Yah has disciplined me severely, but he did not consign me to death.

Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

My soul did cleave to the dust: make me alive according to thy word.

I hurried and did not procrastinate to keep your commands.

Though the ropes of the wicked
were wrapped around me,
I did not forget Your instruction.

The earth is full of your loving kindness, Yahweh. Teach me your statutes. TET

(Tet) You are good to your servant, O Lord, just as you promised.

They almost ended my life on earth,
but I did not abandon Your precepts.

By your ordinances they stand today, for all [are] your servants.

I did judgment and justice: thou wilt not leave me to those oppressing me.

I am small and despised: I did not forget thy charges.

I saw with hate those who were untrue to you; for they did not keep your saying.

I hoped for thy salvation, O Jehovah, and I did thy commands.

Blessed be the LORD, who did not give us as prey to their teeth.

Then filled with laughter is our mouth, And our tongue with singing, Then do they say among nations, 'Jehovah did great things with these.'

Jehovah did great things with us, We have been joyful.

If I did not place and rest my soul as a child weaned of his Mother: my soul as a weaned child.

Like the dew of Hermon, which descended upon the mountains of Zion, - for, there, did Yahweh command the blessing, Life, unto times age-abiding?

Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.

By rivers of Babylon -- There we did sit, Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. They said, "Tear it down, tear it down, right to its very foundation!"

O daughter of Babylon, O destroyed one, O the happiness of him who repayeth to thee thy deed, That thou hast done to us.

If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there.

For You formed my innermost parts;
You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Just as one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered near the entrance to the place of the dead.

{Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.} I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.

He did judgment for the oppressed; he gave bread to the hungering: Jehovah loosed those being bound.

For He did strengthen the bars of thy gates, He hath blessed thy sons in thy midst.

He did not thus to every nation: and judgments they knew them not Praise ye Jah.

Let us swallow them alive like Sheol (the place of the dead),
Even whole, as those who go down to the pit [of death];

since you neglected all my counsel
and did not accept my correction,

For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

they did not want my advice, and they rejected all my correction.

For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

Jehovah by wisdom did found the earth, He prepared the heavens by understanding.

Do not quarrel with anyone without cause, when he did not do you harm.

Her feet go down to death;
Her steps take hold of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),

and then say, "Alas, why hated I nurture? Why did my heart despise correction?

and "I did not listen to the voice of my teachers, and I did not incline my ear to my instructors!

"Sacrifices of peace offerings [are] upon me; {today} I completed my vows.

Her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending to the chambers of death.

And he sinning against me did violence to his soul: all hating me loved death.

But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

The unjust one did a work of falsehood: and the seed of justice the reward of truth.

From the fruit of the mouth is one satisfied with good, And the deed of man's hands returneth to him.

Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) and Abaddon (the abyss, the place of eternal punishment) lie open before the Lord—
How much more the hearts and inner motives of the children of men.

The [chosen] path of life leads upward for the wise,
That he may keep away from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) below.

He whose eyes are shut is a man of twisted purposes, and he who keeps his lips shut tight makes evil come about.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto Jehovah, And his good deed will he pay him again.

The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

So that your trust and reliance and confidence may be in the Lord,
I have taught these things to you today, even to you.

Did I not write to thee three days ago in counsels and knowledge?

You shall swat him with the reed-like rod
And rescue his life from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).

“They struck me, but I was not hurt!
They beat me, but I did not feel it!
When will I wake up?
I will seek more wine.”

If you [claim ignorance and] say, “See, we did not know this,”
Does He not consider it who weighs and examines the hearts and their motives?
And does He not know it who guards your life and keeps your soul?
And will He not repay [you and] every man according to his works?

Say not, 'As he did to me, so I do to him, I render to each according to his work.'

And then sayeth he, "I did it but in sport!"

Make not thy boast of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what may happen today.

Sheol (the place of the dead) and Abaddon (the underworld) are never satisfied;
Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied.

Keep deception and lies far away from me, and give me neither poverty nor wealth. Feed me with food that I need for today,

Sheol, and the barren womb,
Earth that is never satisfied with water,
And fire that never says, “It is enough.”

Many daughters did virtue, and thou wentest up over all of them.

The wind goeth toward the South and turneth unto the North, fetcheth his compass, whirleth about, and goeth forth and returneth again to his circuits from whence he did come.

Does anything exist about which someone might say, "Look at this! Is this new?" It happened ages ago; it existed before we did.

I saw all the works they did under the sun; and behold, all vanity and striving of the spirit

To laughter I said, It is mad: and to gladness, What did this?

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.

And I turned to see wisdom, madness, and folly: for what the man that shall come after the king? with those things they did already.

So I thought to myself, "The fate of the fool will happen even to me! Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively wise?" So I lamented to myself, "The benefits of wisdom are ultimately meaningless!"

And I turned to cause my heart to despair over all the labor which I did under the sun.

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; however, he must hand over the fruit of his labor as an inheritance to someone else who did not work for it. This also is futile, and an awful injustice!

He made everything beautiful in his time: also he gave hidden time in their heart, so that man shall not find the work which God did from the beginning and even to the end.

So I said {to myself}, "God will surely judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time [of judgment] for every deed and every work."

Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

yea, better than them both did I esteem him that hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

This is another misfortune: Just as he came, so will he go. What did he gain from toiling for the wind?

even the sun, it never saw, nor aught did it know, - more quietness, hath this than the other.

Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice over and yet has seen no good and experienced no enjoyment—do not both go to one place [the grave]?”

What my heart sought, I did not find. Although I found one righteous man among one thousand, I did not find one [upright] woman among all these.

All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt.

So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out of the holy place [but did not thereby escape their doom], and they are [praised in spite of their evil and] soon forgotten in the city where they did such things. This too is futility (vanity, emptiness).

Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of {humans} fills up within them to do evil.

But it shall not be well with a wicked man, neither shall he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow, because he did not fear before God.

Every one, was like every one else, one destiny, had the righteous and the lawless, the good and the pure and the impure, and he that sacrificed, and he that did not sacrifice, - as the good man, so, the sinner, he that took an oath, as he who, of an oath, stood in fear.

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) where you are going.

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

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

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.

On my bed in the night, I sought him whom my {heart} loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

Now I will arise, and I will go about in the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my {heart} loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

The watchmen who go about the city found me. [I said], Did ye see him whom my soul loves?

I was but a little way from them, when I came face to face with him who is the love of my soul. I took him by the hands, and did not let him go, till I had taken him into my mother's house, and into the room of her who gave me birth.

I opened myself to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone; my heart sank when he turned away. I sought him, but I did not find him; I called him, but he did not answer me.

Where did your beloved go, most beautiful of women? Where did your beloved turn, so we may look for him with you?

I did not know my {heart} set me [in] a chariot of my princely people.