If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for a higher than the high is watching, and there are higher than they.

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This also is vanity.

The sleep of the labourer is sweet, whether he have eaten little or much; but the fulness of the rich doth not suffer him to sleep.

For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth him with the joy of his heart.

one to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, and he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and a sore evil.

If a man beget a hundred sons, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, but his soul be not filled with good, and also he have no burial, I say an untimely birth is better than he.

moreover it hath not seen nor known the sun: this hath rest rather than the other.

Yea, though he live twice a thousand years, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

Be not hasty in thy spirit to be vexed; for vexation resteth in the bosom of fools.

Say not, How is it that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

Be not righteous overmuch; neither make thyself overwise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

Be not overmuch wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?

It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from that withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God cometh forth from them all.

Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not.

Also give not heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee.

which my soul yet seeketh, and I have not found: one man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found.

Be not hasty to go out of his sight; persist not in an evil thing: for he doeth whatever pleaseth him,

for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the children of men is fully set in them to do evil.

but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days as a shadow, because he feareth not before God.

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes),

then I saw that all is the work of God, and that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however man may labour to seek it out, yet doth he not find it; and even, if a wise man think to know it, he shall not be able to find it out.

All things come alike to all: one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

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

Let thy garments be always white, and let not thy head lack oil.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to the intelligent, nor yet favour to men of knowledge; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are taken with the snare, like them are the children of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength; but the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for quietness pacifieth great offences.

If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he apply more strength; but wisdom is profitable to give success.

And the fool multiplieth words: yet man knoweth not what shall be; and what shall be after him, who will tell him?

The labour of fools wearieth them, because they know not how to go to the city.

Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is a son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for the bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which hath wings will tell the matter.

Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

He that observeth the wind will not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds will not reap.

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, how the bones grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the work of God who maketh all.

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

Look not upon me, because I am black; Because the sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children were angry with me: They made me keeper of the vineyards; Mine own vineyard have I not kept.

If thou know not, thou fairest among women, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' booths.

A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me; He shall pass the night between my breasts.

I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

On my bed, in the nights, I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

I will rise now, and go about the city; In the streets and in the broadways Will I seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

Scarcely had I passed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, Until I had brought him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me.

I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

I slept, but my heart was awake. The voice of my beloved! he knocketh: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.

I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had withdrawn himself; he was gone: My soul went forth when he spoke. I sought him, but I found him not; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

Thy navel is a round goblet, which wanteth not mixed wine; Thy belly a heap of wheat, set about with lilies;

Oh that thou wert as my brother, That sucked the breasts of my mother! Should I find thee without, I would kiss thee; And they would not despise me.

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; Israel doth not know, my people hath no intelligence.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in him; wounds, and weals, and open sores: they have not been dressed, nor bound up, nor mollified with oil.

And the daughter of Zion is left, as a booth in a vineyard, as a night-lodge in a cucumber-garden, as a besieged city.

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth presents, and hunteth after rewards; they judge not the fatherless, and the cause of the widow cometh not unto them.

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall reprove many peoples; and they shall forge their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-knives: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

And the mean man shall be bowed down, and the great man shall be brought low: and do not thou forgive them!

he will lift up his hand in that day, saying, I cannot be a healer, and in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; ye shall not make me a chief of the people.

The look of their face doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom: they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have brought evil upon themselves.

And Jehovah will create over every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and over its convocations, a cloud by day and a smoke, and the brightness of a flame of fire by night: for over all the glory shall be a covering.

What was there yet to do to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? --

and I will make it a waste it shall not be pruned nor cultivated, but there shall come up briars and thorns; and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

And harp and lyre, tambour and flute, and wine are in their banquets; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, nor do they see the operation of his hands.

Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his hand against them and hath smitten them; and the mountains trembled, and their carcases are become as dung in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

None among them is weary, none stumbleth; they slumber not, nor sleep; none hath the girdle of his loins loosed, nor the thong of his sandals broken;

And he said, Go; and thou shalt say unto this people, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.

And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but they were not able to fight against it.

and thou shalt say unto him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, and let not thy heart faint before these two ends of smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

thus saith the Lord Jehovah: It shall not stand, nor come to pass;

and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye believe not, surely ye shall not be established.

And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and will not tempt Jehovah.

Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days which have not come since the day when Ephraim turned away from Judah even the king of Assyria.

And all mountains that have been dug up with the hoe thither will they not come, from fear of briars and thorns; and they shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of small cattle.

Settle a plan, and it shall come to nought; speak a word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

For Jehovah spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and he instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

Ye shall not say, Conspiracy, of everything of which this people saith, Conspiracy; and fear ye not their fear, and be not in dread.

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto the necromancers and unto the soothsayers, who chirp and who mutter, say, Shall not a people seek unto their God? Will they go for the living unto the dead?

To the law and the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, for them there is no daybreak.

Nevertheless the darkness shall not be as when the distress was in the land, at the time he at first lightly, and afterwards heavily, visited the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations:

the Syrians on the east, and the Philistines on the west; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

But the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, and they do not seek Jehovah of hosts.

Therefore the Lord will not rejoice in their young men, neither will he have mercy on their fatherless and on their widows; for every one is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts is the land burned up, and the people is as fuel for fire: a man spareth not his brother;

and he snatcheth on the right hand, and is hungry, and eateth on the left hand; and they are not satisfied. They eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together are against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

They can but crouch under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

But he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; for it is in his heart to extirpate and cut off nations not a few.

For he saith, Are not my princes all kings?

Is not Calno as Karkemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus?

shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria And her idols, so do to Jerusalem And her images?

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? shall the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it? As if the rod should wield them that lift it up; as if the staff should lift up him who is not wood!

Therefore thus saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts: O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt:

And his delight will be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears;

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.

And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the troublers of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not trouble Ephraim:

Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid; for Jah, Jehovah, is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.

For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who do not regard silver, and as for gold, they have no delight in it.

And their bows shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb: their eye shall not spare children.