Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham.

He sent darkness, and it was dark; for they were not obedient unto his word.

He brought them forth also with silver and gold; there was not one feeble person among their tribes.

Egypt was glad at their departing: for they were afraid of them.

He rebuked the reed sea, and it was dried up: so he led them through the deep, as through a wilderness.

As for those that troubled them, the waters overwhelmed them; there was not one of them left.

The fire was kindled in their company; the flame burnt up the ungodly.

Thus they provoked him unto anger with their own inventions; and the plague was great among them.

And that was counted unto him for righteousness, among all posterities for evermore.

and shed the innocent blood of their sons and of their daughters; whom they offered unto the idols of Canaan, so that the land was defiled with blood.

Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance;

They fell down, and there was none to help them.

and that, because his mind was not to do good, but persecuted the poor helpless, and him that was vexed at the heart, to slay him.

His delight was in cursing, and therefore shall it happen unto him; he loved not blessing, therefore shall it be far from him.

Judah was his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

The LORD preserveth the simple; I was brought down in misery and he helped me.

I believed, and therefore will I speak; but I was sore troubled.

They thrust at me, that I might fall; but the LORD was my help.

Before I was troubled, I went wrong, but now I keep thy word.

{A song of the stairs} I was glad when they said unto me, "We will go in to the house of the LORD."

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with joy. Then said they among the heathen, "The LORD hath done great things for them."

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book were all my members written, which day by day were fashioned, when as yet there was not one of them.

{The Instruction of David, a prayer when he was in the cave} I cry unto the LORD with my voice; yea, even unto the LORD do I make my supplication.

For when I myself was my father's dear son, and tenderly beloved of my mother,

Wherefore was not I obedient unto the voice of my teachers, and hearken not unto them that informed me?

And behold, there met him a woman with open tokens of a harlot. Only her heart was hid.

She was full of loud words and ready to dally: whose feet could not abide in the house.

She caught the young man, kissed him, and was not ashamed, saying,

I have been ordained from everlasting, and from the beginning before the earth was made.

When I was born, there were neither depths nor springs of water.

Before the foundations of the mountains were laid, yea before all hills was I born.

The earth and all that is upon the earth was not yet made, no not the ground itself.

For when he made the heavens, I was present; when he set up the depths in order;

I was with him, ordering all things, delighting daily, and rejoicing always before him.

The robberies of the ungodly shall be their own destruction; for they would not do the thing that was right.

And lo, it was all covered with nettles, and stood full of thistles, and the stone wall was broken down.

Is there anything, whereof it may be said, "Lo, this is new?" For it was long ago in the times that have been before us.

for thereunto I applied my mind: that I might know what were wisdom and understanding, what were error and foolishness. And I perceived that this also was but a vexation of mind:

Then said I thus in my heart, "Now go to, I will take mine ease and have good days." But lo, that was vanity also:

Shortly, I was greater and in more worship, than all my predecessors in Jerusalem. For wisdom remained with me:

But when I considered all the works that my hands had wrought, and all the labours that I had taken therein: Lo, all was vanity and vexation of mind, and nothing of any value under the Sun.

Then thought I in my mind, "If it happeneth unto the fool as it doth unto me, what needeth me then to labour any more for wisdom?" So I confessed within my heart, that this also was but vanity.

Thus began I to be weary of my life, in so much that I could away with nothing that is done under the Sun, for all was but vanity and vexation of mind:

Yea, I was weary of all my labour, which I had taken under the Sun, because I should be fain to leave them unto another man, that cometh after me.

Is it not better then for a man to eat and drink, and his soul to be merry in his labour? Yea I saw that this also was a gift of God:

The thing that hath been, is now; and the thing that is for to come, hath been afore time: for God restoreth again the thing that was past.

So I turned me, and considered all the violent wrong that is done under the Sun, and beheld the tears of such as were oppressed; and there was no man to comfort them or that would deliver and defend them from the violence of their oppressors.

Again, I saw that all travail and diligence of labour was hated of every man. This is also a vain thing, and a vexation of mind.

All these things have I proved because of wisdom: For I thought to be wise, but she went farther from me than she was before;

There was a little city, and a few men within it: so there came a great king and besieged it, and made great bulwarks against it.

And in the city there was found a poor man - but he was wise - which with his wisdom delivered the city: yet was there no body, that had any respect for such a simple man.

The same preacher was not wise alone, but taught the people knowledge also: he gave good heed, sought out the ground and set forth many parables.

His diligence was to find out acceptable words, right scripture, and the words of truth.

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. In his shadow was my desire to sit, for his fruit was sweet to my mouth.

He brought me into his wine cellar: and his behavior to me ward was lovely.

So when I was a little past them, I found him whom my soul loveth. I have gotten hold upon him, and will not let him go, until I bring him into my mother's house, and in to her chamber that bare me.

As I was asleep, and my heart waking, I heard the voice of my beloved, when he knocked. Open to me, said he, O my sister, my love, my darling, my dove: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of my hair are full of the night drops.

But when my love put in his hand at the hole, my heart was moved within me:

Nevertheless when I had opened unto my beloved, he was departed and gone his way. Now like as afore time when he spake, my heart could not longer refrain: Even so now I sought him, but I could not find him: I cried upon him, nevertheless he gave me no answer.

But one is my dove, my darling. She is the only beloved of her mother, and dear unto her that bare her. When the daughters saw her, they said, she was blessed: Yea the Queens and concubines praised her.

