Moreover, you have turned back the edge of his sword and did not support him in battle.

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the flock in his care. If only you would listen to his voice today,

He did not allow anyone to oppress them, or any kings to reprove them.

He sent darkness, and it became dark. Did they not rebel against his words?

But they quickly forgot his deeds and did not wait for his counsel.

For they adopted the worship of Baal Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.

Therefore, they became unclean because of what they did; they have acted like whores by their evil deeds.

God, you have rejected us, have you not, since you did not march out with our army, God?

Neither can the dead praise the LORD, nor those who go down into the silence of death.

I hurried and did not procrastinate to keep your commands.

Though the arrogant nearly destroyed me on earth, I did not abandon your precepts.

Blessed be the LORD, who did not give us as prey to their teeth.

If I rise to heaven, there you are! If I lay down with the dead, there you are!

Just as one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered near the entrance to the place of the dead.

because you neglected all my advice and did not want my correction,

"Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD;

they did not want my advice, and they rejected all my correction.

For her house leads down to death, and her paths down to the realm of the dead.

I did not obey my teachers and did not listen to my instructors.

"I have given my peace offerings, and today I fulfilled my vows.

But he does not realize that the dead lurk there, and her invited guests wind up in the depths of Sheol.

Whoever wanders from the path of understanding will end up where the dead are gathered.

As a result, your trust will be in the LORD, that's why I'm teaching you today, even you.

Don't say, "I'll do to him like he did to me, I'll be sure to pay him back for what he did."

Keep deception and lies far away from me, and give me neither poverty nor wealth. Feed me with food that I need for today,

Does anything exist about which someone might say, "Look at this! Is this new?" It happened ages ago; it existed before we did.

Whenever I wanted something I had seen, I never refused that desire. Instead, I enjoyed everything I did, and this became the reward in what I had undertaken.

So I commended the dead who had already died as being happier than the living who are still alive.

Among the things I seek but have not found: one man among a thousand I did find, but I have not found one woman to be wise among all these.

There is a tragedy that infects everything that happens on earth: a common event happens to everyone. In fact, the hearts of human beings are full of evil. Madness remains in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead.

"While someone is among the living, hope remains," because "it is better to be a living dog than to be a dead lion."

At least the living know they will die, but the dead know nothing; they no longer have a reward, since memory about them has been forgotten.

As dead flies cause the perfumer's ointment to stink, so also does a little foolishness to one's reputation of wisdom and honor.

For God will judge every deed, along with every secret, whether good or evil.

Where did your beloved go, most beautiful of women? Where did your beloved turn, so we may look for him with you?

"How terrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster is headed their way, because what they did with their hand will be repaid to them.

What more could I do in my vineyard, that I haven't already done? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield wild ones?

"So when they advise you, "Ask the mediums your questions, and quiz the spiritists who chirp and mutter,' shouldn't a people instead be consulting their God and not the dead on behalf of those who are living

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies says: "My people, you who live in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrians, of the rod that beats you, who lift up their club against you as the Egyptians did.

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies will brandish a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as his staff was stretched out over the sea, so he will lift it up as he did in Egypt.

Whoever is captured will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall dead, killed by the sword.

"The afterlife below is all astir to meet you when you arrive; it rouses up the spirits of the dead to greet you everyone who used to be world leaders. It has raised up from their thrones all who used to be kings of the nations.

But you are brought down to join the dead, to the far reaches of the Pit.

But you are cast away from your grave, like a repulsive branch, your clothing is the slain, those pierced by the sword; those who go down to the Pit. Like a dead body trampled underfoot,

The spirits of the Egyptians within them will be drained of courage, and I will bring their plans to nothing. They will consult idols and spirits of the dead, and mediums and spiritists.

at that time the LORD spoke through Amoz's son Isaiah: "Go loosen the sackcloth that's around your waist, and take your sandals off your feet." So that's what he did: he went around naked and barefoot.

you who are full of commotion, you passionate city, you rollicking town? Your slain weren't killed by the sword, nor are they dead in battle.

and built a reservoir between the walls to store water from the Old Pool. But you did not look at the One who did it, nor did you see the One who planned it long ago.

The dead won't live, and the departed spirits won't rise to that end, you punished and destroyed them, then locked away all memory of them.

"But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy! For your dew is like the dew of dawn, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

For the LORD will stand upon Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself in the Valley of Gibeon; to carry out his work his strange deed, and to perform his task his alien task!

He has turned the tables on you as if the potter were thought to be like heat. Can what is made say of the one who made it, "He did not make me?' Or can what is formed say of the ones who formed it, "He has no skill?'

Their slain will be thrown out; and as for their dead bodies their stench will ascend; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar?

After this, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah's army awakened in the morning there were all the dead bodies!

