Even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, near your altars, O Yahweh [of] hosts, my king and my God.

for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood,

Wisdom calls out in the streets, in the squares she raises her voice.

On a {busy corner} she cries out, at the entrances of the gates in the city, she speaks her sayings:

she who forsakes the partner of her youth and has forgotten the covenant of her God,

She is more precious than rubies, and all your desires shall not compare with her.

She is a tree of life for those who seize her; those who take hold of her are considered happy.

Do not forsake her--then she will guard you; love her and she will keep you.

Cherish her and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.

She will give a garland for your head; she shall bestow a crown of glory upon you."

Seize the instruction! Do not let go! Guard her, for she is your life.

She does not observe the path of life; her ways wander, [and] she does not know [it].

[She is] a deer of love and a doe of grace; may her breasts satisfy you {always}; by her love may you be intoxicated continually.

haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

{When you walk}, she will lead you, {When you lie down}, she will watch over you, and [when] you awake, she will converse [with] you.

Do not desire her beauty in your heart; may she not capture you with her eyelashes.

She is loud and stubborn; her feet do not stay at her house.

Now in the street, now in the square, {at} every corner she lies in wait.

She took hold of him and kissed him. Her face was impudent, and she said to him,

She persuades him with the greatness of her teachings; with her smooth lips she compels him.

For many slain she has laid low, and countless [are] all of her killings.

{Atop the heights} beside the road, at the crossroads she stands.

Beside gates, before towns, [at the] entrance of doors, she cries out:

Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.

She has slaughtered her slaughtering, mixed her wine, [and] also set her table.

She has sent her servant girls, she calls upon the wings of the high places of town,

"Whoever [is] simple, let him turn here." As for the one who lacks {sense}, she says to him,

She sits at the door of her house, upon a throne [at the] high places of town,

"Whoever is simple, may he turn here!" As for he who lacks {sense}, she says to him,

A woman of strength [is] the crown of her master, but like rot in his bones is she who brings shame.

[May] a man meet a she-bear robbed of offspring and not a fool in his folly.

Listen to your father--he who {gave you life}, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

May your father and your mother be glad, and may she who bore you rejoice.

She [is] also like a robber lying in wait, and the faithless among mankind she increases.

This is the way of a woman committing adultery: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says "I have not done wrong."

under an unloved woman when she gets married, and a maid when she succeeds her mistress.

She does him good, but not harm all the days of her life.

She seeks wool and flax, and she works with the diligence of {her hands}.

She is like the ships of a merchant; from far off she brings her food;

And she arises while [it is] still night, and gives food to her household, and tasks to her servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it, from the fruit of {her hand} she plants a vineyard.

She girds her waist in strength, and makes her arms strong.

She perceives that her merchandise [is] good; her lamp does not go out in the night.

Her hands she puts onto the distaff, and her palms hold a spindle.

Her palm she opens to the poor, and her hand she reaches [out] to the needy.

She does not fear for her house [when] it snows, for {her entire household} is clothed [in] crimson.

She makes for herself coverings; her clothing [is] fine linen and purple.

Linen garments she makes and sells, and she supplies sashes for the merchants.

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs {at the future}.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and instruction of kindness [is] upon her tongue.

She looks after the ways of her household, and the bread of idleness she will not eat.

{Scarcely had I passed} by them when I found him whom my {heart} loves. I held him and I would not let him go until I brought him to the house of my mother, into the bedroom chamber of she who conceived me.

My dove, {she is the one}; my perfect, {she is the only one}; she [is] {the favorite of} her mother who bore her. Maidens see her and consider her fortunate; queens and concubines praise her:

Who [is] this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you; there your mother {conceived you}; there she who was in labor gave birth to you.

{We have a little sister}, {and she does not yet have any breasts}. What should we do for our sister {on the day when she is betrothed}?

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 her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall be banished; she shall sit upon the ground.

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."

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.'

And I approached the prophetess, and she conceived, and she gave birth to a son. And Yahweh said to me, "Call his name Maher-Halal-Hash-Baz.

And on [the] great waters [is] the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile [is] its produce, and she was [the] merchandise of [the] nations.

And this shall happen: at [the] end of seventy years, Yahweh will visit Tyre, and she will return to her harlot's wages, and she will commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

Like pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes; she cries in her labor pains. So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.

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.

this [is] the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: She shows contempt for you; she derides you, virgin daughter of Zion; she shakes [her] head behind you, daughter of Jerusalem.

"Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for, that she has {received} from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins."

