The One who instructs nations,
the One who teaches man knowledge—
does He not discipline?

He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
He does not let their livestock decrease.

All that He does is splendid and majestic;
His righteousness endures forever.

Our God is in heaven
and does whatever He pleases.

Indeed, the Protector of Israel
does not slumber or sleep.

Yahweh does whatever He pleases
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all the depths.

He alone does great wonders.
        His love is eternal.

He is not impressed by the strength of a horse;
He does not value the power of a man.

She doesn’t consider the path of life;
she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

The one who commits adultery lacks sense;
whoever does so destroys himself.

until an arrow pierces its liver,
like a bird darting into a snare—
he doesn’t know it will cost him his life.

Doesn’t Wisdom call out?
Doesn’t Understanding make her voice heard?

But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

A lazy man doesn’t roast his game,
but to a diligent man, his wealth is precious.

A wise son responds to his father’s discipline,
but a mocker doesn’t listen to rebuke.

An honest witness does not deceive,
but a dishonest witness utters lies.

A mocker seeks wisdom and doesn’t find it,
but knowledge comes easily to the perceptive.

A mocker doesn’t love one who corrects him;
he will not consult the wise.

Why does a fool have money in his hand
with no intention of buying wisdom?

A fool does not delight in understanding,
but only wants to show off his opinions.

When a wicked man comes, contempt also does,
and along with dishonor, disgrace.

The slacker buries his hand in the bowl;
he doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth.

The slacker does not plow during planting season;
at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing.

Wisdom is inaccessible to a fool;
he does not open his mouth at the gate.

The man who boasts about a gift that does not exist
is like clouds and wind without rain.

A man who does not control his temper
is like a city whose wall is broken down.

>

A greedy man is in a hurry for wealth;
he doesn’t know that poverty will come to him.

The righteous person knows the rights of the poor,
but the wicked one does not understand these concerns.

A slave cannot be disciplined by words;
though he understands, he doesn’t respond.

There is a generation that curses its father
and does not bless its mother.

a lion, which is mightiest among beasts
and doesn’t retreat before anything,

What does a man gain for all his efforts
that he labors at under the sun?

I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?”

For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

What does the worker gain from his struggles?

I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.

When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because He does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow.

This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.

for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.

A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he.

And if he lives a thousand years twice, but does not experience happiness, do not both go to the same place?

What advantage then does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others?

There is certainly no righteous man on the earth
who does good and never sins.

which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman.

Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath.

For man certainly does not know his time: like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap, so people are trapped in an evil time as it suddenly falls on them.

If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge,
then one must exert more strength;
however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and the wild does of the field:
do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time.

Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and the wild does of the field:
do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time.

The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s feeding trough,
but Israel does not know;
My people do not understand.”

Therefore the Lord does not rejoice
over Israel’s young men
and has no compassion
on its fatherless and widows,
for everyone is a godless evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.
In all this, His anger is not removed,
and His hand is still raised to strike.

Does an ax exalt itself
above the one who chops with it?
Does a saw magnify itself
above the one who saws with it?
It would be like a staff waving the one who lifts it!
It would be like a rod lifting a man who isn’t wood!

Therefore I moan like the sound of a lyre for Moab,
as does my innermost being for Kir-heres.

The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of confusion.
The leaders have made Egypt stagger in all she does,
as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.

But if the wicked man is shown favor,
he does not learn righteousness.
In a righteous land he acts unjustly
and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?

When he has leveled its surface,
does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,
with spelt as their border.

You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

But He also is wise and brings disaster.
He does not go back on what He says;
He will rise up against the house of wicked men
and against the allies of evildoers.

Look at Zion, the city of our festival times.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander;
its tent pegs will not be pulled up
nor will any of its cords be loosened.

Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the power of the king of Assyria?

To one who shapes a pedestal,
choosing wood that does not rot?
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.

Though seeing many things, you do not obey.
Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”

All who make idols are nothing,
and what they treasure does not profit.
Their witnesses do not see or know anything,
so they will be put to shame.

The ironworker labors over the coals,
shapes the idol with hammers,
and works it with his strong arm.
Also he grows hungry and his strength fails;
he doesn’t drink water and is faint.

“Woe to the one who argues with his Maker—
one clay pot among many.
Does clay say to the one forming it,
‘What are you making?’
Or does your work say,
‘He has no hands’?

They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along;
they set it in its place, and there it stands;
it does not budge from its place.
They cry out to it but it doesn’t answer;
it saves no one from his trouble.

Look up, and look around.
They all gather together; they come to you.
As I live”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“you will wear all your children as jewelry,
and put them on as a bride does.

Why do you spend money on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.

Happy is the man who does this,
anyone who maintains this,
who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

They seek Me day after day
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not abandon the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.”

But your iniquities have built barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have made Him hide His face from you
so that He does not listen.

Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We hope for light, but there is darkness;
for brightness, but we live in the night.

Yet You are our Father,
even though Abraham does not know us
and Israel doesn’t recognize us.
You, Yahweh, are our Father;
from ancient times,
Your name is our Redeemer.

You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;
they remember You in Your ways.
But we have sinned, and You were angry.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?

You must tell them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,

What right does My beloved have
to be in My house,
having carried out so many evil schemes?
Can holy meat prevent your disaster
so you can rejoice?

You will be righteous, Lord,
even if I bring a case against You.
Yet, I wish to contend with You:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the treacherous live at ease?

This is what the Lord says concerning these people:

Truly they love to wander;
they never rest their feet.
So the Lord does not accept them.
Now He will remember their guilt
and punish their sins.

He will be like a tree planted by water:
it sends its roots out toward a stream,
it doesn’t fear when heat comes,
and its foliage remains green.
It will not worry in a year of drought
or cease producing fruit.

However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.

Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags?
Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?

The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib,

Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man doesn’t deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God!”

“As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“until through him I have destroyed it.

Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, or plague as the Lord has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

The one who does
the Lord’s business deceitfully is cursed,
and the one who withholds
his sword from bloodshed is cursed.

About the Ammonites, this is what the Lord says:

Does Israel have no sons?
Is he without an heir?
Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad
and his people settled in their cities?

For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warrior
who does not return empty-handed.

For He does not enjoy bringing affliction
or suffering on mankind.

or suppressing a person’s lawsuit—
the Lord does not approve of these things.

But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he listened to your warning, and you will have saved your life.”

Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his idol? For they are saying, ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has abandoned the land.’”

He answered me: “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity. For they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land; He does not see.’

“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine, that branch among the trees of the forest, compare to any other wood?