"Where were you when I laid the foundation of my earth? Tell me, since you're so informed!

On what were its bases set? Who laid its corner stone

In his anger smoke poured out of his nostrils, and consuming fire from his mouth; coals were lit from it.

Then the channels of the sea could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were uncovered because of your rebuke, LORD, because of the blast from the breath of your nostrils.

He delivered me from my strong enemies, from those who hated me because they were stronger than I.

because all his judgments were always before me, and I did not cast off his statutes.

So the LORD restored me according to my righteousness, because my hands were clean in his sight.

I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn around until they were utterly defeated.

They cried out to you and escaped; they trusted in you and were not put to shame.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made; all the heavenly bodies by the breath of his mouth.

But when they were sick, I wore sackcloth, humbled myself with fasting, and prayed from my heart repeatedly for them.

Hear my prayer, LORD, pay attention to my cry, and do not ignore my tears. I am an alien in your presence, a stranger just like my ancestors were.

It was not with their sword that they inherited the land, nor did their own arm deliver them. But it was by your power, your strength, and by the light of your face; because you were pleased with them.

The nations roared; the kingdoms were shaken. His voice boomed; the earth melts.

they looked and were awestruck; they became afraid and ran away.

"If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine along with everything in it.

There the Israelis were seized with terror, when there was nothing to fear. For God scattered the bones of those who laid siege against you you put them to shame, for God rejected them.

His mouth is as smooth as butter, while war is in his heart. His words were as smooth as olive oil, while his sword is drawn.

How long will you rage against someone? Would you attack him as if he were a leaning wall or a tottering fence?

But God shot an arrow at them, and they were wounded immediately.

Were I to cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not listen to me.

God's chariots were many thousands. The Lord was there with them at Sinai in holiness.

God, who can compare to you, who caused me to experience troubles that were numerous and disastrous? You will return to revive me and lift me up from the depths of the earth.

Those who are opposing you roar where we were meeting with you; they unfurl their war banners as signs.

Brave men were plundered while they slumbered in their sleep. All the men of the army were immobilized.

When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; my hands were raised at night and they did not grow weary. I refused to be comforted.

They will not be like the rebellious generation of their ancestors, a rebellious generation, whose heart was not steadfast, and whose spirits were unfaithful to God.

The descendants of Ephraim were sharp shooters with the bow, but they retreated in the day of battle.

He divided the sea so that they were able to cross; he caused the water to stand in a single location.

So they ate and were very satisfied, because he granted their desire.

For their hearts weren't committed to him, and they weren't faithful to his covenant.

For he remembered that they were only flesh, a passing wind that doesn't return.

They fell away and were as disloyal as their ancestors. They became unreliable, like a defective bow;

The young men were consumed by fire, and the virgins had no marriage celebrations.

Mountains were covered by its shadows, and the mighty cedars by its branches.

I removed the burden from your shoulder; your hands were freed of the burdensome basket.

They were destroyed at En-dor and became as dung on the ground.

Before the mountains were formed or the earth and the world were brought forth, you are God from eternity to eternity.

do not be stubborn like your ancestors were at Meribah, as on that day at Massah, in the wilderness,

Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel also was among those who invoked his name. When they called on the LORD, he answered them.

LORD our God, you answered them; you were their God who forgave them, but also avenged their evil deeds.

For he knows how we were formed, aware that we were made from dust.

When the Hebrews were few in number so very few and were sojourners in it,

They were overwhelmed with craving in the wilderness, so God tested them in the wasteland.

They were envious of Moses in the camp, and of Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.

Their enemies oppressed them, so that they were humiliated by their power.

The ropes of death were wound around me and the anguish of Sheol came upon me; I encountered distress and sorrow.

Oh, that my ways were steadfast, so I may keep your statutes.

When the LORD brought back Zion's exiles, we were like dreamers.

Then our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues formed joyful shouts. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."

LORD, if you were to record iniquities, Lord, who could remain standing?

Your eyes looked upon my embryo, and everything was recorded in your book. The days scheduled for my formation were inscribed, even though not one of them had come yet.

