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 Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree; there your mother travailed with you; there she travailed and bore you. 


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 Set me as a seal on Your heart, as a seal on Your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a flame of Jehovah. 


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 Many waters cannot quench love, nor will the rivers overflow it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be scorned. 


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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 is a wall, we will build on her a palace of silver; and if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. 


text:
 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; everyone for its fruit was to bring a thousand of silver. 


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 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; you, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and for the keepers of its fruit, two hundred. 


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 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 


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 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Jehovah has spoken, I have nursed and brought up sons, and they have rebelled against Me. 


text:
 The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel does not know; My people do not understand. 


text:
 Woe, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons who corrupt! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they have gone away backward. 


text:
 Why should you be stricken any more? You will revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 


text:
 From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; only a wound and a stripe and a fresh blow; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with oil. 


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 Your land is wasted, your cities burned with fire. Strangers devour your land right before your eyes, and it is wasted, as overthrown by strangers. 


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 And the daughter of Zion is left a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city. 


text:
 Except Jehovah of Hosts had left us a very small remnant, we would be as Sodom; we would be like Gomorrah. 


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 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says Jehovah; I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats. 


text:
 Bring no more vain sacrifice; incense is an abomination to Me; the new moon and sabbath, the going to meeting; I cannot endure evil and the assembly! 


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 Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me; I am weary to bear them. 


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 And when you spread out 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. 


text:
 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 Jehovah; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. 


text:
 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken. 


text:
 How has the faithful city become a harlot? It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. 


text:
 your rulers are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves a bribe, and is pursuing rewards; they do not judge the orphan, nor does the cause of the widow come to them. 


text:
 And the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, the mighty One of Israel, says, Alas! I will ease Myself of My foes, and avenge Myself of My enemies. 


text:
 And I will turn back My hand on you, and purge away your dross as with lye, and take away all your alloy. 


text:
 And I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning; afterwards you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. 


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 And the downfall of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together; and those who forsake Jehovah shall be consumed. 


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 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be ashamed for the gardens which you have chosen. 


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 And the strong shall be like tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall put them out. 


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 And it shall be, in the last days the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it. 


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 And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go to the mountain of Jehovah, 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 out the Law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 


text:
 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. 


text:
 For You have forsaken Your people the house of Jacob, because they have become full from the east, and are fortune-tellers like the Philistines. And they clap their hands with the children of strangers. 


text:
 And their land is full of silver and gold. There is no end of their treasures and their land is full of horses; nor an end of their chariots. 


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 And their land 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 pride of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. 


text:
 For the day of Jehovah of Hosts shall be on every proud and lofty one, and on every lifted up one; and he shall be brought low, 


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 And the pride of man shall be bowed down, and the loftiness of men shall be made low; and Jehovah 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 Jehovah and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth terribly. 


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 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made for him to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 


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 to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of Jehovah and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth terribly. 


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 For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water, 


text:
 the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the adviser, and the skilled worker, and the expert charmer. 


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 And the people shall be crushed, every man by another, and every man by his neighbor; the boy shall act proudly against the old man, and the low against the honorable. 


text:
 When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand; 


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 in that day he shall swear, saying, I will not be a healer; there is no bread nor a cloak in my house. You shall not make me a ruler of the people. 


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 For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah has fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of His glory. 


text:
 The look of their faces witnesses against them; and they declare their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it! Woe to their soul! For they have rewarded evil to themselves. 


text:
 As for my people, children are their taskmasters, and women rule over them. Oh my people, your rulers cause you to go astray and destroy the way of your paths. 


text:
 Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of His people, and their kings; for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 


text:
 What do you mean? You crush My people and grind the faces of the poor? says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts. 


text:
 And Jehovah says, Because the daughters of Zion are proud, and have walked with stretched out necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet; 


text:
 therefore Jehovah will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will make their secret parts naked. 


text:
 In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of ankle-bracelets, and the headbands, and the crescents, 


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 the headdresses, and the leg ornaments, and the sashes, and the houses of the soul, and the amulets; 


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 And it shall be, instead of sweet smell, there shall be an odor of decay; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a wrapping of sackcloth; 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 clothing; only let us be called by your name, to take away our shame. 


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 In that day shall the Branch of Jehovah be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely for those who have escaped from Israel. 


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 And it shall be, he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who 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 purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. 


text:
 And Jehovah will create over all the site of Mount Zion, and on her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for on all the glory shall be a defense. 


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 And there shall be a booth for a shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge, and for a hiding place from storm and rain. 


text:
 Now I will sing to my Beloved a song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard. My Beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. 


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 And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with choice vines, and built a tower in its midst, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and He looked for it to produce grapes. And it produced wild grapes. 


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 What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Who knows? I looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded rotten grapes. 


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 And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down; 


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 and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug; but briers and thorns shall come up. And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. 


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 For the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant; and He looked for justice, but behold bloody iniquity; for righteousness, but behold a cry! 


text:
 Woe to those who join house to house, laying field to field, until the end of space, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land! 


text:
 Jehovah of Hosts swore in my ears, Truly many houses shall be deserted, big and fair, without inhabitant. 


text:
 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning to go after strong drink; tarrying in the twilight while wine inflames them! 


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 And the lyre, and the harp, the timbrel, and pipe, and wine, are at their feasts; but they do not regard the work of Jehovah. Yea, they do not see the work of His hands. 


text:
 For this My people go into exile without knowledge, and their honorable men into famine, and his multitude is dried up with thirst. 


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 So hell has enlarged itself, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pride, and he who rejoices in her, shall go down into it. 


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 who say, Let Him hurry and hasten His work, so that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, so that we may know! 


text:
 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 


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 So, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame burns up the chaff; their root shall be like rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up like dust, because they have cast away the Law of Jehovah of Hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel. 


text:
 Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled on His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them, and has stricken them; and the hills trembled, and their dead bodies were as filth in the midst of the streets. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 


text:
 And He will lift up a banner to distant nations, and will hiss to them from the ends of the earth; and behold, they shall come with swift speed. 


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 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the waistcoat of their loins be loosened, nor the thong of their sandals be broken; 


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 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. 


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 Their roaring shall be like a lion; they shall roar like young lions; for, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, 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 one looks to the land, behold darkness, and lo, darkness! Distress! And the light shall be darkened by its clouds. 


text:
 In the year that King Uzziah died I then saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. 


text:
 Above it stood the seraphs; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 


text:
 And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts; the whole earth full of His glory. 


text:
 Then I said, Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of Hosts. 


text:
 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, snatched with tongs from the altar. 


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 And he laid it on my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged. 


text:
 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me! 


text:
 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. 


text:
 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. 


text:
 Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, 


text:
 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and be consumed like the terebinth and like the oak being felled, yet has its stump; the holy seed is its stump. 


text:
 And it happened in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, 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 overcome it. 


text:
 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is allied with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved by the wind. 


text:
 Then Jehovah said 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 Fuller's Field. 


text:
 And say to him, Be careful and be quiet. Do not fear, nor be timid of heart because of the two tails of these smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah; 


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 Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and break her for ourselves, and set a king in the midst of it, the son of Tabeal. 


text:
 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken so that it shall not be a people. 


text:
 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. 


text:
 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? 


text:
 So, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel. 


text:
 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you loathe shall be forsaken before both its kings. 


text:
 Jehovah shall bring on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, since the days that Ephraim departed from Judah, the king of Assyria. 


text:
 And it shall be, in that day Jehovah shall hiss for the fly at the end of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 


text:
 And they shall come and all of them shall rest in the desert valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and on all thorns, and on all the pastures. 


text:
 In the same day the Lord shall shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by those Beyond the River, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and it shall also sweep away the beard. 


text:
 and it will be, from the plentiful supply of milk they shall give, he shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall everyone eat who is left in the land. 


text:
 And it shall be, in that day every place where there were a thousand vines, worth a thousand pieces of silver, it shall even be for briers and thorns. 


text:
 With arrows and with the bow men shall come there, because all the land shall become briers and thorns. 


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 And all hills which were hoed with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of the ox, and for the trampling of sheep. 


text:
 And Jehovah said to me, Take a great scroll and write in it with a man's pen: Make Haste to Plunder! Hasten to the Prey! 


text:
 And I took to myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. 


text:
 And I went to the prophetess. And she conceived and bore a son. Then Jehovah said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz Make Haste to Plunder. 


text:
 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. 


text:
 Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; 


text:
 And therefore, behold, the Lord brings on 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. 


text:
 And he shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over; he shall reach to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. 


text:
 Suffer evil, O people, and be broken! And give ear, all from the far places of the earth. Gird yourselves and be broken. Gird yourselves and be broken! 


text:
 Counsel a counsel, and it is frustrated. Speak a word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us. 


text:
 For so Jehovah spoke to me with a strong hand, and warned me against walking in the way of this people, saying, 


text:
 Do not say, A conspiracy! to everything of which this people says, A conspiracy! And do not fear their fear, nor be afraid. 


text:
 And He shall be a sanctuary for you, but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of falling to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the people of Jerusalem. 


text:
 Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of Hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion. 


text:
 And when they shall say to you, Seek to the mediums and to wizards who peep and mutter; should not a people seek to their God, than for the living to the dead? 


text:
 To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because no light is in them. 


text:
 And they shall pass through it, hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall be, they shall be hungry; They shall rave and curse their king and their God, and look upward. 


text:
 And they shall look to the land; and behold, trouble and darkness and gloom of anguish! And they are driven away into darkness. 


text:
 Yet there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish, as in the former time. He degraded the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, so afterwards He will glorify the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 


text:
 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; they who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined. 


text:
 You have multiplied the nation. You have not increased the joy. They rejoice before You according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 


text:
 For You have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his taskmaster, as in the day of Midian. 


text:
 For every boot of the warrior is with commotion, and the coat rolled in blood shall be burning fuel for the fire. 


text:
 For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be on His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 


text:
 There is no end of the increase of His government and peace on the throne of David, and on His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on, even forever. The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will do this. 


text:
 And all the people shall know, Ephraim and the people of Samaria, who say in pride and hardness of heart, 


text:
 The bricks have fallen down, but we will build with cut stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we use cedars instead. 


