Don’t you know? You were already born;
you have lived so long!

She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own,
with no fear that her labor may have been in vain.

The ropes of death were wrapped around me;
the torrents of destruction terrified me.

Smoke rose from His nostrils,
and consuming fire came from His mouth;
coals were set ablaze by it.

The depths of the sea became visible,
the foundations of the world were exposed,
at Your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

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

They cried to You and were set free;
they trusted in You and were not disgraced.

The heavens were made by the word of the Lord,
and all the stars, by the breath of His mouth.

Yet when they were sick,
my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting,
and my prayer was genuine.

Lord my God, You have done many things—
Your wonderful works and Your plans for us;
none can compare with You.
If I were to report and speak of them,
they are more than can be told.

For they did not take the land by their sword—
their arm did not bring them victory—
but by Your right hand, Your arm,
and the light of Your face,
for You were pleased with them.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and everything in it is Mine.

How long will you threaten a man?
Will all of you attack
as if he were a leaning wall
or a tottering stone fence?

I sought the Lord in my day of trouble.
My hands were continually lifted up
all night long;
I refused to be comforted.

Your way went through the sea
and Your path through the great waters,
but Your footprints were unseen.

so that a future generation—
children yet to be born—might know.
They were to rise and tell their children

They ate and were completely satisfied,
for He gave them what they craved.

their hearts were insincere toward Him,
and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

He remembered that they were only flesh,
a wind that passes and does not return.

He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.

The mountains were covered by its shade,
and the mighty cedars with its branches.

“I relieved his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were freed from carrying the basket.

They were destroyed at En-dor;
they became manure for the ground.

And it will be said of Zion,
“This one and that one were born in her.”
The Most High Himself will establish her.

Before the mountains were born,
before You gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity, You are God.

Moses and Aaron were among His priests;
Samuel also was among those calling on His name.
They called to Yahweh and He answered them.

Lord our God, You answered them.
You were a forgiving God to them,
an avenger of their sinful actions.

He wraps Himself in light as if it were a robe,
spreading out the sky like a canopy,

You covered it with the deep
as if it were a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.

When they were few in number,
very few indeed,
and temporary residents in Canaan,

They were seized with craving in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.

In the camp they were envious of Moses
and of Aaron, the Lord’s holy one.

Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were subdued under their power.

He rescued them many times,
but they continued to rebel deliberately
and were beaten down by their sin.

They were hungry and thirsty;
their spirits failed within them.

He stilled the storm to a murmur,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.

The ropes of death were wrapped around me,
and the torments of Sheol overcame me;
I encountered trouble and sorrow.

They surrounded me like bees;
they were extinguished like a fire among thorns;
in the name of Yahweh I destroyed them.

If only my ways were committed
to keeping Your statutes!

Though the ropes of the wicked
were wrapped around me,
I did not forget Your instruction.

You remove all the wicked on earth
as if they were dross;
therefore, I love Your decrees.

A song of ascents.When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.

Our mouths were filled with laughter then,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”

The Lord had done great things for us;
we were joyful.

My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.

Let them praise the name of Yahweh,
for He commanded, and they were created.

were not interested in my counsel,
and rejected all my correction,

I was born
when there were no watery depths
and no springs filled with water.

I was delivered
before the mountains and hills were established,

I said to myself, “Look, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.”

I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.

There is no limit to all the people who were before them, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
since it is not wise of you to ask this.

In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did so. This too is futile.

Do not stare at me because I am dark,
for the sun has gazed on me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me a keeper of the vineyards.
I have not kept my own vineyard.

My love thrust his hand through the opening,
and my feelings were stirred for him.

W I came down to the walnut grove
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines were budding
and the pomegranates blooming.

Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all his wealth for love,
it would be utterly scorned.

I will restore your judges to what they once were,
and your advisers to their former state.
Afterward you will be called the Righteous City,
a Faithful City.”

Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against His people.
He raised His hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like garbage in the streets.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And on that day
every place where there were 1,000 vines,
worth 1,000 pieces of silver,
will become thorns and briers.

You will not go to all the hills
that were once tilled with a hoe,
for fear of the thorns and briers.
Those hills will be places for oxen to graze
and for sheep to trample.

Israel, even if your people were as numerous
as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant of them will return.
Destruction has been decreed;
justice overflows.

On that day you will say:
“I will praise You, Lord,
although You were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion on me.

When the Lord gives you rest from your pain, torment, and the hard labor you were forced to do,

On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.

The noisy city, the jubilant town,
is filled with revelry.
Your dead did not die by the sword;
they were not killed in battle.

All your rulers have fled together,
captured without a bow.
All your fugitives were captured together;
they had fled far away.

Your best valleys were full of chariots,
and horsemen were positioned at the gates.

You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the city of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

As a pregnant woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pains,
so we were before You, Lord.

You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”

They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands—wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.

Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!

Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.”

“I have raised up one from the north, and he has come,
one from the east who invokes My name.
He will march over rulers as if they were mud,
like a potter who treads the clay.

Who gave Jacob to the robber,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord?
Have we not sinned against Him?
They were not willing to walk in His ways,
and they would not listen to His instruction.

You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and knowledge
led you astray.
You said to yourself,
‘I exist, and there is no one else.’

You have never heard; you have never known;
For a long time your ears have not been open.
For I knew that you were very treacherous,
and were known as a rebel from birth.

This is what the Lord says:

Where is your mother’s divorce certificate
that I used to send her away?
Or who were My creditors that I sold you to?
Look, you were sold for your iniquities,
and your mother was put away
because of your transgressions.

Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.

For this is what the Lord says:
“You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without silver.”

Just as many were appalled at You—
His appearance was so disfigured
that He did not look like a man,
and His form did not resemble a human being—

We grope along a wall like the blind;
we grope like those without eyes.
We stumble at noon as though it were twilight;
we are like the dead among those who are healthy.

I trampled the winepress alone,
and no one from the nations was with Me.
I trampled them in My anger
and ground them underfoot in My fury;
their blood spattered My garments,
and all My clothes were stained.

You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;
they remember You in Your ways.
But we have sinned, and You were angry.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?

I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Has a nation ever exchanged its gods?
(But they were not gods!)
Yet My people have exchanged their Glory
for useless idols.

How unstable you are,
constantly changing your ways!
You will be put to shame by Egypt
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking;
all the hills shook.

I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness.
All its cities were torn down
because of the Lord
and His burning anger.

Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,
says the Lord.

Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?
They weren’t at all ashamed.
They can no longer feel humiliation.
Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.
When I punish them, they will collapse,”
says the Lord.

If my head were a spring of water,
my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
over the slain of my dear people.

Even your brothers—your own father’s household—
even they were treacherous to you;
even they have cried out loudly after you.
Do not have confidence in them,
though they speak well of you.

Look up and see
those coming from the north.
Where is the flock entrusted to you,
the sheep that were your pride?