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah; she brought you forth. For I called him {alone}, but I blessed him and made him numerous."

There is no one who guides her among all [the] children she has borne, and there is no one who grasps her by the hand among all [the] children she raised.

Yet Yahweh was pleased to crush him; he {made him sick}. If she places his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring. He will prolong days, and the will of Yahweh will succeed in his hand.

"Sing for joy, barren [woman]; [who] has not borne! Burst forth [into] rejoicing and rejoice, [she who] has not been in labor! For [the] children of [the] desolate woman [are] more than [the] children of [the] married woman," says Yahweh.

For Yahweh has called you like a wife forsaken and hurt of spirit, like [the] wife of childhood when she is rejected, says your God.

"But you, come near here, you children of a soothsayer, offspring [of] an adulterer and she [who] commits fornication.

Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts [are] thoughts of iniquity; devastation and destruction [are] in their highways.

Before she was in labor she gave birth; before labor pains came to her, she gave birth to a son.

Who has heard [anything] like this? Who has seen [anything] like these [things]? Can a land be born in one day? Or can a nation be born in a moment? [Yet] when she was in labor, Zion indeed gave birth [to] her children.

"How can you say, 'I have not defiled myself, I have not gone after the Baals?' Look at your way in the valley, know what you have done. [You are] a young she-camel, interweaving her ways.

A wild ass accustomed to [the] desert, in the desire of her soul. She gasps [for] wind [in] her rutting time. Who can quell her [lust]? All [those who] seek her will not grow weary, in her month they will find her.

A {saying}: 'Look, [if] a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him {and she becomes another man's wife}, will he return to her again?' Will not that land be greatly defiled? And you have prostituted [yourself] [with] many lovers, [would] you now return to me?" {declares} Yahweh.

Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, "Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted [herself] there.

And I thought, 'After her doing all these [things] to me she will return,' but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw [it].

And I saw that {for this very reason, that} on account of apostate Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted [herself] also.

And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree.

Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around, because she has rebelled against me," {declares} Yahweh.

For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like [a woman who] bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: "Woe is me, for I am becoming tired before killers."

As a water well keeps its water cool, so she keeps cool her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard within her, sickness and wounds [are] continually {before me}.

you do not oppress [the] alien, [the] orphan, and [the] widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods {to your harm},

{What rights has my beloved in my house} [when] she has done many wicked things? Can the flesh of holiness pass over you? For {you engage in your wickedness}, then you exult.

My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She has lifted up against me her voice; {therefore} I hate her.

She who gave birth to seven has withered away. She gasps her breath. Her sun {set} while still day. She has been put to shame and disgraced. And the remainder of them I will give to the sword {before} their enemies," {declares} Yahweh.

Thus says Yahweh, "Act [with] justice and righteousness, and deliver [the] one who has been seized from the hand of [the] oppressor. And you must not oppress [the] immigrant, [the] orphan, and [the] widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place.

Thus says Yahweh, "A voice [is] heard in Ramah, lamentation, [the] weeping of bitterness. Rachel [is] weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted because of her children, for they are no [more]."

{How long} will you waver, O unfaithful daughter? For Yahweh has created a new [thing] on the earth, a woman, she shelters a man."

The daughter of Egypt will be ashamed, she will be given into the hand of [the] people of [the] north."

Give salt for Moab, for certainly she will go to ruin, and her towns will become as a desolation, {without} an inhabitant in them.

Damascus has grown slack. She has turned away to flee and panic. Anxiety has seized [her], and labor pains have grasped her, like a woman in labor.

For look, I [am] going to stir up, and I [am] going to bring against Babylon a contingent of great nations from [the] land of [the] north. And they will draw up a battle formation against her, from there she will be captured. Their arrows [are] like a warrior [who has] achieved success, he does not return without success.

your mother will be very ashamed. [She who] gave birth [to] you will be humiliated. Look, [she will be the] least of [the] nations, a desert, dry land, and wilderness.

Because of the anger of Yahweh she will not be inhabited, but she will be a wasteland, all of her. Everyone [who] passes by Babylon will be appalled and will hiss because of all her wounds.

Draw up a battle formation at Babylon all around, all those who bend [the] bow, shoot at her. You must not spare arrows, for she has sinned against Yahweh.

Raise a war cry against her on all sides. {She has surrendered}. Her towers have fallen, her walls are ruined. For this [is] the vengeance of Yahweh. Take revenge on her. As she has done [to others], [so] do to her.