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 the Syrians in front and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 


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 For this the Lord shall not rejoice over their young men, nor shall He have mercy on their orphans and widows; for everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks foolishness. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 


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 For wickedness burns like the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall roll upwards like the lifting up of smoke. 


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 Through the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts is the land scorched, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no man shall have pity on his brother. 


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 And he shall cut off on the right hand and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left, and they shall not be satisfied. Each man shall eat the flesh of his own arm; 


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 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 


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 to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to steal the right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and they rob the orphans! 


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 And what will you do in the day of judgment and in destruction, of ruin when it comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? 


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 Surely they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. In all this His hand is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 


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 I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath. I will command him to take the plunder, and to strip off the spoil, and to trample them like the mud of the streets. 


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 Yet he does not plan this, nor does his heart think so. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off not a few nations. 


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 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, and their graven images more than Jerusalem's and Samaria's; 


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 And it will be, when the Lord has broken off all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the proud 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 am wise. And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the people like a strong man. 


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 And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; and there was none who moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. 


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 Shall the axe boast itself against him who chops with it? Shall the saw magnify itself against him who moves it? As if the rod could wave those who lift itself up! As if a staff could raise what is not wood! 


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 Therefore the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, shall send leanness among his fat ones; and under his glory He shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. 


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 And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and His Holy One as a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. 


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 And it shall burn up the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a sick one faints. 


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 And it shall be in that day, the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob, shall never again lean on him who struck them; but truly lean on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel. 


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 For though Your people Israel are like the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the full end which is decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 


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 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria. He shall strike you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, in the way of Egypt. 


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 And Jehovah of Hosts shall stir up a whip on him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as His rod was on the sea, so shall He lift it up in the way of Egypt. 


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 And it shall be, in that day his burden shall be taken away from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. 


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 they have gone over the passage; they have bedded down at Geba; Ramah is afraid, Gibeah of Saul has fled. 


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 Yet he shall remain in Nob today; he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. 


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 Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, shall lop the bough with terror; and the lofty ones shall be cut down, and the proud shall be humbled. 


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 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. 


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 And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. 


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 And He is made to breathe in the fear of Jehovah. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears. 


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 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and shall decide with uprightness for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 


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 Also the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the cub 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 suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 


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 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. 


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 And in that day there shall be the Root of Jesse standing for a banner of the people; to Him the nations shall seek; and His resting place shall be glorious. 


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 And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall again set His hand, the second time, to recover the remnant of His people that remains, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Ethiopia, and from Persia, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea. 


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 And He shall lift up a banner for the nations, and shall gather the outcasts of Israel and gather together the scattered ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 


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 And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the foes 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 on the shoulders of the Philistines to the west; they shall spoil the sons of the east together; they shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; and the sons of Ammon shall obey them. 


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 And Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His scorching wind He shall shake His hand over the River, and shall strike it into seven streams, and make one tread it with shoes. 


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 And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, those left from Assyria; as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. 


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 And in that day you shall say, O Jehovah, I will praise You; though You were angry with me, turn away Your anger, and You shall comfort 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 you shall say, Praise Jehovah! Call on His name; declare His doings among the people, make mention that His name is exalted. 


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 Lift up a banner on a bare mountain, exalt the voice to them, shake the hand, so that they may go into the gates of the nobles. 


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 I have commanded My holy ones, I have also called My mighty ones for anger, those who rejoice in My highness. 


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 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together; Jehovah of Hosts gathers an army for the battle. 


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 They come from a far country, from the end of the heavens, Jehovah and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy all the land. 


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 and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain like a woman who travails. They shall be amazed at one another, their faces like flames. 


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 Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, cruel and with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land waste; and He shall destroy its sinners out of it. 


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 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not reflect its light. 


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 And I will visit evil on the world, and their iniquity on the wicked. And I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the pride of tyrants. 


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 So I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger. 


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 And it shall be as a driven gazelle, and as a sheep that no man takes up; each man shall look to his own people, and each one flee into his own land. 


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 Everyone who is found shall be thrust through; and everyone who is joined to them shall fall by the sword. 


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 And their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be robbed, and their wives raped. 


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 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not value silver; and they shall not delight in gold. 


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 And bows shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not pity sons. 


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 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the majestic beauty of the Chaldees, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 


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 It shall never be inhabited forever, nor shall it be lived in from generation to generation; nor shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; nor shall the shepherds make their flocks lie down there. 


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 But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of howling creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and he-goats shall dance there. 


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 And hyenas shall cry along with his widows, and jackals in palaces of delight. Yea, her time is coming near, and her days shall not be prolonged. 


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 For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land; and the stranger shall be joined with them, and they shall cling to the house of Jacob. 


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 And the peoples shall take them and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for slaves and slave girls. And they shall be captives of their captors; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 


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 And it shall be in the day that Jehovah shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage which was pressed on you, 


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 you shall take up this song against the king of Babylon and say, How the exacter, the gold gatherer has ceased! 


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 who struck peoples in wrath, a blow without turning away, ruling the nations in anger, a persecution without restraint. 


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 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you have fallen, no woodcutter will come up against us. 


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 Hell from below is moved for you, to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, all the he-goats of the earth. It has raised from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 


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 Your pride is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your harps. The maggot is spread under you, and the worms cover you. 


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 How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 


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 For you have said in your heart, I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. 


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 Those who see you shall stare and closely watch you, saying, Is this the man who made the earth to tremble; who shook kingdoms; 


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 who made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed its cities; who did not open the house for his prisoners? 


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 But you are cast out of your grave like a hateful branch, and like the clothing of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trampled under foot. 


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 You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you ruined your land and killed your people; the seed of evildoers shall never be famous. 


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 Prepare slaughter for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers, so 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 Jehovah of Hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and son, and grandson, says Jehovah. 


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 I will also make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the broom of ruin, says Jehovah of Hosts. 


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 Jehovah of Hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so it shall come to pass; and as I have purposed, it shall stand; 


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 to break Assyria in My land, and on My mountains, trample him under foot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden shall be taken off their shoulders. 


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 This is the purpose that is purposed on all the earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out on all the nations. 


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 For Jehovah of Hosts has purposed, and who shall reverse it? And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? 


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 Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod of your striking is broken. For a viper comes forth from the root of a snake, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. 


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 And the first-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and he shall slay your remnant. 


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 Howl, O gate! Cry, O city! O Philistia, all of you, are melted away; for from the north a smoke comes, and no straggler in his ranks. 


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 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah has founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it. 


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 The burden of Moab. Because in a night Ar of Moab is laid waste; it is cut off; because in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste; it is cut off. 


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 One has gone up to the house, even to Dibon, the high places, to weep. Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba; baldness shall be on all their heads, every beard cut off. 


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 In the streets they shall clothe themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, everyone shall howl, melting in tears. 


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 And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh; their voice shall be heard as far as Jahaz. So the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life is broken to him. 


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 My heart shall cry to Moab; his fugitives flee to Zoar, a heifer of three years. He goes up the ascent to Luhith with weeping; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of ruin. 


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 For the waters of Nimrim are desolation; for the hay has dried up and the grass fails, there is no green thing. 


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 Therefore one made up the remainder and their store; over the torrent of the willows they shall carry them. 


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 For the cry has gone around the border of Moab, its howling even to Eglaim; yea, its howling even to Beer-elim. 


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 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will put on Dimon more things for the escaped ones of Moab, a lion, even for the remnant of the land. 


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 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Zion. 


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 For it shall be as a fleeing bird cast out of the nest, the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. 


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 Take counsel, do judgment; make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; do not betray the fugitive. 


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 Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be a shelter to them from the face of the destroyer; for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. 


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 And in mercy the throne shall be established; and he shall sit on it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and speeding righteousness. 


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 We have heard of the pride of Moab; very proud; even of his vanity, and his pride, and his rage; not so are his babblings. 


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 So Moab shall howl for Moab, everyone shall howl. All of it shall howl for the foundations of Kir-hareseth; surely they are stricken. 


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 For Heshbon's fields droop, the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have crushed its choice plants, they have come to Jazer, they wander in the desert; her branches are stretched out, they have crossed the sea. 


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 On account of this I will weep with the weeping of Jazer, the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for the shouting has fallen on your fruit and on your harvest. 


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 And gladness and joy are gathered out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there is no singing and no shouting. The treader shall tread out no wine in the presses; I have made their shouting to cease. 


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 And it shall be when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, he shall come to his sacred place to pray; but he shall not be able. 


