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

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

Wisdom [is] good with an inheritance; {it benefits the living}.

Consider the work of God. For who is able to make straight what he made crooked?

In the day of prosperity, rejoice! But in the day of adversity, consider! For God made one in place of another so that mortals cannot find out what will happen {in the future}.

[It is] good to take hold of the one and also must not let go of the other; for whoever fears God will hold both of them secure.

Surely there is no one righteous on the earth who [continually] does good and never sins.

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.

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

Keep [the] command of [the] king {because of your oath to God}.

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}.

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.

So all this I laid to my heart, and I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, [are] in the hand of God. So no one knows anything that will [come] to them, whether [it will be] love or hatred.

The same fate [comes] to everyone: to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean, to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice. As [with] the good [man], so also to the sinner; [as with] those who swear an oath, so [also] those who fear oaths.

Go--eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart! For God already has approved your deeds.

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

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is a son of nobility and your princes feast at the proper time-- to gain strength and not to get drunk.

Just as you do not know how the path of the wind [goes], nor how the bones [of a fetus] form in a mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth! Follow the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes-- but know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.

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

Now that all has been heard, here is the final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commandments, for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Your neck [is] like a tower of ivory; your eyes [are] pools in Heshbon at the gate of Beth Rabbim. Your nose [is] like the tower of Lebanon {looking out over Damascus}.

Hear the word of Yahweh, rulers of Sodom! Listen [to] the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah!

Learn to do good! Seek justice! Rescue [the] oppressed! Defend [the] orphan! Plead for [the] widow!

If you are willing and you are obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

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.

Tell [the] innocent that [it is] good for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

But Yahweh of hosts is exalted by justice, and the holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.

Ah! Those who call evil good and good evil, those who put darkness for light and light for darkness, those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

And you must say to him, 'Take heed and be quiet! You must not fear, and your heart must not be faint because of these two stumps of smoldering firebrands, {because of the fierce anger of} Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.

"Ask for a sign for yourself from Yahweh God; make [it] deep [as] Sheol or make [it] high as above."

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?

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look! the virgin [is] with child and she is about to give birth [to] a son, and she shall call his name 'God with us.'

He shall eat curds and honey until he knows to reject the evil and to choose the good.

For before the boy knows to reject the evil and to choose the good, {the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned.}

And he will sweep into Judah; he will overflow and he will flood up to [the] neck. He will reach, and {he will spread his wings out over your entire land}, God with us."

{Make a plan}, but it will be frustrated! Speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us!

For a child has been born for us; a son has been given to us. And the dominion will be on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

So Yahweh cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and reed [in] one day.

But he does not think this, and his heart does not plan this. For [it is] in his heart to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.

A remnant will return-- the remnant of Jacob--to [the] mighty God.

And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with the axe, and Lebanon will fall by [the] mighty [one].

And a wolf shall {stay} with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie down with a kid, and a calf and a lion and a fatling together {as a small boy leads} them.

And the jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not be jealous [of] Judah, and Judah shall not be an enemy [of] Ephraim.

Look! God [is] my salvation; I will trust, and I will not be afraid, for my strength and might [is] Yah, Yahweh; and he has become salvation for me."

And Babylon, [the] glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like {when God overthrew} Sodom and Gomorrah.

All of the earth rests [and] is quiet; they break forth [into] singing.

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn! You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations!

And you yourself said in your heart, 'I will ascend [to] heaven; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on [the] mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon;

"And I will rise up against them," {declares} Yahweh of hosts, "and I will cut off name and a remnant from Babylon, and offspring and posterity," {declares} Yahweh.

Wail, gate! Cry, city! Melt, Philistia, all of you! For smoke [is] coming from [the] north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

And gleanings will be left over in it, as {when an olive tree is beaten}, two [or] three ripe olive berries in [the] top of a branch, four [or] five on its fruitful branches," {declares} Yahweh, the God of Israel.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have not remembered the rock of your refuge; therefore you plant plants of pleasantness, and you {plant} a vine of a foreigner.

For Yahweh said this to me: "I will be quiet, and I will look from my dwelling place like {clear heat because of light}, like a cloud of dew in [the] heat of harvest."

My downtrodden people and the son of my threshing floor, I will announce to you what I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel.

And the remainder of the number of the bows of the warriors of the sons of Kedar will be few." For Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken.

And this happened: the choicest of your valleys were full of chariots, and the cavalry confidently stood at the gate.

'What {business do you have} here, and who {do you have} here, that you have cut a grave cutting here for yourself, carving his grave [on] the height, a dwelling place for him in the rock?

