Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call.
This I know: God is for me.

God has spoken once;
I have heard this twice:
strength belongs to God,

You visit the earth and water it abundantly,
enriching it greatly.
God’s stream is filled with water,
for You prepare the earth in this way,
providing people with grain.

When I tried to understand all this,
it seemed hopeless

There are no signs for us to see.
There is no longer a prophet.
And none of us knows how long this will last.

Remember this: the enemy has mocked Yahweh,
and a foolish people has insulted Your name.

Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe His wonderful works.

Return, God of Hosts.
Look down from heaven and see;
take care of this vine,

For this is a statute for Israel,
a judgment of the God of Jacob.

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

When He registers the peoples,
the Lord will record,
“This one was born there.”Selah

A stupid person does not know,
a fool does not understand this:

This will be written for a later generation,
and a newly created people will praise the Lord:

All this happened
so that they might keep His statutes
and obey His instructions.
Hallelujah!

Let this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
to those who speak evil against me.

so they may know that this is Your hand
and that You, Lord, have done it.

This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous will enter through it.

This came from the Lord;
it is wonderful in our eyes.

This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

This is my comfort in my affliction:
Your promise has given me life.

This is my practice:
I obey Your precepts.

where the tribes, Yahweh’s tribes, go up
to give thanks to the name of Yahweh.
(This is an ordinance for Israel.)

In this very way
the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed.

“This is My resting place forever;
I will make My home here
because I have desired it.

This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.

I will praise You
because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
and I know this very well.

Although my spirit is weak within me,
You know my way.

Along this path I travel
they have hidden a trap for me.

He has not done this for any nation;
they do not know His judgments.
Hallelujah!

carrying out the judgment decreed against them.
This honor is for all His godly people.
Hallelujah!

This will be healing for your body
and strengthening for your bones.

Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

The one who gives an answer before he listens—
this is foolishness and disgrace for him.

Don’t say, “I will avenge this evil!”
Wait on the Lord, and He will rescue you.

The rich and the poor have this in common:
the Lord made them both.

If you say, “But we didn’t know about this,”
won’t He who weighs hearts consider it?
Won’t He who protects your life know?
Won’t He repay a person according to his work?

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

This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Can one say about anything,
“Look, this is new”?
It has already existed in the ages before us.

I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?”

All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.

So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

When there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great wrong.

For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand,

For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

I said to myself, “This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.”

I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man’s jealousy of his friend. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

There is a person without a companion, without even a son or brother, and though there is no end to all his struggles, his eyes are still not content with riches. “So who am I struggling for,” he asks, “and depriving myself from good?” This too is futile and a miserable task.

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.

The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile.

This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?

God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God,

God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.

Better what the eyes see than wandering desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot,
so is the laughter of the fool.
This too is futile.

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

I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me.

“Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation,

Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.”

All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.

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.

There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead.

I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me:

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity.

N What is this coming up from the wilderness
like columns of smoke,
scented with myrrh and frankincense
from every fragrant powder of the merchant?

Y What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?

His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.

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Y Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on the one she loves?

W I awakened you under the apricot tree.
There your mother conceived you;
there she conceived and gave you birth.

When you come to appear before Me,
who requires this from you—
this trampling of My courts?

“Come, let us discuss this,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;
though they are as red as crimson,
they will be like wool.

Observe this: The Lord God of Hosts
is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah
every kind of security:
the entire supply of bread and water,

A man will even seize his brother
in his father’s house, saying:
“You have a cloak—you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”

The Lord brings this charge
against the elders and leaders of His people:
“You have devastated the vineyard.
The plunder from the poor is in your houses.

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.

He touched my mouth with it and said:

Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.

This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah: Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem, but he could not succeed.

This is what the Lord God says:

It will not happen; it will not occur.

For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep me from going the way of this people:

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

Aram from the east and Philistia from the west
have consumed Israel with open mouths.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

Therefore the Lord does not rejoice
over Israel’s young men
and has no compassion
on its fatherless and widows,
for everyone is a godless evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

Manasseh is with Ephraim,
and Ephraim with Manasseh;
together, both are against Judah.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

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There will be nothing to do
except crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

But this is not what he intends;
this is not what he plans.
It is his intent to destroy
and to cut off many nations.

For he said:

I have done this by my own strength
and wisdom, for I am clever.
I abolished the borders of nations
and plundered their treasures;
like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.

Therefore, the Lord God of Hosts says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did.

Sing to Yahweh, for He has done glorious things.
Let this be known throughout the earth.

you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging has become quiet!

Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,

“I will make her a swampland and a region for screech owls, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction.”

This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

This is the plan prepared
for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out
against all the nations.

In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle came:

The waters of Dibon are full of blood,
but I will bring on Dibon even more than this—
a lion for those who escape from Moab,
and for the survivors in the land.

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