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 But now Jehovah has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be abased with all that great host and the remnant few; small, not mighty. 


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 The burden against 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; now they are for flocks; they shall lie down, and no one terrifies them. 


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 And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the rest of Syria. They shall be as the glory of the sons of Israel, says Jehovah of Hosts. 


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 And it shall be in that day, 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 reaping of the harvest grain, and his arm reaps the ears. And it shall be as he who gathers ears in the Valley of the Giants. 


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 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three ripe olives in the top of the uppermost branch, four or five in the fruit-tree branches of it, says Jehovah, the God of Hosts. 


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 In that day a man shall look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. 


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 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, nor respect that which his fingers have made, either the Asherahs or the images. 


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 In that day his strong cities shall be like a forsaken branch, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the sons of Israel; and it will become a ruin. 


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 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, therefore you shall plant pleasant plants and shall sow it a fresh shoot. 


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 In the day of your planting you fence it in; and in the morning you make your seed sprout. But the harvest shall be a heap in that day of grief and dying pain. 


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 Woe to the multitude of many people, who make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations who make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! 


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 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. 


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 At evening time, behold, terror! Before the morning, he is not! This is the lot of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us. 


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 which sends ambassadors by the sea, even in ships of papyrus on the waters, saying, Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a terrifying people from it and onwards; a mighty nation and trampling down, whose land the rivers have divided! 


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 All people of the world and dwellers on the earth, you will see as one lifts up a banner on the peaks. And you will hear as the blowing of a trumpet. 


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 For so Jehovah said to me, I will take My rest, and I will look on in My dwelling place, like a clear heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 


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 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. 


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 They shall be left together to the birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth; and the birds shall summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them. 


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 In that time shall be brought to Jehovah of Hosts the present from a terrifying, a tall and smooth people, from it and onward; a mighty and trampling nation whose land the rivers have divided, to the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts, Mount Zion. 


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 The burden against Egypt: Behold, Jehovah rides on a swift cloud and comes into Egypt. And the idols of Egypt shall tremble at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in its midst. 


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 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians; and they shall fight each man against his brother, and each against his neighbor; city against city, kingdom against kingdom. 


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 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of it, and I will destroy its wisdom. And they shall seek to idols, and to the enchanters, and to the mediums, and to the future-tellers. 


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 And I will shut up Egypt into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts. 


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 And rivers shall be fouled; the Nile of Egypt will languish and dry up; the reed and the rush shall decay. 


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 Bare places shall be at the Nile, by the mouth of the Nile, and everything sown by the Nile shall dry up, driven away, and be no more. 


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 The fishermen also shall mourn, and all who drop a hook into the Nile shall wail, and those who spread nets on the waters shall droop. 


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 Surely the rulers of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh has become brutish. How do you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? 


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 Where are they? Where are your wise men? And let them tell you now, and let them know what Jehovah of Hosts has planned against Egypt. 


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 The rulers of Zoan have become fools, the rulers of Noph are deceived; they have also caused Egypt to go astray, the chief of her tribes. 


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 Jehovah has mixed a perverse spirit in its midst; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all its work, like a drunkard staggers in his vomit. 


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 In that day Egypt shall be like women; and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of Hosts, which He shakes over it. 


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 And the land of Judah shall be a terror to Egypt; everyone who mentions it shall be afraid toward it, because of the purpose of Jehovah of Hosts, which He has purposed against it. 


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 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan and swear to Jehovah of Hosts; one shall be called the City of Ruin. 


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 In that day there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to Jehovah. 


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 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of Hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a deliverer, and a great one, and will deliver them. 


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 And Jehovah shall be known to Egypt, and Egypt shall know Jehovah in that day, and shall offer sacrifice and offering; and vow a vow to Jehovah, and repay. 


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 And Jehovah shall strike Egypt; He shall strike and heal; and they shall return to Jehovah, and He shall hear them and shall heal them. 


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 In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria shall come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt shall serve with Assyria. 


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 In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; 


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 whom Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be My people Egypt, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance. 


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 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and fought against Ashdod and took it; 


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 at that time Jehovah spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and take the sackcloth off your loins, and take your shoe off your foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 


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 And Jehovah said, Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years, a sign and wonder on Egypt and on Ethiopia; 


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 so shall the king of Assyria lead away Egypt's prisoners, and the Ethiopian exiles, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with uncovered buttocks, to the shame of Egypt. 


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 And he who lives in this coast shall say in that day, Behold, this has become of our hope to which we fled for help there, to be delivered from before the king of Assyria; and, How shall we escape? 


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 The burden against the desert of the sea: As tempests in the south pass, it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. 


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 A harsh vision is revealed to me; the deceiver deceives, and the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media! I have caused all her sighing to cease. 


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 Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have taken hold on me like the pangs of a woman who travails; I was bowed down from hearing; I was troubled from seeing. 


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 And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, a chariot of an ass, and a chariot of a camel. And let him listen, very attentively. 


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 And he cried, A lion! My lord, without ceasing, I stand on the watchtower by day, and I am stationed at my post all the nights. 


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 And, behold, here comes a chariot of a man, a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And all the graven images of her gods He has smashed to the ground. 


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 O my threshing, and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you. 


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 The burden against Dumah: He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 


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 The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night; if you will inquire, inquire, and come again. 


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 The burden against Arabia: You shall stay in the forest of Arabia, O traveling companies of Dedanites. 


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 The people of the land of Tema brought water to him who was thirsty; they went before him who fled with their bread. 


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 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the press of war. 


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 For so has Jehovah said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail; 


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 and the rest of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be cut down; for Jehovah, the God of Israel, has spoken. 


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 The burden against the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have gone up to the housetops? 


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 Crashings fill the noisy city, the joyous city. Your slain ones are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle. 


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 All your rulers fled together; they were bound without the bow; all found in you are bound together; they have fled from afar. 


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 Therefore I said, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly; do not hurry to comfort me because of the ruin of the daughter of my people. 


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 For it is a day of trouble, and of trampling down, and of doubt by Jehovah of Hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountain. 


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 And it happened, your choicest valleys were full of chariots; and the horsemen surely set in order at the gate. 


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 And he removed Judah's covering, and you looked in that day to the armor of the house of the forest. 


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 You have seen also the breaks in the city of David, that they are many; and you gathered the waters of the lower pool. 


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 And you have counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you have broken down the houses to fortify the wall. 


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 You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool; but you have not looked to its Maker, nor saw Him who formed it long ago. 


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 And in that day Jehovah of Hosts called to weeping and mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth. 


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 Then, lo, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! 


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 And it was revealed in my ears by Jehovah of Hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you until you die, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts. 


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 So says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Go, go up to this treasurer, to Shebna who is over the house. Say, 


text:
 What is to you here? And who is here to you, that you have carved out a tomb for yourself here, as one who cuts himself out a tomb on high, who cuts out a home for himself in a rock? 


text:
 Whirling, He will whirl you like a ball into a large country; there you shall die, and there are the chariots of your glory, the shame of your lord's house. 


text:
 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will fasten your girdle on him, and I will give your authority into his hand. And he shall be a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 


text:
 And the key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 


text:
 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. 


text:
 And they shall hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the offshoots, all small vessels, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of jars. 


text:
 In that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, the nail that is fastened in the sure place shall be removed, and be cut down, and fall. And the burden that was on it shall be cut off. Jehovah has spoken. 


text:
 The burden against Tyre: Howl, ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Chittim it is revealed to them. 


text:
 Be still, inhabitants of the coast, merchant of Sidon, who pass over the sea. They have filled you. 


text:
 And by great waters, the seed of Sihor and the harvest of the river Nile was her revenue; and she a mart of nations. 


text:
 Be ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the strength of the sea, saying, I have not travailed nor brought forth. I have not nourished young men nor raised up virgins. 


text:
 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are rulers, whose merchants are the weighty of the earth? 


text:
 Jehovah of Hosts has purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the weighty of the earth. 


text:
 He stretched out His hand over the sea; He shook kingdoms. Jehovah has made a decree against the merchant city, to destroy its forts. 


text:
 And He said, You shall rejoice no more, O crushed one, virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Chittim; also there you shall have no rest. 


text:
 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This people did not exist. Assyria founded it for those who live in the desert. They set up their siege-towers; they stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin. 


text:
 And in that day Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will be as the song of a harlot to Tyre. 


text:
 Take a harp, go about the city, O harlot who has been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs so that you may be remembered. 


text:
 And it will be, after the end of seventy years Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 


text:
 And her goods and her wages shall be holiness to Jehovah. It shall not be treasured nor laid up, for her goods shall be for those who dwell before Jehovah, to eat enough, and for a choice covering. 


text:
 Behold, Jehovah empties the land and makes it bare, and distorts its face, and scatters its inhabitants. 


text:
 And as it is with the people, so it shall be with the priest; as with the servant, so with the master; as with the handmaid, so it is with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. 


text:
 The earth mourns and languishes; the world droops and languishes; the proud people of the earth droop. 


text:
 And the land is defiled under its people; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and have broken the everlasting covenant. 


text:
 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and they who dwell in it are deserted; therefore the people of the earth are burned, and few men left. 


text:
 The gladness of tambourines ceases, the noise of those who rejoice ends; the joy of the harp ceases. 


text:
 For so it is in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree and as gleanings when the grape harvest is completed. 


text:
 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of Jehovah, they shall cry aloud from the sea. 


