A Song of degrees; of David. Except that it was Jehovah who was for us, O may Israel say;

Except that it was Jehovah who was for us when men rose up against us,

then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing; then they said among the nations, Jehovah has done great things with them.

My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and skillfully formed in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my embryo; and in Your book all my members were written, the days they were formed, and not one was among them.

An Instruction of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. I cried to Jehovah with my voice; with my voice I prayed to Jehovah.

I looked on my right hand, and I watched, but no one recognized me; escape was lost to me; no man cared for my soul.

For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

I was anointed from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth ever was.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no springs heavy with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth.

When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle upon the face of the deep;

even I was a workman at His side; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him;

rejoicing in the world, His earth; and my delight was with the sons of men.

saying, They struck me; I was not sick; they beat me, but I did not know it. When I awaken, I will add more. I will seek it again.

and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face of it, and its stone wall was broken down.

I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.

And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I did not withhold my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my part of all my labor.

Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

Is it not good that he should eat and drink and make his soul see good in his labor? This I also saw, that it was from the hand of God.

And again I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold the tears of the oppressed ones, and they had no comforter! And on the side of those who oppressed them there was power, but they had no comforter.

For out of prison he comes to reign; although in his kingdom he was born poor.

Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; do not say before the angel that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?

Do not say, Why was it that the former days were better than these? For you do not ask wisely in regard to this.

All this I have proved by wisdom; I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

There was a little city, and few men in it; and a great king came against it and besieged it, and built huge bulwarks against it.

And a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that poor man.

then the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.

And more than that, the preacher was wise; he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he listened, and looked, and set in order many proverbs.

As the apple among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.

He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love.

He made its poles of silver, its back gold, its seat of purple, its middle was paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

My Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for Him.

I was a wall, and my breasts like towers; then I was in His eyes as one finding peace.

Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; everyone for its fruit was to bring a thousand of silver.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil;

How has the faithful city become a harlot? It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

And the man bowed down, and man was humbled, but You do not lift them up.

And the doorposts moved at the voice of the one who cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is allied with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved by the wind.

Yet there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish, as in the former time. He degraded the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, so afterwards He will glorify the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; and there was none who moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

And Jehovah of Hosts shall stir up a whip on him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as His rod was on the sea, so shall He lift it up in the way of Egypt.

And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, those left from Assyria; as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

And it shall be in the day that Jehovah shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage which was pressed on you,

This burden was in the year that King Ahaz died:

Therefore my loins are filled with pain; pangs have taken hold on me like the pangs of a woman who travails; I was bowed down from hearing; I was troubled from seeing.

The people of the land of Tema brought water to him who was thirsty; they went before him who fled with their bread.

And it was revealed in my ears by Jehovah of Hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you until you die, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.

In that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, the nail that is fastened in the sure place shall be removed, and be cut down, and fall. And the burden that was on it shall be cut off. Jehovah has spoken.

And by great waters, the seed of Sihor and the harvest of the river Nile was her revenue; and she a mart of nations.

Jehovah, in trouble they have visited You; they poured out a prayer; Your chastening was on them.

But the Word of Jehovah was to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.

Then Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah, the recorder, came out to him.

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the chief of the cupbearers.

And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

And it happened as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword. And they escaped into the land of Ararat; and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his place.

In those days Hezekiah was sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, So says Jehovah, Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.

And Hezekiah rejoiced over them, and let them see the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not let them see.

For I looked, and there was no man; and of these no counselor was, that I might ask and they could answer.

You are My witnesses, says Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me no God was formed, nor shall there be after Me.

I have declared, and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says Jehovah, that I am God.

Yea, before the day was, I am He; and no one delivers out of My hand; I will work, and who will reverse it?

So says Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb, I am Jehovah who makes all things; who stretches out the heavens alone; who spreads out the earth; who was with Me?

I was angry with My people, I have polluted My inheritance, and given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; you have very heavily laid your yoke on the aged.

Yea, you did not hear; yea, you did not know; yea, from the time that your ear was not opened; for I surely know that you will betray and trespass; from the womb it was called to you.

Come near to Me, hear this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From its being, I was there; and now the Lord Jehovah, and His Spirit, has sent Me.

Then you shall say in your heart, Who has borne me these, since I am bereaved, and desolate, turned aside and an exile, and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?

The Lord Jehovah has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious, nor turned away backwards.

Awake! awake! Put on strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake! as in the days of old, in the generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab into pieces, piercing the sea-monster?

Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

Just as many were astonished at You (so much was the disfigurement from man, His appearance and His form from the sons of mankind);

so He sprinkles from many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for they will see that which was not told to them; yea, what they had not heard, nor understood.

But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed.

He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people He was stricken.

And He put His grave with the wicked, and with a rich one in His death; although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Therefore I will divide to Him with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul to death; and He was counted among the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for transgressors.

For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid Myself, and was angry, and he went on turning away in the way of his heart.

Yea, truth fails; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And Jehovah saw, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment.

And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness sustained Him.

For He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. And He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was covered with zeal like a cloak.

I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with Me; for I will tread them in My anger and trample them in My fury; and their blood will be sprinkled on My garments, and I will stain all My clothing.

And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm has saved for Me; and My fury upheld Me.

For He said, Surely they are My people, sons that will not lie; so He was their Savior.

In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

But they rebelled, and troubled His Holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them.

We are from forever; You never ruled over them; Your name was never called on them.

Israel was holiness to Jehovah, and the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him shall offend; evil shall come on them, says Jehovah.

For though you wash yourself with potash, and multiply soap for yourself, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord Jehovah.

A voice was heard on the high places weeping, cryings of the sons of Israel; for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten Jehovah their God.

I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

I looked, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.

I looked, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down before the face of Jehovah, before His fierce anger.

But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel.

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his stallions. For they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who live in it.