So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

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

For out of prison he came forth to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor.

There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was?yet those who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Do not allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Do not protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?

Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.

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

There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great siege works against it.

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

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, 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, his fruit was sweet to my taste.

He brought me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me was love.

I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night."

Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.

I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He leased out the vineyard to keepers. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.

How the faithful city has become a prostitute. She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

It was told the house of David, saying, "Syria is allied with Ephraim." His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.

But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, have I gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped."

There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died.

They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.

"In that day," says the LORD of hosts, "the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken it."

On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.

Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people was not. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin.

LORD, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

Your rigging is untied. They couldn't strengthen the foot of their mast. They couldn't spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil was divided. The lame took the prey.

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

But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer 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 Rabshakeh.

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.

So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.'"

Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, 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.

"You are my witnesses," says the LORD, "With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me.

I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange god among you. Therefore you are my witnesses," says the LORD, "and I am God.

Yes, since the day was I am he; and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?"

I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke.

Yes, you did not hear; yes, you did not know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.

"Come near to me and hear this: "From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I." Now the Lord GOD has sent me, with his Spirit.

Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?'"

Thus says the LORD, "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.

Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can't 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 stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.

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

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

Just as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men),

He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and familiar with illness; and as one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not value him.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he did not open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he did not open his mouth.

He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?

They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet the LORD was pleased to crush him and make him ill. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for their transgressions.

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

Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

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, it upheld him.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.

"I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing.

For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.

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 wrath, it upheld me.

For he said, "Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely:" 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 grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he himself fought against them.

"I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. I was near to those who did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am. Here I am.' to a nation that did not call on my name.

I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight."

I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight."

"Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "I remember you, the devotion of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Israel was holiness to the LORD, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them,"' says the LORD."

For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me," says the Lord GOD.

It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?

I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, before his fierce anger.

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

But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I did not know 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 the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

"Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?

She who has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been disappointed and confounded: and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies," says the LORD.

As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you; neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was before your face.

Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels.

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

Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

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

LORD, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me.

Cursed is the day in which I was born: do not let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Wasn't this to know me?' says the LORD.

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

"There was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.

And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt.

But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

It happened the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,