they have ears, but cannot hear; there is not even breath in their mouths.

All [the] kings of [the] earth will praise you, O Yahweh, when they have heard the words of your mouth,

and they will sing of the ways of Yahweh, because Yahweh's glory [is] great.

Your eyes saw my embryo, and in your book they all were written-- days fashioned [for me] when [there was] not one of them.

If I should count them, they would outnumber [the] sand. I awaken, and I [am] still with you.

I hate them with a complete hatred; they have become my enemies.

who plan evil [things] in [their] heart. They stir up wars continually.

They sharpen their tongue as [sharp as] a snake's; [the] venom of a viper [is] under their lips. Selah

[The] proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords. They have spread out a net along [the] {side} of [the] path. They have set snares for me. Selah

Do not grant, O Yahweh, [the] desires of [the] wicked. Do not allow [them] to attain their plan, lest they be exalted. Selah

Let burning coals fall on them; let them be dropped into the fire, into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot rise.

[When] their judges are thrown down [the] sides of a cliff, then they will understand that my words were pleasant.

Protect me from [the] {grasp} of [the] trap they have laid for me, and [from the] snares of evildoers.

When my spirit faints within me, you know my way. On the path where I walk, they have hidden a trap for me;

Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my pursuers, for they are stronger than I.

O Yahweh, bow the heavens and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke.

And they will speak of the power of your awesome deeds, and I will tell of your greatness.

They will utter the renown of your abundant goodness, and they will proclaim with joy your righteousness.

They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk of your power,

He has not done so for any nation, and they do not know [his] ordinances. Praise Yah.

Let them praise the name of Yahweh, because he commanded and they were created.

for they [are] a garland of favor for your head, and pendants for your neck.

If they say, "Come with us! We shall lie in wait for blood; we shall ambush the innocent without cause.

for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood,

They lie in wait for their [own] blood. They ambush their [own] lives.

then they will call me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but not find me.

Since they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Yahweh,

they were not willing [to accept] my counsel, they despised all my reproof.

They shall eat from the fruit of their way, and they shall be sated from their own schemes,

those who are happy to do evil, [for] they delight in [the] deviousness of evil,

[Of] all who go to her, none shall return, nor do they reach paths of life.

For length of days, years of life, and peace they shall add to you.

My child, may they not escape from your {sight}; may you keep sound wisdom and prudence.

They shall be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

They will inherit the honor of the wise, but stubborn fools, disgrace.

For they will not sleep if they have not done wrong, and they are robbed of their sleep if they do not cause stumbling.

For they ate the bread of wickedness, and they drank the wine of violence.

The way of the wicked ones [is] like deep darkness; they do not know what they stumble over.

May they not escape from your {sight}; keep them in [the] midst of your heart.

For they are life to those who find them and healing {to the entire body}.

May they be yours alone, and not for strangers [who are] with you.

An abomination of Yahweh are lips of deceit, but they who act faithfully [are] his delight.

Have they not erred, those who plan evil? But loyalty and faithfulness [belong to] those who plan good.

The heart of him who understands will seek knowledge, but the faces of fools, they will feed on folly.

The words of a whisper [are] like delicious morsels, and they themselves go down [to] inner parts of the body.

All the brothers of the poor, [if] they hate him, how much more will his friends keep away from him. He pursues [them with] words, [and] they are gone.

The scoffer you shall strike, and the simple, may they learn prudence, and reprove the intelligent [and] he will gain knowledge.

The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, for they refuse to do justice.

For [it is] pleasant if you guard them {within you}; together they will be ready upon your lips.

For the drunkard and gluttonous, they will become poor, and [with] rags, drowsiness will clothe them

"They struck me; I was not hurt. They beat me; I did not know [it]. When I will awake, I will continue; I will seek it again."

He who plans to do evil for himself, they will call [him] "master of mischief."

But they who rebuke will have delight, and upon them blessings of goodness will come.

The words of a whisperer [are] like delicious morsels, and they go down to the inner parts of the body.