text:
 Therefore glorify Jehovah in the flames, the name of the Lord Jehovah of Israel in the coasts of the sea. 


text:
 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs, glory to the righteous. But I said, Leanness to me! Leanness to me! Woe to me! Deceivers deceive, even with treachery. Deceivers deceive! 


text:
 And it shall be, he who flees from the sound of dread shall fall into the pit. And he who comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For the windows from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth quake. 


text:
 The earth is breaking, breaking! The earth is crashing, crashing! The earth is tottering, tottering! 


text:
 Like a drunkard the earth is staggering, staggering! And it rocks to and fro like a tree-hut! And its sins heavy on it; and it shall fall and not rise again. 


text:
 And it shall be in that day, Jehovah shall punish the host of the high place on high, and on the kings of the earth on the earth. 


text:
 And they shall be gathered, as prisoners are gathered in a dungeon. And they shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days they shall be judged. 


text:
 Then the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, when Jehovah of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, and gloriously before His elders. 


text:
 O Jehovah, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name; for You have done a wonder; Counsels from afar; faithful faithfulness. 


text:
 For You have made a heap from a city; a fortified city into a ruin; a citadel of foreigners to be no city; it shall never be built. 


text:
 For You are a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the fearful ones is like a storm against the wall. 


text:
 You shall bring down the noise of foreigners, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of cloud. The shouting of the terrifying ones shall be brought low. 


text:
 And in this mountain Jehovah of Hosts shall make a feast of fat things for all the people, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of refined wine on the lees. 


text:
 And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering which covers all people, and the veil that is woven over all nations. 


text:
 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from all faces. And He shall take away from all the earth the rebuke of His people. For Jehovah has spoken. 


text:
 And one shall say in that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. 


text:
 For the hand of Jehovah shall rest in this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled under Him, even as straw is trampled in the water of a dung pit. 


text:
 And He shall spread out His hands in their midst, as he who swims strokes to swim. And He shall bring down their pride with the skill of His hands. 


text:
 And the fortress of the high fort of your walls He will lay low, bring to the ground, to the dust. 


text:
 In that day this song shall be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; He sets up salvation as our walls and banks. 


text:
 For He brings down those who dwell on high; He lays low the lofty city; He lays it low, even to the ground; He brings it to the dust. 


text:
 Yea, in the way of Your judgments, O Jehovah, we awaited You; for Your name and for Your memory is the desire of our soul. 


text:
 With my soul I desired You in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. 


text:
 Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah. 


text:
 Jehovah, Your hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy toward Your people. Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them. 


text:
 O Jehovah our God, lords besides You have had the rule over us; but by You only will we make mention of Your name. 


text:
 Dead ones do not live; departed spirits do not rise. Therefore You have visited and destroyed them, and made all memory of them to perish. 


text:
 You have increased the nation, O Jehovah, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have extended all the ends of the land. 


text:
 As a woman with child draws near to bear, she is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in Your sight, O Jehovah. 


text:
 We conceived; we have been in pain, we gave birth to wind. We have not brought about any salvation in the earth; nor have the people of the world fallen. 


text:
 Your dead ones shall live, together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is as the dew of lights, and the earth shall cast out the dead. 


text:
 Come, my people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors around you; hide for a little moment, until the fury has passed by. 


text:
 For behold, Jehovah comes out of His place to punish the people of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall reveal her blood, and shall no more cover her dead. 


text:
 In that day Jehovah with His great and fierce and strong sword shall punish the sea-monster, the darting serpent, the sea-monster, that twisting serpent; and He shall kill the monster in the sea. 


text:
 Fury is not in Me; who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would step through it; I would burn it at once. 


text:
 Or let them take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me. 


text:
 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. 


text:
 Has He stricken him, as He struck those who struck Him? Is He slain according to the slaughter of the slain by Him? 


text:
 By driving her away, you will contend with her; by sending her away, You punished her. He takes away by His rough wind, in the day of the east wind. 


text:
 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in pieces, the Asherahs and sun-pillars shall not stand up. 


text:
 Yet the fortified city shall be wasted, and the dwelling forsaken and left like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down and eat up its branches. 


text:
 When its branches are dried up, they shall be broken off; the women come and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore His Maker will not have mercy on them, and He who formed them will not favor them. 


text:
 And it shall be, in that day Jehovah shall thresh from the stream of the river Euphrates to the torrent of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O sons of Israel. 


text:
 And it shall be, in that day the great ram's horn shall be blown, and those perishing in the land of Assyria shall come, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt shall come and shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem. 


text:
 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is on the head of the fat valleys of those who are overcome with wine! 


text:
 Behold, the Lord is a mighty and strong one, like a hailstorm, a destroying storm; like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, He casts down to the earth with the hand. 


text:
 and the glorious beauty, on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the first-ripe fruit before the summer; which the beholder of it swallows up while it is yet in his hand. 


text:
 In that day Jehovah of Hosts shall be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, to the rest of His people, 


text:
 and for a spirit of judgment to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle to the gate. 


text:
 But they also have sinned through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have sinned through drink; they are swallowed up by wine; they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 


text:
 Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Those weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts. 


text:
 For precept must be on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; 


text:
 To whom He said, This is the rest; cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing. Yet they were not willing to hear. 


text:
 But the Word of Jehovah was to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken. 


text:
 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and we have made a vision with hell; when the overwhelming rod shall pass through, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood, 


text:
 therefore so says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I place in Zion a Stone for a foundation, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure Foundation; he who believes shall not hurry. 


text:
 Also I will lay judgment 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. 


text:
 And your covenant with death shall be wiped out, and your vision with hell shall not stand; when the overwhelming rod shall pass through, then you shall be beaten down by it. 


text:
 From the time that it goes out it shall take you; for morning by morning it shall pass over, by day and by night; and it shall be only a terror to understand the message. 


text:
 For the bed is shorter than one can stretch himself on, and the cover is narrower than one can wrap himself in. 


text:
 For Jehovah shall rise up as in Mount Perazim; He shall be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, so that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act. 


text:
 So then do not be mockers, lest your bands be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of Hosts that a full end is decreed on all the earth. 


text:
 When he has made the face of it level, does he not cast out the dill and scatter the cummin, and throw in the choice wheat and the chosen barley and the spelt in its border? 


text:
 For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, nor is a cart wheel turned on cummin; but the dill is beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a rod. 


text:
 Bread grain is crushed, but not always does one thresh it with threshing. And he drives the wheel of his cart; and his horses do not beat it small. 


text:
 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add year to year; let them kill their sacrifices. 


text:
 Then I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be to me as Ariel. 


text:
 And I will camp against you all around, and will lay siege against you with a mount, and I will raise forts against you. 


text:
 And you shall be brought down; you shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be like a spiritist, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust. 


text:
 And 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 at an instant, suddenly. 


text:
 You shall be visited by Jehovah of Hosts with thunder, and with earthquake and great noise, with storm and whirlwind, and the flame of devouring fire. 


text:
 And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, shall be like a dream of a night vision. 


text:
 It shall even be as when a hungry one dreams, and behold, he eats, but he wakes 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 is longing. So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations who fight against mount Zion. 


text:
 Stand still and wonder! Blind your eyes and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 


text:
 For Jehovah has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; He has covered the prophets and your heads, the seers. 


text:
 And the vision of all has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one who knows books saying, Please read this; and he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. 


text:
 And the book is delivered to him who does not know books, saying, Please read this; and he says, I do not know books. 


text:
 And Jehovah said, Because this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the command of men; 


text:
 therefore, behold, I will go on doing among this people, a wonder, even a wonder. For the wisdom of their wise ones shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent ones shall be hidden. 


text:
 Woe to those who go deep to hide their purpose from Jehovah! And their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? And who knows us? 


text:
 O your perversity! Shall the former be counted as the potter's clay; for shall the work say of him who made it, He did not make me? Or shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, He had no understanding? 


text:
 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be counted as a forest? 


text:
 And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of their gloom and darkness. 


text:
 And the meek shall increase joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 


text:
 For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scorner is destroyed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off; 


text:
 those who make a man guilty by a word, and lay a trap for the reprover in the gate, and turn aside the just for a worthless thing. 


text:
 Therefore so says Jehovah, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now become pale. 


text:
 But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. 


text:
 Those who erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and those who murmured shall learn doctrine. 


text:
 Woe to the rebellious sons, says Jehovah, who make advice, but not of Me; and who cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they add sin to sin; 


text:
 those who set out to go down to Egypt and have not asked at My mouth; to take refuge in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 


text:
 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your curse. 


text:
 They were all ashamed of a people who could not profit them, nor be a help nor gain, but a shame and also a reproach. 


text:
 The burden concerning the beasts of the south. Into the land of trouble and woe. The lioness and the lion are from them; the viper, and the fiery flying serpent. They carry their riches on the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit. 


text:
 For Egypt helps vainly, and worthlessly. So I have cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still. 


text:
 Now go, write it before them in a tablet, and note it in a book, so that it may be for the time to come forever and ever, 


text:
 who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy falsehood; 


text:
 go out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 


text:
 Therefore so says the Holy One of Israel, Because you have despised this Word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rest on them; 


text:
 therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. 


text:
 And He shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces. He shall have no pity, so that there shall not be found in the breaking of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the pit. 


