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

There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

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

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: why should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?

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

There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:

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

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.

And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge: yes, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

As the apple-tree 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.

It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spoke: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

Or ere I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

O that thou wert as my brother, that was nourished at the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yes, I should not be despised.

I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favor.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; every one for the fruit of it was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

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

How is the faithful city become a harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

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

Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her distress, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

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

And the LORD of hosts will raise up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.

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

And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thy anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted me.

And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage in which thou wast made to serve,

In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they met with their bread him that fled.

And it was revealed in my ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up its towers, they raised up its palaces; and he brought it to ruin.

LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

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

Woe to thee that layest waste, and thou wast not laid waste; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to lay waste, thou shalt be wasted; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.

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

But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

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 came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

In those days was Hezekiah sick with a mortal disease. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thy house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.

The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them 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 dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.

For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counselor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no god formed, neither shall there be after me.

I have declared, and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.

Yes, before the day was, I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall hinder it?

I was wroth with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and given them into thy hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

Yes, thou heardst not; yes, thou knewest not; yes, from that time that thy ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

Come ye near to me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

Then shalt thou say in thy heart, Who hath begotten these for me, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where have they been?

Why, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish becometh putrid, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

The Lord GOD opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

But he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we 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 her 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 from the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death: because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Therefore I will divide to him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul to death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thy hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.

For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.

Yes, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, 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 arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

For he put on righteousness as a breast-plate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.

I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my fury, it upheld me.

For he said, Surely they are my people, children 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 vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

I am sought by them that asked not for me; I am found by them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, to a nation that was not called by my name.

Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a male child.

Before I formed thee in embryo I knew thee; and before thou wast born I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet to the nations.

Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thy espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Israel was holiness to the LORD, and the first-fruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

For though thou shalt wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thy iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

Why dost thou go about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

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

I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the fowls of the heavens had fled.

I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.

But go ye 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 strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.

But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain on the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

Yes, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.

And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed, because there was no grass.

She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath resigned her breath; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which was uttered by my lips was right before thee.

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it.

Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.