And though he goes on living a thousand years twice over and does not see good, are not the two going 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?

{Increasing words only multiplies futility}, how does that profit anyone?

Never ask "Why does the past seem so much better than now?" because this question does not come from wisdom.

Wisdom keeps a man from danger even as money does; but the value of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its owner.

For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not.

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.

Be not hasty to go out of his presence: stand not for an evil thing; for he does whatsoever pleases him.

For the king's word hath power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

For he doesn't know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?

There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, who fear before him:

But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn't fear God.

For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn't know it; all is before them.

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.

I looked again and saw under the sun that the race [does] not [belong] to the swift, the battle [does] not [belong] to the mighty, food [does] not [belong] to the wise, wealth [does] not [belong] to the intelligent, and success [does] not [belong] to the skillful, for time and chance befalls all of them.

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.

Dead flies cause the ointment of the perfumer to send forth a foul odor: so does a little folly to him that is respected for wisdom and honor.

If the iron is blunt, and he does not sharpen the edge, then must he use more strength: but wisdom helps one to succeed.

A fool also multiplies words. Man doesn't know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him?

The labor of fools wearies every one of them; for he doesn't know how to go to the city.

As you don't know what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child; even so you don't know the work of God who does all.

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand does embrace me.

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.

Until when does the day blow, and the shadows flee away? Turn, my Beloved, and be like a gazelle, or a young deer, the stag, on the mountains of Bether.

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.

Your navel [is] {a round wine-mixing bowl} that does not lack mixed wine! Your belly [is] a heap of wheat encircled with lilies.

{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}?

The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib: but Israel does not know, my people do not consider.

Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come before them.

For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, does take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water.

The look on their countenance does witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have brought evil unto themselves.

So the Lord is furious with his people; he lifts his hand and strikes them. The mountains shake, and corpses lie like manure in the middle of the streets. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

Ephraim's leader is Samaria, and Samaria's leader is the son of Remaliah. If your faith does not remain firm, then you will not remain secure."

Syria from the east, and the Philistines from the west, they gobbled up Israelite territory. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

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.

Manasseh fought against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh; together they fought against Judah. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

Yet he means not so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few.

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!

Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine.

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.

What doest thou here? and whom has thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out here a sepulchre? hewing him out a sepulchre on high, graving a habitation for himself in the rock!

[The] earth staggers to and fro like the drunkard, and it sways like hut, and its transgression is heavy upon it, and it falls and does not rise again.

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 he strike him {as he struck down those who struck him}? Or is he killed {as those who killed him were killed}?

Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? does he keep opening and breaking the clods of his ground?

When he has made level the face of it, does he not sow the dill, and scatter the cummin, and plant the wheat in rows and the barley and the spelt in their places?

For his God does instruct him aright, and does teach him.

Is the grain for bread crushed? He does not go on crushing it for ever, but he lets his cart-wheels and his horses go over it without crushing it.

And [if] the document is given to [one] who does not {know how to read}, saying, "{Read} this now!" he says, "I do not {know how to read}."

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”?

For Tophet was ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: its pyre is fire with much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.

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.

For Yahweh said this to me: "As which lion growls and young lion over its prey when {a full group} of shepherds is called against him, it is not terrified by their voice, and to their noise it does not respond, so Yahweh of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.

For a fool speaks folly, and his {mind} does iniquity: to {behave wickedly}, and to speak error concerning Yahweh, to leave [the] throat of [the] hungry empty, and he deprives [the] thirsty [of] drink.

Wherefore woe be unto thee, O robber: shalt not thou be robbed also? And unto thee that layest wait: as who say there should no wait be laid for thee? Woe unto thee which doest hurt: even so shalt thou be hurt also. And as thou layest wait, so shall wait be laid for thee also.

Highways are deserted; [the] traveler [on the] road ceases. One breaks a treaty, he rejects [the] cities, he does not hold man in high regard.

The one who lives uprightly and speaks honestly; the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures and rejects a bribe; the one who does not plot violent crimes and does not seek to harm others --

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.

Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

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?

Indeed Sheol does not give you thanks; death does not praise you. Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.

From whom does he receive directions? Who teaches him the correct way to do things, or imparts knowledge to him, or instructs him in skillful design?

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.

Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And a strong wind carries them away like stubble.

Have you not known, or have you not heard? Yahweh [is] the God of eternity, [the] creator [of] the ends of the earth! He is not faint, and he does not grow weary! There is no searching his understanding.

He pursues them [and] passes on [in] peace; he does not enter [the] path with his feet.

Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar does inhabit: let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

You see many [things], but you do not observe. [His] ears are open, but he does not hear.

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] {ironsmith} works in the coals [with his] tool and forms it with hammers. And he makes it with {his strong arm}; indeed, he becomes hungry, and {he lacks} strength; he does not drink water, and he is faint.

He hews himself down cedars, and takes the cypress and the oak, which he secures for himself among the trees of the forest: he plants a pine, and the rain does nourish it.

He feeds on ashes; his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say, 'Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?'

I am the giver of light and the maker of the dark; causing blessing, and sending troubles; I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Woe [to the] one who strives with his {maker}, a potsherd among potsherds of earth! Does [the] clay say to the one who fashions it, 'What are you making?' and 'Your work has no hands'?

They carry it on [their] shoulder; they support it and they set it [in] its place, and it stands in position. It cannot be removed from its place; even [when] he cries out to it, it does not answer. It does not save him from his trouble.

I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away; I am bringing my salvation near, it does not wait. I will save Zion; I will adorn Israel with my splendor."

“Take millstones [as a female slave does] and grind meal;
Remove your veil, strip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers [at the command of your captors].

Lift up your eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall surely clothe yourself with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on you, as a bride does.

Why does no one challenge me when I come? Why does no one respond when I call? Is my hand too weak to deliver you? Do I lack the power to rescue you? Look, with a mere shout I can dry up the sea; I can turn streams into a desert, so the fish rot away and die from lack of water.

Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I.

Watch! If anyone does attack you, it will not be from me; whoever may attack you will fall because of you.

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.

Look! You shall call a nation [that] you do not know, and a nation [that] does not know you shall run to you, because of Yahweh your God, and the holy one of Israel, for he has glorified you."

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not go back again, but gives water to the earth, and makes it fertile, giving seed to the planter, and bread for food;

In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend."

Happy [is the] man [who] does this, and [the] son of humankind [who] keeps hold of it, who keeps [the] Sabbath {so as not to profane} it, and who 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.”

“Is a fast such as this what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself [with sorrow in his soul]?
Is it only to bow down his head like a reed
And to make sackcloth and ashes as a bed [pretending to have a repentant heart]?
Do you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord?

And Yahweh will lead you continually, and satisfy your soul in a barren land, and he will strengthen your bones, and you shall be like a well-watered garden, and like a spring of water whose water does not fail.

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.

None calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth: they trust in empty words, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

The way of peace they do not know; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whoever goes therein does not know peace.

Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look! [there is] darkness; for brightness, [but] we walk in darkness.

For Zion’s sake I (Isaiah) will not be silent,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,
Until her righteousness and vindication go forth as brightness,
And her salvation goes forth like a burning torch.

For you [are] our father, although Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh [are] our father, Our Redeemer from [of] old [is] your name.

For since the beginning of the world there was none except thou, O God, that heard or perceived; neither hath any eye seen what thou doest, for them that put their trust in thee.

You meet with the one who rejoices, one who does righteousness. In your ways they remember you. Look! You were angry and we sinned against them [in] ancient [times] and we were saved.