text:
 For so says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved; and in quietness and hope shall be your strength. And you were not willing. 


text:
 But you said, No; for we will flee on a horse. Therefore you shall flee. And you said, We will ride on the swift; therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. 


text:
 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five you shall flee, until you are left as a pole on the top of a mountain, and as a sign on a hill. 


text:
 And so Jehovah waits to be gracious to you. And therefore He is exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For Jehovah is a God of judgment; blessed are all those who wait for Him. 


text:
 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 hears it, He will answer you. 


text:
 And Jehovah gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction; yet your teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers. 


text:
 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. 


text:
 You shall also defile the covering of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away like a menstruous cloth. You shall say to it, Get away. 


text:
 Then He shall give the rain for your seed, with which you sow the ground. And the bread of the produce of the earth also shall be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle shall feed in large pastures. 


text:
 Also the oxen and the young asses that plow the ground shall eat clean fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. 


text:
 And there shall be on every high mountain, and on every high hill, rivers, streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 


text:
 And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah binds up the break of His people and heals the stroke of their wound. 


text:
 Behold, the name of Jehovah comes from far, burning with His anger, and uplifting of smoke; His lips are full of fury, and His tongue like a devouring fire. 


text:
 And like an overflowing stream, His breath shall reach to the middle of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity. And a bridle will be in the jaws of the people, causing them to go astray. 


text:
 You shall have a song, as in the keeping of a holy feast night; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come into the mountain of Jehovah, to the mighty One of Israel. 


text:
 And Jehovah shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and the bringing down of His arm shall be seen with raging anger and flame of a devouring fire, cloudburst and storm and hailstones. 


text:
 And in every place which the ordained staff shall pass, which Jehovah shall lay on him, it shall be with tambourines and harps; in battles of shaking He will fight with them. 


text:
 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large. He makes great with fire and wood. The breath of Jehovah kindles it, like a torrent of brimstone. 


text:
 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and lean on horses and trust in chariots, because it is great; and in horsemen, because they are so very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor do they seek Jehovah! 


text:
 Yet He also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back His Words, but will arise against the house of evil-doers and against the help of those who work iniquity. 


text:
 And Egypt is a man, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not Spirit. When Jehovah shall stretch out His hand, both he who helps shall fall, and he who is helped shall fall down, and they shall all cease together. 


text:
 For so has Jehovah spoken to me: As the lion roars, even the young lion on his prey when a multitude of shepherds are gathered against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor fret himself because of their noise. So Jehovah of Hosts shall come down to fight for Mount Zion, and on its hill. 


text:
 As birds flying, so Jehovah of Hosts will defend Jerusalem; also defending, He will deliver it; and passing over He will preserve it. 


text:
 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you, a sin. 


text:
 Then Assyria shall fall with the sword, not of great man; and the sword, not of lowly man, shall devour him. For he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become forced labor. 


text:
 And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his rulers shall be afraid of the banner, says Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem. 


text:
 And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a shelter from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 


text:
 And the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of those who stutter shall be ready to speak plainly. 


text:
 For the fool will speak folly, and his heart work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy and to speak error against Jehovah, to make the soul of the hungry empty, and he will take away the drink of the thirsty. 


text:
 Also the weapons of the fool are evil; he thinks of wicked ways to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right. 


text:
 Many days and years you shall be troubled, careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. 


text:
 Tremble, women at ease; be troubled, careless ones; strip yourselves and make yourselves bare, and bind sackcloth on your loins. 


text:
 On the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city; 


text:
 because the palace shall be deserted, the multitude of the city shall be forsaken; instead the mound and tower shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks 


text:
 until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is thought to be a forest. 


text:
 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the service of righteousness shall be quietness and hope forever. 


text:
 Woe to the destroyer, and you who have not been destroyed; and betrayer, and they have not betrayed you. When you stop destroying, you shall be destroyed. When you stop betraying, they shall betray you. 


text:
 O Jehovah, be gracious to us; we have waited for You; be their arm in the mornings; our salvation also in the time of trouble. 


text:
 At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of Yourself the nations were scattered. 


text:
 And your spoil shall be gathered as the stripping locust gathers; as the running to and fro of locusts he shall run on them. 


text:
 And He will be the security of your times, and strength of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of Jehovah is his treasure. 


text:
 The highways lie waste, the traveler ceases. He has broken the covenant. He has despised the cities. He cared for no man. 


text:
 The earth mourns and droops. Lebanon is ashamed; Sharon withers like a wilderness; Bashan and Carmel are shaken out. 


text:
 And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; like thorns cut up, they shall be burned in the fire. 


text:
 The sinners in Zion are afraid; terror has surprised profane ones. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 


text:
 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly; he who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands free from holding bribes, who stops his ear from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil; 


text:
 He shall dwell on high; his refuge shall be the strongholds of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. 


text:
 Your heart shall dwell on terror. Where is the scribe? Where is the one weighing? Where is the one counting the towers? 


text:
 You shall not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than you can understand; of a foreign tongue that no one understands. 


text:
 Look on Zion, the city of our holy meetings; your eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet home, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of its stakes shall ever be removed, nor shall any of its cords be broken. 


text:
 But there the glorious Jehovah will be to us a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars shall go, nor shall mighty ship pass by it. 


text:
 Your ropes are loosened, they do not hold the base of the mast; they could not spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil shall be divided; the lame take the prey. 


text:
 Come near, nations, to hear; and, you people, listen; let the earth hear, and its fullness; the world, and its offspring. 


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 For the anger of Jehovah is on all nations, and His fury on all their armies. He has completely destroyed them, He has delivered them to the slaughter. 


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 Also their dead shall be thrown out, and their stink shall come up out of their dead bodies, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 


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 And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled like a scroll; and all their host shall droop, as a leaf falls off from the vine, and as the falling from the fig tree. 


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 For My sword bathed in the heavens. Behold, it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse for judgment. 


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 The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 


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 And the wild oxen shall come down with them, and the bulls with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. 


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 And its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust to brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch. 


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 It shall not be put out night or day; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none passes through it forever and forever. 


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 But the pelican and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also, and the raven, shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out on it the line of shame, and the stones of emptiness. 


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 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her rulers shall be nothing. 


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 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it shall be a home of jackals and a court for ostriches. 


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 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the howling beasts; and the shaggy goat shall cry to his fellow. The screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 


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 There the snake shall nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow; there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. 


text:
 Seek out of the book of Jehovah, and read; not one of these shall fail, none shall lack its 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 forever, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it. 


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 The wilderness and the desert shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the crocus. 


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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 honor of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of Jehovah and the majesty of our God. 


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 Say to those of a hasty heart, Be strong, fear not; behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the full dealing of God. He will come and save you. 


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 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness waters shall break out, and streams in the desert. 


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 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land shall become springs of water in the home of jackals, in its lair, and a place for the reed and rush. 


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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 He shall be with them; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err in it. 


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 No lion shall be there, nor any beast of prey 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 Jehovah shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy on their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 


text:
 And it happened in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 


text:
 And the king of Assyria sent the chief of the cupbearers 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 Fuller's Field. 


text:
 Then Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah, the recorder, came out to him. 


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 And the chief of the cupbearers said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, So says the great king, the king of Assyria, What hope is this in which you trust? 


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 I say, Are only words of the lips wisdom and strength for war? Now, in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 


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 Lo, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which, if a man lean on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 


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 But if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar? 


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 Now then, please exchange pledges with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses if you are able on your part to set riders on them for you. 


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 How then will you turn away the face of one commander of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 


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 Have I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it. 


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 And Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the chief of the cupbearers, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. But do not speak to us in Jewish in the ears of the people on the wall. 


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 But the chief of the cupbearers said, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you? 


text:
 Then the chief of the cupbearers stood and cried with a loud voice in Jewish, and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 


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 Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us; this city shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria. 


text:
 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for so says the king of Assyria, Make a blessing with me by a present, and come out to me; and let everyone eat of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and everyone drink the waters of his own cistern, 


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 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 


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 Let not Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 


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 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 


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 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 


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 But they were silent and did not answer him a word, for the king's command, saying, Do not answer him. 


text:
 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the chief of the cupbearers. 


text:
 And it happened when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. 


text:
 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, So says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy! For the sons have come to the birth, and no strength to bring forth. 


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 It may be Jehovah your God will hear the words of the chief of the cupbearers, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Jehovah your God has heard. And you shall lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. 


text:
 And Isaiah said to them, So you shall say to your master, So says Jehovah, Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 


text:
 Behold, I will send a blast on 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. 


text:
 So the chief of the cupbearers returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah. For he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. 


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 And he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come out to war with you. And he heard and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 


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 So you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 


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 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed: Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 


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 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? 


text:
 And Hezekiah received the letter from the courier's hand, and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of Jehovah and spread it before Jehovah. 


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 O Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, who dwells between the cherubs, You are He, God, You alone to all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth. 


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 Bow down Your ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open Your eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to mock the living God. 


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 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; so they have destroyed them. 


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 And now, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are Jehovah, You alone. 


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 And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, 


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 this is the word which Jehovah has spoken concerning him: The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind you. 


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 Whom have you mocked and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel. 


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 By your servants you have mocked Jehovah and have said, by my many chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and its choice fir trees; and I will go to its greatest height, the forest of its Carmel. 


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 I have dug and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt. 


