Whoever watches the wind will not sow; whoever watches the clouds will not reap.

Sow your seed in the morning, and do not let your hands rest in the evening, for you do not know what will prosper-- whether this or that, or whether both of them alike will succeed.

For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in all of them! Let him remember that the days of the darkness will be many-- all that is coming [is] vanity!

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.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth-- before the days of trouble come and the years draw near when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them!"

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

We will make ornaments of gold for you with studs of silver.

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.

Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of the myrrh, to the hill of the frankincense.

I adjure you, {O maidens of Jerusalem}, if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? [Tell him] that I am {lovesick}!

I say, "I will climb up the palm tree; I will lay hold of its fruit clusters." Let your breasts [be pleasing] like clusters of the vine and the scent of your breath like the apples.

Let us rise early [to go] to the vineyards; let us see whether the vine has budded, [whether] the grape blossom has opened, and [whether] the pomegranates {are in bloom}; there I will give my love to you.

If she [is] a wall, {we will adorn her with a turret of silver}; but if she [is] a door, we will barricade her with boards of cedar.

And when you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I [will] not be listening. Your hands are full of blood.

"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.

Therefore, the declaration of the Lord Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will be relieved of my enemies, and I will avenge myself on my foes.

And I will turn my hand against you; I will purify your dross like lye, and I will remove all [of] your tin.

And I will restore your judges, as at the first, and your counselors, as at the beginning. After this {you will be called} the city of righteousness, faithful city.

Zion will be redeemed by justice, and those of her who repent, by righteousness.

But [the] destruction [of] rebels and sinners [shall be] together, and those who forsake Yahweh will perish.

For you will be ashamed of [the] oaks [in] which you delighted, and you will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen.

And it shall happen in the future of the days the mountain of the house of Yahweh [shall] be established; it will be among the highest of the mountains, and it shall be raised from [the] hills. All [of] the nations shall travel to him;

The {haughty eyes} of humanity will be brought low, and the pride of everyone will be humbled, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

And the haughtiness of the people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low, and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day.

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--

And I will make boys their princes, and children shall rule over them.

And the people will be oppressed {by each other} and a man by his neighbor. The boy will act arrogantly toward the elder, and the dishonorable toward the honorable.

Indeed, a man will seize his brother [in] the house of his father: "{You have a cloak}; you shall be a leader for us, and this heap of ruins [shall be] under your hand!"

He will lift up [his voice] on that day, saying, "I will not be a healer; in my house there is no bread and there is no cloak. You shall not make me [the] leader of [the] people!"

Woe to the wicked! [It is] bad! For what is done [by] his hands will be done to him.

the Lord will make the heads of the daughters of Zion scabby, and Yahweh will lay their foreheads bare."

In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets and the headbands and the crescent necklaces,

And this shall happen: There will be a stench instead of perfume, and a rope instead of a sash, and baldness instead of a well-set hairdo, and a clothing wrap of sackcloth instead of a rich robe, branding instead of beauty.

And seven women shall grasp at one man on that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread, and we will wear our own clothing; only {let us be called by your name}! Take away our disgrace!"

And this shall happen: He who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone written for life in Jerusalem,

Then Yahweh will create over all of the site of {Mount Zion} and over her assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the brightness of flaming fire [by] night. Indeed, over all [the] glory [there will be] a canopy,

and it will be a shelter for shade from [the] heat by day, and a refuge and a hiding place from rainstorm and from rain.

And he dug it and cleared it of stones, and he planted it [with] choice vines, and he built a watchtower in the middle of it, and he even hewed out a wine vat in it, and he waited for [it] to yield grapes-- but it yielded wild grapes.

What more [was there] to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I hope for [it] to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes?

And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard. [I will] remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. [I will] break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling.

And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed, and it shall be overgrown [with] briers and thornbushes. And concerning the clouds, I will command {them not to send} rain down upon it.

For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and [the] seed of a homer will yield an ephah.

And [there] will be lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine [at] their feasts, but they do not look at the deeds of Yahweh, and they do not see the work of his hands.

Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge, [and] their nobles [will be] men of hunger, and their multitude [is] parched [with] thirst.

Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat, and it has opened wide its mouth without limit, and her nobles will go down, and her multitude, her tumult and those who revel in her.

And then [the] lambs will graze as [in] their pasture, and {fatlings, kids will eat among the sites of ruins.}

Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and dry grass sinks down [in the] flame, so their root will become like [the] stench, and their blossom will go up like [the] dust. For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts, and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.

And he will raise a signal for a nation from afar, and he will whistle for it from the end of the earth. And look! It comes quickly, swiftly!

And he will roar over him on that day like [the] roaring of [the] sea, and [if] one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress! And [the] light grows dark with its clouds.

