When my thoughts were turned to see the reason of this, it was a weariness in my eyes;

You put their feet where there was danger of slipping, so that they go down into destruction.

My heart was made bitter, and I was pained by the bite of grief:

As for me, I was foolish, and without knowledge; I was like a beast before you.

The sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken.

I was crying to God with my voice; even to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me.

In the day of my trouble, my heart was turned to the Lord: my hand was stretched out in the night without resting; my soul would not be comforted.

The waters saw you, O God; the waters saw you, they were in fear: even the deep was troubled.

The voice of your thunder went rolling on; the world was flaming with the light of the storm; the earth was shaking.

Your way was in the sea, and your road in the great waters; there was no knowledge of your footsteps.

And not be like their fathers, a stiff-necked and uncontrolled generation; a generation whose heart was hard, whose spirit was not true to God.

The sea was cut in two so that they might go through; the waters were massed together on this side and on that.

In the daytime he was guiding them in the cloud, and all through the night with a light of fire.

See, the rock was cut open by his power, so that the water came rushing out, and overflowing streams; is he able to give us bread? is he able to get meat for his people?

So these things came to the Lord's ears, and he was angry; and a fire was lighted against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel;

But they were not turned from their desires; and while the food was still in their mouths,

In the memory that God was their Rock, and the Most High God their saviour.

Ice was rained down on their cattle; thunderstorms sent destruction among the flocks.

And he was their guide to his holy land, even to the mountain, which his right hand had made his;

When this came to God's ears he was very angry, and gave up Israel completely;

He gave his people up to the sword, and was angry with his heritage.

Then was the Lord like one awaking from sleep, and like a strong man crying out because of wine.

Even to the tree which was planted by your right hand, and to the branch which you made strong for yourself.

I have been troubled and in fear of death from the time when I was young; your wrath is hard on me, and I have no strength.

Rahab was crushed by you like one wounded to death; with your strong arm you put to flight all your haters.

The sea is his, and he made it; and the dry land was formed by his hands.

For forty years I was angry with this generation, and said, They are a people whose hearts are turned away from me, for they have no knowledge of my ways;

Zion gave ear and was glad; and the daughters of Judah were full of joy, because of your decisions, O Lord.

He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was given as a servant for a price:

His feet were fixed in chains; his neck was put in iron bands;

Till the time when his word came true; he was tested by the word of the Lord.

Then Israel came into Egypt, and Jacob was living in the land of Ham.

Their land was full of frogs, even in the rooms of the king.

He took his people out with silver and gold: there was not one feeble person among them.

Egypt was glad when they went; for the fear of them had come down on them.

A cloud was stretched over them for a cover; and he sent fire to give light in the night.

But he was their saviour because of his name, so that men might see his great power.

By his word the Red Sea was made dry: and he took them through the deep waters as through the waste land.

But their memory of his works was short; not waiting to be guided by him,

And a fire was lighted among their tents; the sinners were burned up by the flames.

And their glory was changed into the image of an ox, whose food is grass.

And he was purposing to put an end to them if Moses, his special servant, had not gone up before him, between him and his people, turning back his wrath, to keep them from destruction.

They made God angry again at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled because of them;

And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood.

Then the wrath of the Lord was burning against his people, and he was angry with his heritage.

Because he had no mercy, but was cruel to the low and the poor, designing the death of the broken-hearted.

When Israel came out of Egypt, the children of Jacob from a people whose language was strange to them;

The sea saw it, and went in flight; Jordan was turned back.

What was wrong with you, O sea, that you went in flight? O Jordan, that you were turned back?

But our God is in heaven: he has done whatever was pleasing to him.

The nets of death were round me, and the pains of the underworld had me in their grip; I was full of trouble and sorrow.

The Lord keeps the simple; I was made low, and he was my saviour.

I have been hard pushed by you, so that I might have a fall: but the Lord was my helper.

I was quick to do your orders, and let no time be wasted.

Before I was in trouble I went out of the way; but now I keep your word.

Sinners have put a net to take me; but I was true to your orders.

My mouth was open wide, waiting with great desire for your teachings.

I was glad because they said to me, We will go into the house of the Lord.

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side (let Israel now say);

Great have been my troubles from the time when I was young (let Israel now say);

The Lord has done whatever was pleasing to him, in heaven, and on the earth, in the seas and in all the deep waters.

To him by whom the earth was stretched out over the waters: for his mercy is unchanging for ever.

My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body.

My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth.

Looking to my right side, I saw no man who was my friend: I had no safe place; no one had any care for my soul.

By his knowledge the deep was parted, and dew came dropping from the skies.

For I was a son to my father, a gentle and an only one to my mother.

And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;

I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!

I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.

From eternal days I was given my place, from the birth of time, before the earth was.

When there was no deep I was given birth, when there were no fountains flowing with water.

Before the mountains were put in their places, before the hills was my birth:

When he made ready the heavens I was there: when he put an arch over the face of the deep:

Then I was by his side, as a master workman: and I was his delight from day to day, playing before him at all times;

Playing in his earth; and my delight was with the sons of men.

And it was all full of thorns, and covered with waste plants, and its stone wall was broken down.

Is there anything of which men say, See, this is new? It has been in the old time which was before us.

I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.

I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.

I made a search with my heart to give pleasure to my flesh with wine, still guiding my heart with wisdom, and to go after foolish things, so that I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under the heavens all the days of their life.

And I became great; increasing more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem, and my wisdom was still with me.

And nothing which was desired by my eyes did I keep from them; I did not keep any joy from my heart, because my heart took pleasure in all my work, and this was my reward.

Then I saw all the works which my hands had made, and everything I had been working to do; and I saw that all was to no purpose and desire for wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

So I was hating life, because everything under the sun was evil to me: all is to no purpose and desire for wind.

So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken and all my wisdom under the sun.

There is nothing better for a man than taking meat and drink, and having delight in his work. This again I saw was from the hand of God.

And again, I saw under the sun, in the place of the judges, that evil was there; and in the place of righteousness, that evil was there.

And again I saw all the cruel things which are done under the sun; there was the weeping of those who have evil done to them, and they had no comforter: and from the hands of the evil-doers there went out power, but they had no comforter.

So my praise was for the dead who have gone to their death, more than for the living who still have life.

And I saw that the cause of all the work and of everything which is done well was man's envy of his neighbour. This again is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

Because out of a prison the young man comes to be king, though by birth he was only a poor man in the kingdom.

I saw all the living under the sun round the young man who was to be ruler in place of the king.

There was no end of all the people, of all those whose head he was, but they who come later will have no delight in him. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

Let not your mouth make your flesh do evil. And say not before the angel, It was an error. So that God may not be angry with your words and put an end to the work of your hands.

All this I have put to the test by wisdom; I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.

There was a little town and the number of its men was small, and there came a great king against it and made an attack on it, building works of war round about it.

Now there was in the town a poor, wise man, and he, by his wisdom, kept the town safe. But no one had any memory of that same poor man.

And the dust goes back to the earth as it was, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it.