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 Have you not heard from afar? I made it from days of old, even I have formed it. Now I have caused it to come, and you are to cause fortified cities to crash into heaps, ruins. 


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 And their inhabitants were short of hand; dismayed and ashamed. They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, even grain blasted before it has risen. 


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 Because of your raging against Me, and your arrogance has come up into My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose, and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came. 


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 And this shall be a sign to you: You shall eat self-sown grain this year; and the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year you shall sow, and reap, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. 


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 The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward; 


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 for out of Jerusalem shall go out a remnant, and those who escape out of Mount Zion; the zeal of Jehovah of Hosts shall do this. 


text:
 So Jehovah says this to the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. 


text:
 Then the angel of Jehovah went out and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. And they rose early in the morning, and behold! They were all dead corpses. 


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 And it happened as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword. And they escaped into the land of Ararat; and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his place. 


text:
 In those days Hezekiah was sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, So says Jehovah, Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live. 


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 and said, Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done the good in Your sight. And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping. 


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 Go and say to Hezekiah: So says Jehovah, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your days fifteen years. 


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 And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city. 


text:
 behold, I will bring again the shadow of the steps, which has gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten steps backward. So the sun returned ten steps, by which steps 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 have numbered the rest of my years. 


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 I said, I shall not see Jah, Jehovah, in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more with the people of the world. 


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 My generation is departed and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver; He will cut me off from the loom; from day even to night You will make an end of me. 


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 I place Him before me until morning, that, as a lion, so He breaks all my bones; from day even until night You make an end of me. 


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 Like a twittering swallow, so I chatter; I mourn as a dove; my eyes look weakly to the heights. O Jehovah, I am pressed down; be surety for me. 


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 What shall I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has acted; I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. 


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 O Jehovah, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit; so You will recover me, and make me to live. 


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 Behold, I had great bitterness for peace; but You loved my soul from the pit of destruction. You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 


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 For the grave cannot praise You, death can not rejoice in You; they 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 shall make Your truth known to the sons. 


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 For Jehovah is for my salvation; and we will sing my songs on the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of Jehovah. 


text:
 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 rejoiced over them, and let them see 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 kingdom that Hezekiah did not let them see. 


text:
 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say? And where did they come from to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country to me, from Babylon. 


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 Then he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house they have seen; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not let them see. 


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 Behold, the days come when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says Jehovah. 


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 And of your sons which shall issue from you, which you shall bring out, they shall take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. 


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 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the Word of Jehovah which you have spoken. And he said, For there shall be peace and truth in my days. 


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 Speak lovingly to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is done, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins. 


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 The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make straight a highway in the desert for our God. 


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 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked places shall be made level, and the rough places smooth; 


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 and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken. 


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 The voice said, Cry! And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the beauty of it is as the flower of the field. 


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 The grass withers, the flower fades, because the Spirit of Jehovah blows on it; surely the people is grass. 


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 Go up for yourself on the high mountain, bringer of good tidings to Zion. Lift up your voice with strength, O you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift up, do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God! 


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 Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. 


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 He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those with young. 


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 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and measured out the heavens with a span? And who has shut up the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 


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 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and made known the way of understanding to Him? 


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 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the scales; behold, He takes up the coastlands as a very little thing. 


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 All nations before Him are as nothing; and to Him they are thought to be less than nothing, and vanity. 


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 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. 


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 He too poor for that offering chooses a tree that will not rot; he looks for a skillful workman to prepare a graven image that will not totter. 


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 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 


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 It is He who sits on the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in; 


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 Yes, they shall not be planted; yes, they shall not be sown. Yes, their stump shall not take root in the earth. And He shall also blow on them, and they shall wither, and the tempest shall take them away like stubble. 


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 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who has created these, who brings out their host by number? He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for He is strong in power; not one is lacking. 


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 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from Jehovah and my judgment has passed over from my God? 


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 Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow weak nor weary? There is no searching of His understanding. 


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 but those who wait on Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. 


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 Keep silence before Me, O coasts; and peoples shall renew strength; let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together for judgment. 


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 Who raised up the righteous one from the east, called him to His foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. 


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 Who has planned and done it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, am the first and the last; I am He. 


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 So the artisan strengthens the refiner, and he smoothing with the hammer, him who struck the anvil, saying of soldering, It is good. And he made it strong with nails; it will not totter. 


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 whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from its sides. And I said to you, You are My servant; I have chosen you, and not cast you away. 


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 Do not fear; for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God. I will make you strong; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness. 


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 Behold, all those who were angered against you shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing. And those who fight with you shall perish. 


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 You shall seek them, and shall not find them; men warring against you shall be as nothing, and as ceasing. 


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 Do not fear, worm of Jacob and men of Israel; I will help you, says Jehovah, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 


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 Behold, I make you a new sharp threshing instrument, a master of teeth; you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills like chaff. 


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 You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and a tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in Jehovah and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel. 


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 The poor and needy seek water, and there is none; their tongue fails for thirst, I Jehovah will hear them, I the God of Israel will not leave them. 


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 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 


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 I will plant the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set the fir tree in the desert, and the pine, and the box tree together; 


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 so that they may see, and know, and look on, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. 


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 Let them bring them out, and tell us what shall happen; let them reveal the former things, what they are, that we may look on them and know the final end of them; or declare to us things to come. 


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 Reveal the near things after this, so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, so that we may be amazed and see together. 


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 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the sunrise; he will call on My name. And he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter tramples clay. 


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 Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? Yea, no one declares; yea, no one proclaims; yea, no one hears your words. 


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 I first shall say to Zion, Behold! Behold them! And I will give to Jerusalem one who bears good news. 


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 For I looked, and there was no man; and of these no counselor was, that I might ask and they could answer. 


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 Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; My Elect, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit on Him; He shall bring out judgment to the nations. 


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 A bruised reed He shall not break, and a smoking wick He shall not quench; He shall bring out judgment to truth. 


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 He shall not fail nor be discouraged until He has set judgment in the earth; and the coasts shall wait for His Law. 


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 So says Jehovah God, He who created the heavens and stretched them out, spreading out the earth and its offspring; He who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. 


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 I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You, and give You for a covenant of the people, for a Light of the nations; 


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 to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness out of the prison house. 


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 I am Jehovah; that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images. 


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 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they happen, I cause you to hear. 


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 Sing to Jehovah a new song; His praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and its fullness; coasts and their peoples. 


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 Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages where Kedar dwells. Let the dwellers of the rock sing, let them shout from the mountain tops. 


text:
 Jehovah goes out as a warrior, He stirs up zeal like a man of wars; He shouts, yea, roars; He overcomes His enemies. 


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 I have kept silence from forever; I have been still and refrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in pangs of labor, I will pant and gasp at once. 


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 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their plants. And I will make the rivers coastlands, and I will dry up the pools. 


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 And I will bring the blind by a way they knew not; I will lead them in paths they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. I will do these things to them, and not forsake them. 


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 They are turned back, they are greatly ashamed, those who trust in graven images and who say to the images, You are our gods. 


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 Who is blind but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger whom I sent? Who is blind as he who is perfect, and blind as Jehovah's servant? 


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 Jehovah is well pleased for His righteousness sake; He will magnify the Law and make it honorable. 


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 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; all of them snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison-houses; they have been taken, and none delivers them; a prize, and none says, Give back. 


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 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to robbers? Did not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, nor did they obey His Law. 


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 So He has poured on him the fury of His anger, and the strength of battle. And it has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know; and it burned him, yet he did not lay it to heart. 


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 But now so says Jehovah who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel; Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. 


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 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; nor shall the flame kindle on you. 


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 For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you. 


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 Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life. 


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 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back; bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth; 


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 everyone who is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. 


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 Let all the nations be brought together, and let the people be gathered; who among them can declare this and make us hear former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is true. 


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 You are My witnesses, says Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me no God was formed, nor shall there be after Me. 


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 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says Jehovah, that I am God. 


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 Yea, before the day was, I am He; and no one delivers out of My hand; I will work, and who will reverse it? 


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 So says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all of them as fugitives, and the Chaldeans, whose shout is in the ships. 


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 who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are put out, they are snuffed out like a wick. 


text:
 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall sprout; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. 


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 The beasts of the field shall honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. 


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 You have not brought Me the lamb of your burnt offerings; nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with an offering, nor wearied you with incense. 


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 You have bought Me no sweet cane with silver, nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me with your iniquities. 


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 And I will defile rulers of the sanctuary, and will give Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches. 


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 So says Jehovah who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you; Fear not, O Jacob My servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. 


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 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground. I will pour My spirit on your seed, and My blessing on your offspring; 


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 One shall say, I am Jehovah's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall write with his hand, For Jehovah, and be named by the name of Israel. 


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 So says Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His redeemer Jehovah of Hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides Me there is no God. 


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 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it and set it in order for Me, since I placed the people of old? And the things that are coming, and shall come, let them declare to them. 


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 Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you and made you hear since then? So you are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Yea, there is none. I have not known a Rock. 


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 Those who make a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things in which they delight shall not help; and they are their own witnesses. They do not see nor know, that they may be ashamed. 


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 Behold, all his companions shall be ashamed; and the craftsmen; they are from men. They shall assemble; all of them shall stand; they shall dread; they shall be ashamed together. 


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 He engraves iron with a tool. He works in the coals, and forms it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms. Then, he is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is weak. 