On that day, {declares} Yahweh of hosts, the peg that was driven will move away into a secure place, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that [was] on her will be cut off. For Yahweh has spoken.'"

Desolation is left in the city; [the] gate is crushed [into] a state of ruin.

Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, the name of Yahweh the God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.

Yahweh, you [are] my God; I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans {of old}, [in] faithfulness, trustworthiness.

And one will say, on that day, "Look! This [is] our God! We have waited for him and he saved us! This [is] Yahweh; we waited for him! Let us be glad, and let us rejoice in his salvation."

Yahweh, our God, lords besides you ruled over us, {but we praise your name alone}.

and a spirit of justice to the one who sits over judgment, and strength [to] those who turn back [the] battle [at the] gate.

And his God instructs him about the prescription; he teaches him.

For [the] tyrant shall be no more, and [the] scoffer shall come to an end. And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;

those who mislead a person into sin with a word and set a trap for the {arbitrator} in the gate and guide away [the] righteous by emptiness.

For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will treat my name as holy, and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy, and they will stand in awe [of] the God of Israel.

Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious [to] you, and therefore he will rise up to show you mercy, for Yahweh [is] a God of justice; blessed [are] all those who wait for him.

And the Egyptians [are] human and not God, and their horses [are] flesh and not spirit. And Yahweh stretches out his hand, and [the] helper will stumble, and [the] one being helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end.

And [the] peoples will be burning [to] lime-- they are burned [like] thorns [that have been] cut down in the fire.

And desert creatures shall meet with hyenas, and a goat-demon shall call to his neighbor; surely there Lilith shall repose, and she shall find a resting place for herself.

It shall blossom abundantly, and it shall rejoice indeed with rejoicing and exulting. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. {They are the ones who} shall see the glory of Yahweh, the majesty of our God.

Say to those who are hasty of heart, "Be strong; you must not fear! Look! your God will come [with] vengeance, [with] {divine retribution}. He {is the one who} will come and save you."

And if you say to me, 'We trust in Yahweh our God,' [was it] not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? And he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall bow down in the {presence} of this altar.'"

Maybe Yahweh your God heard [the] words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to taunt [the] living God, and he will rebuke the words that Yahweh your God hears. And you must lift up a prayer for the benefit of the remnant that is found.'"

"You shall say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: '[Do] not let your God in whom you trust in him deceive you by saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

"Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel {who is enthroned on} the cherubim, you [are] the one, God by yourself, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you are the one who made the heavens and the earth.

Yahweh, extend your ear and hear! Yahweh, open your eyes and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to taunt the living God!

So now, Yahweh, our God, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you [are] Yahweh, you alone!"

And Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'Because you have prayed to me {concerning} Sennacherib, king of Assyria,

By the hand of your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said, "With my many chariots, I myself have gone up [the] height of [the] mountains, [to] the remote areas of Lebanon. And I cut off {its tall cedars}, the choicest of its junipers. And I came [to] the height of its limit, the forest of its orchard.

And this happened: he [was] bowing in worship [in] the house of Nisroch his god, and Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him with the sword. And they themselves escaped [to] the land of Ararat, and Esar-haddon his son reigned as king in his place.

and he said, "O Yahweh, please remember how I have walked before your {presence} in faithfulness with a whole heart, and I have done the good in your eyes!" And Hezekiah wept [with] great weeping.

"Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your ancestor: "I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. {Look, I am going to} add fifteen years to your days.

I was the one who said, "I must go in the quiet of my days; I am summoned through the gates of Sheol [for] the rest of my years."

And Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them his house of aromatic gum, the silver, gold, spices, good oil, all the house of his weapons, and all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing that Hezekiah had not shown them in his house or in all his dominion.

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh that you have spoken [is] good," for he {thought}, "Surely there will be peace and security in my days."

"Comfort; comfort my people," says your God.

A voice [is] calling in the wilderness, "Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!

Grass withers; [the] flower withers, but the word of our God will stand forever.

{Get yourself} up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news! Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news! Lift [it] up; you must not fear! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here [is] your God!"

And to whom will you liken God? And to what likeness will you compare him?

{Why} do you say, Jacob, and you speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from Yahweh, and my judgment is passed over by my God?"

Have you not known, or have you not heard? Yahweh [is] the God of eternity, [the] creator [of] the ends of the earth! He is not faint, and he does not grow weary! There is no searching his understanding.

And [the] artisan encourages [the] {goldsmith}, [the] one who makes smooth with [the] hammer [encourages the] one who strikes [the] anvil, saying of the soldering, "It [is] good!" And they strengthen it with nails [so] it cannot be knocked over.