I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then was I as one that hath found favour in his sight.

Thus saith the LORD God: Wash and be clean; put away the wickedness of your imaginations out of my sight. Cease to do evil and learn to do well.

How happeneth it then that the righteous city, which was full of equity, is become unfaithful as an whore? Righteousness dwelt in it, but now murder.

As soon as your land was full of silver and gold, and no end of your treasure; so soon as your land was full of strong horses and no end of your chariots:

Immediately was it full of idols also, even works of your own hands, which ye yourselves have fashioned, and your fingers have made.

what time as the LORD shall wash away the desolation of the daughters of Zion, and purge the blood out from Jerusalem with the wind of his smoke and fire.

Yea, the joists and doorchecks moved at their crying, and the house was full of smoke.

It happened in the time of Ahaz the son of Jotham, which was the son of Uzziah, king of Judah: that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to besiege it, but won it not.

Even like as in time past it hath been well seen, that the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, wherethrough the sea way goeth over Jordan in to the land of Galilee, was at the first in little trouble, but afterward sore vexed.

Moreover, the LORD of Hosts shall prepare a scourge for him, like as was the punishment of Midian upon the mount of Oreb. And he shall lift up his rod over the sea, as he did sometimes over the Egyptians.

When the LORD now shall bring thee to rest; from the travail, fear, and hard bondage that thou wast laden withal.

This is the heavy burden upon Moab: Ar of Moab was destroyed and overthrown in the night season: Kir also, in Moab, perished in the night and vanished away.

In their streets were they girded about with sackcloth. In all the tops of their houses and streets was there nothing, but mourning and weeping.

Heshbon and Elealeh cried, that their voice was heard unto Jahaz. The worthies also of Moab bleared and cried for very sorrow of their minds.

Woe is my heart for Moab's sake. They fled unto the city of Zoar, which is like a fair young bullock of three years old; they went up to Luhith, weeping. The way toward Horonaim was full of lamentation for the hurt.

The waters of Nimrim were dried up, the grass was withered, and the herbs destroyed, and the green things gone.

For the cry went over the whole land of Moab: from Eglaim unto Beerelim, was there nothing but mourning.

Mirth and cheer was gone out of the field and vineyards, insomuch that no man was glad nor sung. There went no treader into the winepress, their merry cheer was laid down.

In the day when thou didst plant it, it was great, and gave soon the fruit of thy seed: But in the day of harvest, thou shalt reap a heap of sorrows and miseries.

This is the heavy burden of the waste sea: A grievous vision was showed unto me, even as the stormy weather that passeth through at the noonday, to come from the wilderness, from that horrible land.

While they garnished the table, the watchman looked: and while he was eating and drinking it was said, "Up, ye Captains, take you to your shield."

Thy chief valley also was full of chariots, and the horsemen set their faces directly toward the gate.

Then was the covering of Judah put from thence, and then was seen the siege of the timber house.

In that day, sayeth the LORD of Hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place depart and be broken, and fall: and the burden that was upon it shall be plucked away. For the LORD himself hath said it.

For by sea were there fruits brought unto thee, and all manner of corn by water. Thou wast the common market of all people.

Behold, for thine example: The Chaldeans were such a people, that no man was like them, Assyria builded them: he set up his castles and palaces, and broke them down again.

After that, shall the seventy years of Tyre - even as long as their king's life was - be forgotten. And after seventy years, it shall happen to Tyre as with a harlot that playeth upon a lute.

Lord, in trouble have they visited thee; they poured out their prayer while thy chastening was upon them.

Where is the God of Hamath and Arpad? Where is the God of Sepharvaim? And who was able to defend Samaria out of my hand?

Now when Rabshakeh returned, he found the king of Assyria laying siege to Libnah; for he had understood that he was departed from Lachish.

For there came a rumor, that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia was come forth to war against him. And when the king of Assyria heard that, he sent other messengers to king Hezekiah with this commandment:

Not long afore this, was Hezekiah sick unto death: And the Prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came unto him, and said, "Thus commandeth the LORD, 'Set thine house in order: for thou must die, and shall not escape.

Behold, I will return the shadow of Ahaz's dial, that now is laid out with the Sun, and bring it ten degrees backward.'" So the Sun turned ten degrees backward, the which he was desended afore.

A thanksgiving, which Hezekiah king of Judah wrote, when he had been sick, and was recovered.

Mine age is folden up together, and taken away from me, like a shepherd's cottage: my life is hewn off, like as a weaver cutteth off his web. While I was yet taking my rest, he hewed me off, and made an end of me in one day.'

O LORD, men may live beyond their years, and I will declare to all men that even in those years, it was thou that causedest me to sleep, and again thou hast given me life.

Behold, bitter as gall was my pensiveness: so sore longed I for health. And it was thy pleasure to deliver me from the filthy pit: for thou it is, O Lord, that hath cast all my sins behind thy back.

At that same time Merodachbaladan, Baladan's son, king of Babylon, sent letters and presents to Hezekiah. For he understood how that he had been sick, and was recovered again.

And Hezekiah was glad thereof, and showed them the commodities of his treasure, of silver, of gold, of spices and roots, of precious oils, and all that was in his cupboards and treasure houses. There was not one thing in Hezekiah's house, and so throughout all his kingdom, but he let them see it.

Know ye not this? Heard ye never of it? Hath it not been preached unto you since the beginning? Have ye not been informed of this since the foundation of the earth was laid?