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 He fashions wood, and stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil; he shapes it with carving tools, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to sit in the house. 


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 He cuts down cedars, and takes cypress and oak, which he makes the trees of the forest strong for him; he plants a tree, and the rain makes it grow. 


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 And it shall be for a man to burn; for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god and worships; he makes it a graven image and falls down to it. 


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 He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts roast and is satisfied; yea, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. 


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 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image; he falls down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me! for you are my god. 


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 They have not known nor understood; for He has shut their eyes so that they cannot see; and their hearts so that they cannot understand. 


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 And none thinks within his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread on the coals of it; I have roasted flesh and eaten; and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 


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 He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside, so that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? 


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 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for you are My servant; I have formed you; you are My servant; O Israel, you shall not be forgotten by Me. 


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 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins; return to Me; for I have redeemed you. 


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 Sing, O heavens; for Jehovah has done it. Shout, lower parts of the earth. Break out into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it. For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel. 


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 So says Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb, I am Jehovah who makes all things; who stretches out the heavens alone; who spreads out the earth; who was with Me? 


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 who brings to nothing the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns the wise backward, and makes their knowledge foolish; 


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 who makes the word of His servant sure, and makes good the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem, She shall have people; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places of it; 


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 who says of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall do all My pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built; and to the temple, Your foundation shall be laid. 


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 So says Jehovah to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have made strong in order to humble nations before him. And I will loosen the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut. 


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 I will go before you, and make hills level. I will break in pieces the bronze gates, and cut the iron bars in two. 


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 And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I am Jehovah, who calls you by your name, the God of Israel. 


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 For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My elect, I have even entitled you. I have named you, though you have not known me. 


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 I am Jehovah, and there is none else, no God besides Me; I clothed you, though you have not known Me; 


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 that they may know from the rising of the sun, and to the sunset, that there is none besides Me. I am Jehovah, and there is none else; 


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 forming the light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil. I Jehovah do all these things. 


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 Drop down from above, O heavens, and let the clouds pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, and let salvation bear fruit; and let righteousness spring up together. I Jehovah have created it. 


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 Woe to him who fights with the One who formed him, a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to its former, What are you making? Or your work, He has no hands? 


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 Woe to him who says to his father, What are you fathering? Or to the woman, What are you laboring over? 


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 So says Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and the One who formed him, Do you ask Me of things to come? Do you give command to Me about My sons, and about the work of My hands? 


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 I have made the earth, and created man on it; I with My hands have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded. 


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 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let My captives go, not for price nor reward, says Jehovah of Hosts. 


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 So says Jehovah, The labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come to you, and they shall be yours. They shall come after you in chains; and they shall cross in chains and they shall fall down to you. They shall plead to you, saying, Surely God is in you; and none else, no other God. 


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 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them; they who are makers of idols shall go into disgrace together. 


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 But Israel shall be saved in Jehovah with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor blush to the forevers of eternity. 


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 For so says Jehovah the Creator of the heavens, He is God, forming the earth and making it; He makes it stand, not creating it empty, but forming it to be inhabited. I am Jehovah, and there is no other. 


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 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain. I Jehovah speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 


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 Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, escaped ones of the nations; those who set up the wood of their graven image, and those that pray to a god that cannot save. They know nothing. 


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 Declare and bring near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this of old? Who has told it from then? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there is no other God besides Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. 


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 I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 


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 He says, Only in Jehovah do I have righteousness and strength; even to Him he comes. And they are ashamed, all who are angry with Him. 


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 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle; the things you carried about have become a load, a burden for the weary. 


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 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but they themselves have gone into captivity. 


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 Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are borne by Me from the belly, who are lifted from the womb; 


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 even to old age I am He; and to gray hairs I will bear you. I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. 


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 They pour gold out of the bag, and weigh silver out of the measuring rod, and hire a goldsmith; and he makes it a god; they fall down, yea, they bow down. 


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 They carry it on the shoulder, they carry it and set it in its place, and it stands; it shall not move from its place. Yes, one shall cry to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble. 


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 declaring the end from the beginning, and from the past things which were not done, saying, My purpose shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure; 


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 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country. Yes, I have spoken, I will also cause it to come; I have formed; yes, I will do it. 


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 I bring near My righteousness. It shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion, My glory for Israel. 


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 Come down, and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground. There is no throne for you, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. 


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 Take the millstones and grind meal. Push back your veil, draw up your skirt, uncover your leg, pass over the rivers. 


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 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, your shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance and I will not meet you as a man. 


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 Sit silent, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. 


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 I was angry with My people, I have polluted My inheritance, and given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; you have very heavily laid your yoke on the aged. 


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 And you said, I shall be a mistress forever; so you did not lay these things to your heart, nor remembered the latter end of it. 


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 Now then hear this, O pleasure seeker, who lives carelessly; who says in her heart, I am, and none else is; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children. 


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 But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come on you in their fullness for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great power of your enchantments. 


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 For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else. 


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 But evil shall come on you; you shall not know its origin. And mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come on you suddenly, you shall not know. 


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 Stand now with your spells, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have wearied yourself since your youth. Perhaps you will be able to profit; perhaps you may bring terror. 


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 You are exhausted by your many plans; now let the astrologers stand up and save you, the stargazers, making known what is coming on you into the new moons. 


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 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; there shall not be a coal to warm them; nor fire, to sit before it. 


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 So they are to you with whom you labored, your merchants from your youth. Each one wanders to his own way; none shall save you. 


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 Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Jehovah and make mention of the God of Israel (but not in truth nor in righteousness). 


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 For they call themselves of the holy city, and rest themselves on the God of Israel; Jehovah of Hosts is His name. 


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 I have foretold the former things from the beginning; and they went out of My mouth; and I made them hear; I acted suddenly; and they came about. 


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 And I declared it to you from the beginning. Before it happened I revealed it to you; lest you should say, My idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them. 


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 You heard; see it all; and will you not declare? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them. 


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 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you did not hear them; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them. 


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 Yea, you did not hear; yea, you did not know; yea, from the time that your ear was not opened; for I surely know that you will betray and trespass; from the womb it was called to you. 


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 For My name's sake I will put off My anger, and for My praise I will hold back for you, that I do not cut you off. 


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 For my sake, for My sake I will do it; for why should My name be defiled? And I will not give My glory to another. 


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 My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens. I called; they stood up together. 


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 Let all of you gather and hear; who among them has declared these things? Jehovah has loved him; He will do His pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be on the Chaldeans. 


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 Come near to Me, hear this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From its being, I was there; and now the Lord Jehovah, and His Spirit, has sent Me. 


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 So says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 


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 Oh that you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 


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 And your seed would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like its grain; his name would not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me. 


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 Go out of Babylon; flee from the Chaldeans. Tell it with a voice of singing, let this be heard, let it go out to the end of the earth; say, Jehovah has redeemed His servant Jacob. 


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 And they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He cut open the rock also, and the waters gushed out. 


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 Listen, O coastlands, to Me; and listen, lend your ear, peoples from afar; Jehovah has called Me from the womb; He has made mention of My name from My mother's bowels. 


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 And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, and made Me a polished shaft. He has hidden Me in His quiver, 


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 Then I said, I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nothing, and in vain; yet surely My judgment is with Jehovah, and My work with My God. 


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 And now, says Jehovah who formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, Though Israel is not gathered, yet I shall be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and My God shall be My strength. 


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 And He said, It is but a little thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You for a light to the nations, to be My salvation to the end of the earth. 


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 So says Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to Him whom man despises, to Him whom the nation hates, the servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise, rulers also shall worship, because of Jehovah who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose You. 


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 So says Jehovah, in a favorable time I replied to You, and in a day of salvation I have helped You; and I will preserve You, and give You for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause them to inherit the wasted inheritances; 


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 that You may say to the prisoners, Go out! To those who are in darkness, Show yourselves! They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. 


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 They shall not hunger nor thirst; nor shall the heat nor sun strike them; for He who has mercy on them shall lead them; even by the springs of water He shall guide them. 


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 Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim. 


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 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break out into singing, O mountains; for the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted. 


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 Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you. 


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 Lift up your eyes all around and see; they all gather and come to you. As I live, says Jehovah, you shall surely wear them as an ornament, and bind them on as a bride. 


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 For your wastes and your deserted places, and your land of ruins, shall even now be too narrow to dwell there, and they who swallowed you up shall be far away. 


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 The sons of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too narrow for me; come near to me so that I may dwell. 


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 Then you shall say in your heart, Who has borne me these, since I am bereaved, and desolate, turned aside and an exile, and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they? 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and have set up My banner to the people; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. 


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 And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nurses. They shall bow to you, faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am Jehovah; by whom they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me. 


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 But so says Jehovah, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the fearful ones shall escape. For I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your sons. 


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 And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I Jehovah am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. 


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 So says Jehovah, Where is your mother's bill of divorce, whom I have put away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother is put away for your sins. 


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 Who knows why I have come, and no one is here? I called and no one answered. Is My hand shortened at all so that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst. 


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 The Lord Jehovah has given Me the tongue of the learned, to know to help the weary with a word. He wakens morning by morning, He wakens the ear to hear as the learned. 


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 I gave My back to the strikers, and My cheeks to pluckers; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. 


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 For the Lord Jehovah will help Me; therefore I have not been ashamed. On account of this I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. 