Then I heard [the] voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "I [am] here! Send me!"

And {even if only a tenth part remain}, {again she will be destroyed} like terebinth or like [an] oak, which although felled, a tree stump [remains] in them. [The] seed of holiness [will be] her tree stump."

For the head of Aram [is] Damascus, and the head of Damascus [is] Rezin, and in sixty-five years from now Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

And the head of Ephraim [is] Samaria, and the head of Samaria [is] the son of Remaliah. If you do not believe then you will not endure." '"

But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put Yahweh to the test."

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.'

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

"Yahweh will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your ancestor days that have not come since [the] day Ephraim departed from Judah: the king of Assyria."

And this shall happen: On that day, Yahweh will whistle for the fly that [is] at the end of the stream of Egypt and the bee that [is] in the land of Assyria.

And all of them will come and settle in the rivers of the cliffs and in the clefts of the rocks and on all of the thornbushes and watering places.

On that day, the Lord will shave the head and the hair of the feet with a razor of the one hired from beyond [the] river--with the king of Assyria--and it will even take off the beard.

And this shall happen: on that day, a young man will keep a young cow of [the] herd and two sheep alive.

And this shall happen: because of the abundance of milk production, he will eat curds, for every one that is left in the midst of the land will eat curds and honey.

And this shall happen on that day: Every place where there are a thousand vines for a thousand silver [pieces] will become briers, and it will be thornbushes.

One will go there with arrows and bow, for all of the land will be briers and thornbushes.

And [as for] all of the hills that they hoed with the hoe, you will not go there, [for] fear of briers and thornbushes. And it will become like pastureland [for] cattle and overtrodden land [for] sheep.

And I will require reliable witnesses as a witness for me: Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah."

For before the boy knows to call 'my father' and 'my mother,' [one] will carry away the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria in the presence of the king of Assyria."

therefore look! The Lord [is] bringing up the waters of the great and mighty river against them, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And he will rise above all his channels, and he will flow over all his banks.

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!

And he will become like a sanctuary and a stumbling-stone, and like a stumbling-rock for the two houses of Israel, like a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will await him.

And it will pass through it distressed and hungry, and this shall happen: when it is hungry, it will be enraged, and it will curse its king and its gods, and it will face upwar

or look to [the] earth. But look! Distress and darkness, [the] gloom of affliction! And [it will be] thrust [into] darkness!

{But there will be no gloom for those who were in distress}. In former times he treated [the] land of Zebulun and Naphtali with contempt, but in the future he will honor the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee [of] the nations.

For every boot {that marches and shakes the earth} and garment rolled in blood {will} be for burning--fire fuel.

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.

{His dominion will grow continually, and to peace there will be no end} on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and sustain it with justice and righteousness now and forever. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

"[The] bricks have fallen, but we will build [with] dressed stone. [The] sycamore-fig trees were felled, but we will replace [them with] cedars."

And what will you do at [the] day of punishment, and at calamity? It comes from afar! To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against {Mount Zion} and Jerusalem, "I will punish the {arrogance} of the king of Assyria and {his haughtiness}."

Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his sturdy warriors, and a burning like [the] burning of fire will burn under his glory.

And the light of Israel will become like a fire, and his holy one like a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard {completely}, and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.

And the rest of the trees of his forest will be a small number, and a boy can write them [down].

And this shall happen: on that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will not continue to lean on [the] one who struck it but will lean on Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, in truth.

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

For though your people Israel was like the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of it will return. Annihilation [is] determined, overflowing [with] righteousness.

[My] indignation will come to an end {in just a very little while}, and my anger [will be] directed to their destruction."

And Yahweh of hosts is going to swing a whip against him, as when Midian was defeated at the rock of Oreb; and his staff [will be] over the sea, and he will lift him up {as he did in Egypt}.

And this shall happen: on that day, he will remove his burden from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck, {and a yoke will be destroyed because of fat}.

{This day} {taking a stand} at Nob, he will shake his fist [at] the mountain of the daughter of Zion, [at] the hill of Jerusalem.

Look! The Lord Yahweh of hosts is about to lop off [the] branches with great power, and {the towering trees} will be felled, and the {tall trees} will be brought low.

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

And a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from its roots will bear fruit.

They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my {holy mountain}, for the earth will be full [of the] knowledge [of] Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

And this shall happen on that day: The Lord will again [extend] his hand a second [time] to acquire the remnant of his people that is left, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands of the sea,

and he will raise a signal for the nations. And he will gather the outcasts of Israel, and he will gather the scattered ones of Judah together from the four {corners} of the earth.

But they shall {swoop} upon [the] Philistine shoulder, {westward}. Together they shall plunder [the] sons of [the] east. Edom and Moab {will be under their command}, and the sons of Ammon [will be] their subjugated people.