So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy [the fruit of] his labor, for this is his lot in life. {For no one knows what will happen in the future.}

So I deemed the dead who have already died more [fortunate] than the living who are still alive.

But better [off] than both of them is the one who has not yet been born and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Better [is] one handful with peace than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Two [are] better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil.

A poor but wise youth [is] better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows {how to receive advice}.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; draw near to listen [rather] than to offer a sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

It is better that you not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

Even if a man fathers a hundred [children] and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart is not satisfied with {his prosperity} and {he does not receive a proper burial}, I deem the stillborn better than him.

He has neither seen nor known the sun, yet he has more rest than him.

{Better to be content with what your eyes see than for your soul to constantly crave more}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Whatever is--it was already determined, {what will be--it has already been decided}. As for man, he cannot argue against what is more powerful than him.

A good name [is] better than precious ointment, and the day of death [is better] than the day of one's birth.

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for [death is] the end of every person, and the living should take [it] to his heart.

Sorrow [is] better than laughter, for by sadness of countenance the heart is made good.

Better to listen to [the] rebuke of [the] wise than for a man to listen to [the] song of fools.

The end of a matter [is] better than its beginning; {better to be slow to anger than hot-headed}.

Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For [it is] not from wisdom [that] you ask this.

Wisdom gives more strength to the wise than ten rulers who are in the city.

I myself found [that] more bitter than death [is] the woman who [is] a trap, whose heart [is] a snare, and whose hands [are] bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.

So I recommend enjoyment. For there [is] nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.

Then I saw all the work of God--man [is] not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims [that he] knows it, he cannot find it.

This [is] the {injustice} that is done under the sun: the same fate [comes] to everyone. Also the hearts of {humans} are full [of] evil; delusion [is] in their hearts during their lives, and then they die.

Whoever is joined to all the living has hope. After all, even a live dog is better than a dead lion!

So I concluded that wisdom [is] better than might, yet the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.

The words of the wise are heard in peace [more] than the shouting of a ruler [is heard] among the fools.

Wisdom [is] better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

{May you kiss me} {passionately with your lips}, for your love [is] better than wine.

Draw me after you, let us run! May the king bring me into his chambers! Let us be joyful and let us rejoice in you; let us extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you!

How beautiful is your love, my sister bride! How better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

{How is your beloved better than another lover}, O most beautiful among women? {How is your beloved better than another lover}, that you adjure us thus?

Then Yahweh will create over all of the site of {Mount Zion} and over her assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the brightness of flaming fire [by] night. Indeed, over all [the] glory [there will be] a canopy,

And then [the] lambs will graze as [in] their pasture, and {fatlings, kids will eat among the sites of ruins.}

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, and in his hand [was] a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

Then I heard [the] voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "I [am] here! Send me!"

Then I said, "Until when, Lord?" And he said, "Until [the] cities lie wasted without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is ruined [and] a waste,

Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on [the] highway of [the] washer's field.

And the head of Ephraim [is] Samaria, and the head of Samaria [is] the son of Remaliah. If you do not believe then you will not endure." '"

Then he said, "Hear, house of David! [Is it] too little for you to make men weary, that you should also make my God weary?

Then Yahweh said to me, "Take yourself a large tablet and write on it with a common stylus pen: Maher-Halal-Hash-Baz.

As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols --and their images were {greater than those of} Jerusalem and Samaria--

I will make humanity more rare than gold and humankind more than the gold of Ophir.

then a throne shall be established in steadfast love, and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and zealous for righteousness.

Where [are] your sages then? Now, let them tell you, and let them know what Yahweh of hosts has planned against Egypt.

Then Yahweh said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years [as] a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,

When he sees riders, a pair of horsemen, riders of donkeys, riders of camels, {then} he must listen attentively, paying attention, paying {special} attention."

Then [the] {watchman} called, "Lord, I [am] standing on [the] watchtower continually by day, and I [am] standing at my post {throughout} the night.

And look [at] this! A man's a chariot [is] coming, a pair of horsemen!" Then he responded and said, "It has fallen! Babylon has fallen! And all the images of her gods are smashed on the ground!"

Then you shall be low; you shall speak from [the] earth, and your words will be low, from dust. And your voice will be from [the] earth, like a ghost, and your word will whisper from [the] dust.

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will live in the fruitful field.

Your riggings hang slack; they do not hold the base of their mast firm, they do not spread out [the] sail. Then [the] prey of spoil [in] abundance will be divided; [the] lame will take plunder.

Then [the] eyes of [the] blind shall be opened, and [the] ears of [the] deaf shall be opened.

Then [the] lame shall leap like the deer, and [the] tongue of [the] dumb shall sing for joy, for waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

Then Rabshakeh stood and called in a great voice in Judean and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who [was] over the {palace}, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the reminder, came to Hezekiah [with] torn garments and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

And Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read it. Then he went up [to] the temple of Yahweh, and Hezekiah spread it out before the {presence} of Yahweh.

