You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.

Also, You have turned back the edge of his sword
And have not made him [strong enough] to stand in battle.

You have put an end to his splendor
And have hurled his throne to the ground.

Because you have made the Lord, [who is] my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works;
At the works of Your hands I joyfully sing.

More than the sounds of many waters,
More than the mighty breakers of the sea,
The Lord on high is mighty.

The sea is His, for He made it [by His command];
And His hands formed the dry land.

For all the gods of the peoples are [worthless, lifeless] idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.

The Lord has made known His salvation;
He has [openly] revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.

Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, not we ourselves [and we are His].
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

He made known His ways [of righteousness and justice] to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.

O Lord, how many and varied are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.

Seek and deeply long for the Lord and His strength [His power, His might];
Seek and deeply long for His face and His presence continually.

The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His sworn oath to Isaac,

He made Joseph lord of his house
And ruler of all his possessions,

There the Lord greatly increased [the number of] His people,
And made them more powerful than their enemies.

He sent [thick, oppressive] darkness and made the land dark;
And Moses and Aaron did not rebel against His words.

So that they might observe His precepts
And keep His laws [obediently accepting and honoring and valuing them].
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
That He might make His [supreme] power known.

They made a calf in Horeb (Sinai)
And worshiped a cast image.

He led them by the straight way,
To an inhabited city [where they could establish their homes].

Fools, because of their rebellious way,
And because of their sins, were afflicted.

He has made His wonderful acts to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and merciful and full of loving compassion.

May you be blessed of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

You [my enemy] pushed me violently so that I was falling,
But the Lord helped me.

Your word I have treasured and stored in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.

I hurried and did not delay
To keep Your commandments.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.

Yodh.
Your hands have made me and established me;
Give me understanding and a teachable heart, that I may learn Your commandments.

I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
That I may keep Your word.

My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
And as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He is gracious and favorable toward us.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

“The [enemies, like] plowers plowed on my back;
They made their furrows [of suffering] long [in Israel].”

May the Lord bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth.

For the Lord will judge His people
And He will have compassion on His servants [revealing His mercy].

To Him who made the heavens with skill,
For His lovingkindness endures forever;

To Him who made the great lights,
For His lovingkindness endures forever;

And made Israel pass through the midst of it,
For His lovingkindness endures forever;

On the day I called, You answered me;
And You made me bold and confident with [renewed] strength in my life.

For the enemy has persecuted me,
He has crushed my life down to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have been long dead.

People will speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
And [with gratitude and submissive wonder] I will tell of Your greatness.

Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them,
Who keeps truth and is faithful forever,

For He has strengthened the bars of your gates,
He has blessed your children within you.

He has also established them forever and ever;
He has made a decree which shall not pass away.

But when he is found, he must repay seven times [what he stole];
He must give all the property of his house [if necessary to meet his fine].

And there a woman met him,
Dressed as a prostitute and sly and cunning of heart.

“So I came out to meet you [that you might share with me the feast of my offering],
Diligently I sought your face and I have found you.

On the top of the heights beside the way,
Where the paths meet, wisdom takes her stand;

“Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power and strength are mine.

While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Or the first of the dust of the earth.

When He made firm the skies above,
When the fountains and springs of the deep became fixed and strong,

The [reverent] fear of the Lord [worshiping, obeying, serving, and trusting Him with awe-filled respect] prolongs one’s life,
But the years of the wicked will be shortened.

Fools mock sin [but sin mocks the fools],
But among the upright there is good will and the favor and blessing of God.

Wisdom rests [silently] in the heart of one who has understanding,
But what is in the heart of [shortsighted] fools is made known.

All the days of the afflicted are bad,
But a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of the circumstances].

The Lord has made everything for its own purpose,
Even the wicked [according to their role] for the day of evil.

It is repulsive [to God and man] for kings to behave wickedly,
For a throne is established on righteousness (right standing with God).

Let a man meet a [ferocious] bear robbed of her cubs
Rather than the [angry, narcissistic] fool in his folly.

Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart,
I am pure from my sin?”

The hearing ear and the seeing eye,
The [omnipotent] Lord has made both of them.

The rich and poor have a common bond;
The Lord is the Maker of them all.

So that your trust and reliance and confidence may be in the Lord,
I have taught these things to you today, even to you.

Do not associate with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat,

Whoever attempts to restrain her [criticism] might as well try to stop the wind,
And grasps oil with his right hand.

The poor man and the oppressor have this in common:
The Lord gives light to the eyes of both.

The way of an eagle in the air,
The way of a serpent on a rock,
The way of a ship in the middle of the sea,
And the way of a man with a maid.

She makes for herself coverlets, cushions, and rugs of tapestry.
Her clothing is linen, pure and fine, and purple [wool].

What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is defective and lacking cannot be counted.

I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

I explored with my mind how to gratify myself with wine while [at the same time] having my mind remain steady and guide me wisely; and how to take control of foolishness, until I could see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

I made great works: I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself;

I made gardens and orchards for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;

I made pools of water for myself from which to water the forest and make the trees bud.

He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.

And though one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Do not allow your speech to cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger (priest) of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of your voice (words) and destroy the work of your hands?

a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the power or capacity to enjoy them [all those things which are gifts from God], but a stranger [in whom he has no interest succeeds him and] enjoys them. This is vanity and it is a [cause of] great distress.

Whatever exists has already been named [long ago], and it is known what [a frail being] man is; for he cannot dispute with Him who is mightier than he.

Sorrow is better than laughter,
For when a face is sad (deep in thought) the heart may be happy [because it is growing in wisdom].

Consider the work of God:
Who can make straight what He has bent?

In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider that
God has made the one as well as the other,
So that man will not find out anything that will be after him.

Behold, I have found only this [as a reason]: God made man upright and uncorrupted, but they [both men and women] have sought out many devices [for evil].”

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) where you are going.

But I say that wisdom is better than strength, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heeded.

then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

“Do not gaze at me because I am deeply tanned,
[I have worked in] the sun; it has left its mark on me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard (my complexion) I have not kept.”

“King Solomon has made for himself a palanquin
From the [cedar] wood of Lebanon.

“He made its posts of silver,
Its back of gold,
Its seat of purple cloth,
The interior lovingly and intricately wrought
By the daughters of Jerusalem.

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have reared and brought up sons,
But they have rebelled against Me and have broken away.

Their land has also been filled with idols;
They worship the work of their hands,
That which their own fingers have made.

In that day men will throw away to the moles and to the bats
Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
Which they made for themselves [as objects] to worship,

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others],
Until there is no more room [for others],
So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz [king of Judah], you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field;

And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and strength,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the [reverential and obedient] fear of the Lord—

Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent and glorious things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.

I [the Lord] have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have even called My great warriors,
My proudly exulting ones [the Medes and the Persians who triumph for My honor]—
To execute My anger.

The peoples will take them along and bring them to their own place (Judea), and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; and they will take captive those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their [former] oppressors.

And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

“Sheol below is excited about you to meet you when you come [you tyrant of Babylon];
It stirs up the spirits of the dead [to greet you], all the leaders of the earth;
It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones [in astonishment at your fall].