Were I to count them, they would number more than the sand. When I awake, I will be with you.

When there were no ocean depths, I brought them to birth at a time when there were no springs.

Before the mountains were shaped, before there were hills, I was bringing them to birth.

when he made the clouds from above, when the springs of the depths were established,

Don't be envious of wicked men or wish you were with them,

I also examined on earth: where the halls of justice were supposed to be, there was lawlessness; and where the righteous were supposed to be, there was lawlessness. 17I told myself, "God will judge both the righteous and the wicked, because there is a time set to judge every event and every work."

Don't stare at me because I'm dark; the sun has tanned me. My mother's sons were angry with me. They made me the caretaker of the vineyards, but I didn't take care of my own vineyard.

I wish that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand were embracing me!

My beloved reached out his hand for the latch. My feelings for him were aroused.

If only you were like a brother to me, like one who nursed at my mother's breasts. If I found you outside I would kiss you, and no one would view me with contempt.

Mighty bodies of water cannot extinguish love, rivers cannot put it out. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, he would surely be viewed with contempt.

I was a wall and my breasts were like towers. Then I became like one who finds peace in his eyes.

Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against his people, so he stretched out his hands against them and afflicted them. The mountains quaked, and their corpses were like refuse in the middle of the streets. Throughout all of this, his anger has not turned away, and his hands are still stretched out to attack.

"At that time, every place where once there were a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briars and thorns will grow.

For this is what the LORD spoke to me, as his forceful hand was resting on me, and as he was warning me not to live the way this people were living:

and all of the people were evil Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria saying proudly with arrogant hearts:

As my hand has reached to the idolatrous kingdoms whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

"Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!

At that time, you will say: "I will praise you, LORD, for although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me.

Many nations will take them and bring them to their land and their own place. The house of Israel will put those nations to conscripted labor in the LORD's land. They will take captive those who were their captors, and will rule continually over those who oppressed them.

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.

All your leaders have fled together; she is captured without using bows. All of you who were caught were captured together, although they had fled while the enemy was still far away.

At that time, you looked at the arsenal of the Palace of the Forest, and saw that there were many breaches in the City of David. So you stored up water from the Lower Pool,

and were on mighty waters. Her revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; and she became the marketplace of nations.

Who has planned this against Tyre, that bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the most renowned on earth?

LORD, they came to you in distress; they poured out their secret prayer when your chastenings were afflicting them.

Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out during her labor when she is about to give birth, so were we because of you, LORD.

We were pregnant, writhing in pain, but we gave birth only to wind. We have not won your victory on earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world been born."

Has the LORD struck them down, just as he struck down those who struck them? Or have they been killed, just as their killers were killed?

Furthermore, at that time, a great trumpet will be sounded, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and those who had been expelled to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on his holy mountain at Jerusalem.

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?'

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!

Let them approach and ask us, "What will happen? As to the former things, what were they? Tell us, so that we may consider them and know. Or the latter things or the things to come let us hear.

"Who handed Jacob over to looters, and Israel to robbers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? After all, they weren't willing to walk in his ways, and they wouldn't obey his instruction,

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.

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD! Look to the rock from which you were cut, to the quarry from which you were hewn.

For this is what the LORD says: "You were sold for nothing, and you'll be redeemed without money."

Just as many were astonished at you so was he marred in his appearance, more than any human, and his form beyond that of human semblance

"Sing, you barren woman, even the one who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, even you who were never in labor! For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married," says the LORD.

They seek me day after day, and are eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practices righteousness and has not forsaken the justice of their God. "They ask me to reveal just decisions; they are eager to draw near to God.

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.

You come to the aid of those who gladly do what's right, To those who remember you in your ways. See, you were angry, and we sinned against them for a long time, but we will be saved.

"I knew you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart for me before you were born; I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations."

Why do you go about changing your mind so much? You will also be disappointed by Egypt, just as you were disappointed by Assyria.

I looked at the mountains; they were quaking, and all the hills moved back and forth.

I looked, and no people were there. All the birds of the sky had gone.

I looked, and the fruitful land had become a desert. All its towns were broken down because of the LORD, because of his burning anger.