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 He is near who justifies Me; who will contend with Me? Let us stand together; who is master of My judgment? Let him come near Me. 


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 Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help Me; who is he who shall condemn Me? Lo, they all shall wear out like a garment; the moth shall eat them. 


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 Who among you fears Jehovah, who obeys the voice of His servant, who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of Jehovah and rest on his God. 


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 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who are surrounded with sparks; walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks which you have kindled. This you shall have of My hand; you shall lie down in sorrow. 


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 Listen to me, pursuers of righteousness; seekers of Jehovah: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. 


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 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 


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 For Jehovah shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. 


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 Listen to Me, My people; and give ear to Me, O My nation; for a law shall go out from Me, and I will make My judgment to rest for a light of peoples. 


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 My righteousness is near; My salvation has gone out, and My arms shall judge peoples; the coastlands shall wait on Me, and on My arm they shall trust. 


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 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall become old like a garment; and its inhabitants shall die in the same way. But My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be broken. 


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 Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My Law; do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their revilings. 


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 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation. 


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 Awake! awake! Put on strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake! as in the days of old, in the generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab into pieces, piercing the sea-monster? 


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 Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? 


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 Therefore the redeemed of Jehovah shall return and come with singing into Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head. Gladness and joy shall overtake them; sorrow and mourning shall flee away. 


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 I, I, am He who comforts you. Who are you, that you should fear a man. He shall die, or from the son of man? He shall be made as grass? 


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 And you forget Jehovah your Maker, who has stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. And you dread continually, every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor? 


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 But I am Jehovah your God, who divided the sea, and its waves roared; Jehovah of Hosts is His name. 


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 And I have put My Words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, You are My people. 


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 Awake! Awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, who drank the cup of His fury from the hand of Jehovah; you have drunk the cup of reeling to the dregs, and wrung them out. 


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 No guide is for her among all the sons she has borne; and none takes her by the hand of all the sons that she made to grow. 


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 These two things have come to you, who shall be sorry for you? Desolation, and ruin, and the famine, and the sword. By whom shall I comfort you? 


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 Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the street like a wild antelope in a net, filled with the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of your God. 


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 So says your Lord Jehovah, and your God who strives for His people, Behold, I have taken the cup of reeling from your hand, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; you shall never drink it again. 


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 But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down so that we may cross; and put your back as the ground, even as the street to those who cross. 


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 Awake! Awake! Put on your strength, Zion; put on your beautiful robes, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For never again shall come to you uncircumcised and unclean ones. 


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 Shake yourself from the dust; rise up! Sit, Jerusalem! Free yourself from your neckbands, O captive daughter of Zion. 


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 For so says the Lord Jehovah, My people went down before into Egypt to stay there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 


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 Now therefore, what have I here, says Jehovah, that My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule make them howl, says Jehovah; and without ceasing My name is blasphemed every day. 


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 Therefore My people shall know My name; So it shall be in that day, for I am He who speaks; behold, it is I. 


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 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, making peace heard; who brings good news, making salvation heard; who says to Zion, Your God reigns! 


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 The voice of Your watchmen shall lift up! They lift up the voice together; they sing aloud. For they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah shall bring again Zion. 


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 Break out, sing together, waste places of Jerusalem; for Jehovah has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem. 


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 Jehovah has bared His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 


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 Turn! Turn! Go out from there! Touch not the unclean. Go out of her midst; purify yourself, bearers of the vessels of Jehovah. 


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 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for Jehovah will go before you; and the God of Israel gathers you. 


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 Just as many were astonished at You (so much was the disfigurement from man, His appearance and His form from the sons of mankind); 


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 so He sprinkles from many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for they will see that which was not told to them; yea, what they had not heard, nor understood. 


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 For He comes up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He has no form nor majesty that we should see Him, nor an appearance that we should desire Him. 


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 He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as it were a hiding of faces from Him, He being despised, and we esteemed Him not. 


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 Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 


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 But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed. 


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 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one to his own way; and Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 


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 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. 


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 He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people He was stricken. 


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 And He put His grave with the wicked, and with a rich one in His death; although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. 


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 Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him; that He should put forth His soul as a guilt-offering. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand. 


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 He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul. He shall be fully satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify for many; and He shall bear their iniquities. 


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 Therefore I will divide to Him with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul to death; and He was counted among the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for transgressors. 


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 Rejoice, O unfruitful one that never bore; break out a song and shout, you who never travailed. For more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married woman, says Jehovah. 


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 Make the place of your tent larger, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes; 


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 for you shall break out on the right hand and on the left. And your seed shall inherit the nations, and people will inhabit ruined cities. 


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 Do not fear; for you shall not be ashamed, nor shall you blush; for you shall not be put to shame; for you shall forget the shame of your youth, and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more. 


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 For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called. 


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 For Jehovah has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were rejected, says your God. 


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 In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says Jehovah your Redeemer. 


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 For this is as the waters of Noah to Me; for as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn from being angry with you and from rebuking you. 


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 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall the covenant of My peace be removed, says Jehovah who has mercy on you. 


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 Afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones among antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. 


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 And I will make your battlements of ruby, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones. 


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 In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. 


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 Behold, they shall surely gather together, not by Me; whoever shall gather against you, he shall fall by you. 


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 Behold, I have created the smith who blows the coals in the fire, and who brings out a tool for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 


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 No weapon that is formed against you shall be blessed; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness is from Me, says Jehovah. 


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 Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 


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 Why do you weigh silver for what is not bread? and your labor for what never satisfies? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 


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 Bow down your ear, and come to Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 


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 Behold, You shall call a nation that You do not know; a nation that did not know You shall run to You because of Jehovah Your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified You. 


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 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 


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 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. 


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 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 


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 so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do. 


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 For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break out before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 


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 Instead of the thorn, the fir tree shall come up; and instead of the brier, the myrtle tree shall come up; and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off. 


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 So says Jehovah, Keep judgment and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. 


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 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; keeping the sabbath, from defiling it; and keeping his hand from doing any evil. 


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 And do not let the son of the stranger, who has joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah has utterly separated me from His people. And do not let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. 


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 For so says Jehovah to the eunuchs who keep My Sabbath, and choose things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant; 


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 even to them will I give within My house and within My walls a hand and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 


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 Also the sons of the stranger, who join themselves to Jehovah to serve Him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and takes hold of My covenant; 


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 even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, 


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 says the Lord Jehovah who gathers the outcasts of Israel, Yet I will gather beside him his gathered ones. 


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 His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs who cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 


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 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough; and they are shepherds who cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, to his own end. 


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 They say, come, Let us take wine, and let us gulp strong drink; and tomorrow shall be like today, and much more abundant. 


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 The righteous one perishes, and no one lays it to heart, and merciful men are taken away; no one cares that the righteous is taken away from the face of evil. 


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 Of whom are you making sport? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, a lying seed, 


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 being inflamed with idols under every green tree, killing the little sons in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks? 


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 Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion; they, even they, are your lot; even to them you have poured a drink offering, you have offered a food offering. Should I be consoled over these? 


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 Also behind the door and the post you have set up your image; for you uncovered yourself and went up from Me. You spread your bed and cut a covenant with them; you loved their bed where you looked. 


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 And you went to the king with ointment, and increased your perfumes, and sent your messengers far off, and lowered yourself even to hell. 


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 You are wearied in the length of your way; you did not say, Despair! You found life in your hand; so you were not weak. 


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 And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that you have lied and have not remembered Me, nor laid it to your heart? Have I not been silent, even from forever, and you did not fear Me? 


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 When you cry, let your gathering deliver you; but the wind shall carry them all away. Vanity shall take them; but he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain. 


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 And He shall say, Raise up! Raise up! Clear the way! Make the stumbling-block rise out of the way of My people. 


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 For so says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity; whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, even with the contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 


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 For I will not contend forever, nor will I be always angry; for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls I have made. 


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 For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid Myself, and was angry, and he went on turning away in the way of his heart. 


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 I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. 


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 I create the fruit of the lips; peace, peace, to him far off, and to him near, says Jehovah; and I will heal him. 


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 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. 


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 Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a ram's horn, and show My people their rebellion, and the house of Jacob their sins. 


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 Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and one who did not forget the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in drawing near to God. 


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 They say, Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and crush all your laborers. 


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 Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice to be heard on high. 


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 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah? 


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 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke? 


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 Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When will you see the naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh? 


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 Then shall your light break out as the dawn, and your health shall spring out quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Jehovah shall gather you. 


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 Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity; 


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 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. 


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 And Jehovah shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. 


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 And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 


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 If you turn your foot because of the Sabbath, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Jehovah, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, 


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 then you shall delight yourself in Jehovah; and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed yourself with the inheritance of Jacob your father. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken. 


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 Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened so that it cannot save, nor is His ear heavy so that it cannot hear. 


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 But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing. 


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 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness. 


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 None calls for justice, nor does anyone plead for truth; they trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring out iniquity. 


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 They hatch adders' eggs and weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. 


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 Their webs shall not become clothing, nor shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. 


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 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and ruin are in their paths. 


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 They did not know the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their paths. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them shall not know peace. 


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 Therefore judgment is far from us; nor does justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold, dimness; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 


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 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in deserted places like dead men. 


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 We all roar like bears, and mourn grievously like doves; we look for judgment, but none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. 


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 For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; 