The living yes the living they thank you, just as I am doing today; fathers will tell their children about your faithfulness.

Hezekiah was delighted with them, and showed them everything in his treasure-houses the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oils, his entire armory, and everything found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men have to say? And from where did they come to you?" Hezekiah replied, "From a distant land they came to me from Babylon."

"What did they see in your palace?" he asked. "They saw everything in my palace," Hezekiah replied. "There is nothing in my treasuries that I did not show them."

With whom did he consult to enlighten and instruct him on the path of justice? Or who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of wisdom?

You said, "I will always continue Queen forever!' You didn't take these things into your thinking, nor did you think about their consequences.

"But stand up now with your spells and your many incantations, at which you have labored from your childhood until today,

So will they be to you those with whom you toiled and did business since your childhood they wander about, each in his own direction; there is not one who can save you.

I told you these things long ago; I announced them to you before they happened so that you couldn't say, "My idol did them; my carved image or metal idol ordained them.'

They are created now, and not long ago; you didn't hear them before today, so you cannot say, "Yes, I knew them.'

And neither had you heard, nor did you understand, nor did you open your ear long ago. Indeed, I knew that you would act very deceitfully, and they would call you a rebel from birth.

This is what the LORD says: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look! It's because of your sins that you were sold, and because of your transgressions that your mother was sent away.

My Lord GOD has opened my ears, and I did not rebel; I did not shrink back.

I gave my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not turn away my face from insults and spitting.

"He was despised and rejected by others, and a man of sorrows, intimately familiar with suffering; and like one from whom people hide their faces; and we despised him and did not value him.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he didn't open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

""Come!' they say, "let's have some wine, and let's fill ourselves with strong drink! Then, tomorrow will be like today, or even much better!'"

You grew tired with your many wanderings, but you wouldn't say: "It is hopeless.' You found new strength for your desire, and so you did not falter.

"Whom did you so dread and while you feared me that you lied, and you did not remember me, and did not lay to heart these things? Haven't I remained silent for a long time, and still you don't fear me?"

"Look! You fast only for quarreling, and for fighting, and for hitting with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice heard on high.

Let's grope along the wall like the blind; let us grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as if it were twilight, in desolate places like dead people.

who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the open desert, they did not stumble;

When you did awesome deeds that we expected, you came down, and the mountains shuddered before you.

I'll consign you to the sword, and all of you will bend down for the slaughter because when I called, you didn't answer, when I spoke, you didn't listen; but you did what was evil in my sight, and chose what I took no pleasure in."

Therefore I, too, will choose harsh treatment for them, and will bring upon them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn't listen; but they did what I consider to be evil, and chose what doesn't please me."

"Then they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of the people who rebelled against me. For their worm will not die, nor will their fire be extinguished, and they will remain an object of revulsion to all humanity."

See, today I've appointed you to prophesy about nations and kingdoms, to pull up and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

"As for me, today I'm making you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against the whole land against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

This is what the LORD says: "What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless?

I planted you myself as a choice vine, from the very best seed. How did you turn against me into a degenerate and foreign vine?

In the time of King Josiah the LORD told me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there.

Were they ashamed because they did what was repugnant to God? They were not ashamed at all they don't even know how to blush! Therefore they'll fall with those who fall. When I punish them, they'll be brought down," says the LORD.

"Go to my place that was in Shiloh, where I first caused my name to dwell. See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

Just as I did to Shiloh, I'll do to the house in which you trust and which is called by my name, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

but I did give them this command: "Obey me and I'll be your God, and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you so it will go well for you.'

But they didn't listen, nor did they pay attention. They pursued their own plans, stubbornly following their own evil desires. They went backward and not forward.

But they didn't listen to me, and they didn't pay attention. They stiffened their necks, and they did more evil than their ancestors.

The dead bodies of these people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the land, and no one will disturb them.

Listen! My people cry from a distant land: "Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her king no longer there?" "Why did they provoke me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign gods?"

As a result, I'll fulfill the oath that I made with your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, just as is the case today."'" Then I answered, "So be it, LORD."

But they would not listen or turn their ear, and each of them stubbornly followed his own evil desires. So I brought on them all the consequences of this covenant that I commanded them to fulfill, but they did not.'"

For just as the belt clings tightly to a person's waist, so I've made all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah cling tightly to me,' declares the LORD. "I did this so that they would be my people, name, praise, and glory. But they wouldn't listen.'

I'll make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Hezekiah's son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

"They'll die of deadly diseases. People won't mourn for them, nor will they be buried. They'll be dung on the surface of the ground, and they'll come to an end with the sword and with famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the land."

They won't break bread for the mourner to be consoled for the dead. They won't give anyone the cup of consolation to drink for his father or mother.