Those who forsake instruction will praise the wicked, but they who guard instruction will struggle against them.

He who misleads the upright onto the way of evil, into his pits he will fall. But as for the blameless, they will inherit good.

Men of blood hate [the] blameless, and they seek the life of the upright.

As for a rod and reproof, they will give wisdom, but a neglected child is disgraced [by] his mother.

Discipline your children, and they will give you rest, and they will give delight to your soul.

[There is] a generation--how lofty [are] their eyes! And their eyelids they will lift.

For the leech, [there are] two daughters; "Give, give!" [they cry]. As for three of these, they are not satisfied; as for four, they do not say enough.

There [are] four small things on the earth, and they [are] {exceedingly wise}:

The ants [are] a people [who are] not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer;

the badgers [are] a people [who are] not mighty, yet they set their house on the rock;

Give to her from the fruit of her hand, and may they praise her works in the city gates.

All the streams flow to the sea, but the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow.

I neither withheld anything from my eyes that they desired, nor did I deprive any pleasure from my heart. My heart rejoiced in all my toil, for this was my reward from all my toil.

I said to myself concerning {humans}, "God sifts them in order to show them that they are like beasts."

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

Also if two lie together, {they can keep each other warm}. But how can one person be warm?

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.

Look! This alone I found: God made mankind upright, but they have devised many schemes."

Meanwhile, I saw the wicked being [honorably] buried, but those who came and went from the holy place were forgotten in the city, even though they had done so. This also [is] vanity!

Although the sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will be good for those who fear God--because they fear {his presence}.

But it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not prolong [their] days, like the shadow; because there is no fearing {God's presence}.

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.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything. They no longer have a reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.

What they loved and hated, as well as what they desired, has already perished. They no longer have any share in what is done under the sun.

When the clouds are full, they empty rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or whether it falls to the north, the place where the tree falls--there it will be.

When the guards of the house tremble, and the men of strength are bent; the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows see dimly.

They are afraid of heights, and terrors [are] on the road. The almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper draws itself along, and desire fails because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets.

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!

Do not gaze at me because I am black, because the sun has stared [at] me. The sons of my mother were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, [but] my own "vineyard" I did not keep.

The fig tree puts forth her figs, and the vines [are in] blossom; they give fragrance. {Arise}, my beloved! {Come, my beauty}!"

All of them {wield swords}; [they are] {trained in warfare}, each with his sword at his thigh [to guard] {against terror} in the night.

The sentinels making rounds in the city found me; they beat me, they wounded me; they took my cloak away from me-- {those sentinels on the walls}!

Turn away your eyes from before me, for they overwhelm me. Your hair [is] like a flock of the goats that moves down from Gilead.

Hear, heavens, and listen, earth, for Yahweh has spoken: "I reared children and I brought [them] up, but they rebelled against me.

Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy [with] iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken Yahweh; they have despised the holy one of Israel. They are estranged [and gone] backward.

From the sole of the foot and up to [the] head there is no health in it; bruise and sore and bleeding wound have not been cleansed, and they have not been bound up and not softened with the oil.

Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like burden, I am not able to bear [them].

"Come now, and let us argue," says Yahweh. "Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow; even though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Your princes [are] rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend [the] orphan and [the] legal dispute of [the] widow does not come before them.

many peoples shall come. And they shall say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob, and may he teach us part of his ways, and let us walk in his paths." For instruction shall go out from Zion, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations and he shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up a sword against a nation, and they shall not learn war again.

For you have forsaken your people, house of Jacob, because they are full from [the] east, and [of] soothsayers like the Philistines, and {they make alliances} with the offspring of foreigners.

Its land is filled [with] idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what they made [with] their fingers.

and they will enter into [the] caves of [the] rocks and into [the] holes of [the] ground from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty {when he rises} to terrify the earth.

On that day humanity will throw away its idols of silver and its idols of gold, which they made for it to worship, to the rodents and to the bats--

The look on their faces testifies against them and they declare their sin like Sodom; they do not hide [it]. Woe to their soul! For they have dealt out evil to themselves.