Then Sennacherib king of Assyria left, went, and returned and lived at Nineveh.

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh,

Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying,

Look! [The] nations [are] like a drop from a bucket, and they are counted like dust of [the] balances! Look! He weighs [the] islands like a thin covering.

Listen to me in silence, coastlands, and let nations renew [their] strength. Let them approach, then let them speak; let us draw near together for judgment.

O that you had listened attentively to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Then you will say in your heart, "Who has borne me these?" And, "I [was] bereaved and barren, exiled and thrust away; so who raised these? Look at me! I was left alone; {where have these come from}?"

And kings shall be your {guardians}, and their queens your nurses. They shall bow down, {faces} [to the] ground, to you, and they will lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I [am] Yahweh; those who await me shall not be ashamed.

And I will feed your oppressors their [own] flesh, and they shall be drunk [with] their blood as [with] wine. Then all flesh shall know that I [am] Yahweh, your savior and redeemer, the strong [one] of Jacob."

"Sing for joy, barren [woman]; [who] has not borne! Burst forth [into] rejoicing and rejoice, [she who] has not been in labor! For [the] children of [the] desolate woman [are] more than [the] children of [the] married woman," says Yahweh.

"For [as] [the] heavens are {higher} than [the] earth, so my ways are {higher} than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

And I will give them a monument and a name in my house and within my walls, better than sons and daughters; I will give him an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall grow quickly. And your salvation shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and Yahweh himself will answer. You shall cry for help, and he will say, 'Here I [am]!' If you remove from among you [the] yoke, the {finger-pointing} and {evil speech},

if you offer your soul to the hungry, and you satisfy [the] appetite of [the] afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your darkness [will be] like noon.

If you hold your foot back from [the] Sabbath, [from] doing your affairs on {my holy day}, if you call the Sabbath a pleasure, the holy [day] of Yahweh honorable, if you honor him {more than} doing your ways, than finding your affairs and speaking a word,

then you shall take your pleasure in Yahweh, and I will make you ride upon [the] heights of [the] earth, and I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your ancestor, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."

Then you shall see and you shall be radiant; and your heart shall tremble and open itself wide, because [the] abundance of [the] sea shall fall upon you; [the] wealth of [the] nations shall come to you.

Then his people remembered the days of old, [of] Moses. Where [is] the one who led up them from [the] sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where [is] the one who puts {his Holy Spirit} inside him,

Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look, I do not know [how] to speak, for I [am] a youth."

Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and he touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me, "Look, I have put my words in your mouth.

Then Yahweh said to me, "You did well to see, for I [am] watching over my word to perform it."

Then Yahweh said to me, "From [the] north disaster will be unleashed on all the inhabitants of the land.

Yet I planted you [as] a choice vine, all of it a seed of trustworthiness. How then have you altered before me [into something that is] degenerate, the foreign vine?

Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted [herself] there.

Then Yahweh said to me, "Apostate Israel has proved herself more upright than treacherous Judah.

Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight.

Then I thought, 'How I would set you among the children, and I would give you a land of desire, an inheritance of [the] glory of [the] hosts of nations.' And I thought, 'You would call me, "My father," and you would not turn back from {behind} me.'

and you swear, '{As Yahweh lives},' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will boast."

And then on that day," {declares} Yahweh, "the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will be destroyed, and the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astonished."

Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It will be peace for you,' while the sword reaches up to the throat."

Look, he comes up like the clouds, and his chariots [are] like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles, woe to us, for we are devastated.

Yahweh, do not your eyes [look] for honesty? You have struck them, but they felt no pain, you have destroyed them, they refused to take discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, they have refused to turn back.

Then I said, "[They are] just simple people, they are foolish, for they know not the way of Yahweh, the law of their God.

{And then}, when you [people] say, 'Why has Yahweh our God done all of these [things] to us?' Then you will say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and have served gods of a foreign land in your land, so will you serve strangers in {a land that does not belong to you}.'

then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors {forever and ever}.

And then you come and you stand {before} me in this house, which is called {by my name}, and you say, 'we are safe {to go on doing} all of these detestable things.'

Yet they have not listened to me and they have not inclined their ear, but they have hardened their neck, they did more evil than their ancestors.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healer there? Why, then, has the healing of the daughter of my people not been restored?

in order to keep the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as [it is] this day." '" Then I answered and said, "{Let it be so}, O Yahweh."

Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods [to] whom they [are] making smoke offerings, but they will certainly not save them in the time of their trouble.

{What rights has my beloved in my house} [when] she has done many wicked things? Can the flesh of holiness pass over you? For {you engage in your wickedness}, then you exult.

Moreover, Yahweh let [it be] made known to me, and I knew. Then you showed me their deeds.

"If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary, then how will you compete with horses? If you have fallen in {a peaceful land}, then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?