She is a tree of life to those who lay hold upon her. And happy is everyone who retains her.

Do not forsake her, and she will preserve thee. Love her, and she will keep thee.

Exalt her, and she will promote thee. She will bring thee to honor when thou embrace her.

She will give to thy head a garland of grace, a crown of beauty she will deliver to thee.

Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let her go. Keep her, for she is thy life.

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

so that she does not find the level path of life. Her ways are unstable, [and] she does not know.

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

She is loud and headstrong. Her feet abide not in her house.

Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, and lays in wait at every corner.

So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him,

With her much fair speech she causes him to yield. With the flattering of her lips she forces him along.

For she has cast down many wounded. Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.

On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.

Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors, she cries aloud:

Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars.

She has killed her beasts. She has mingled her wine. She has also furnished her table.

She has sent forth her maidens. She cries out upon the highest places of the city:

He who is simple, let him turn in here. As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

And she sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

He who is simple, let him turn in here. And as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, but she who makes ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.

So is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no iniquity.

for a hateful woman when she is married, and a handmaid that is heir to her mistress.

the lizard takes hold with her hands, yet she is in kings' palaces.

She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

She seeks wool and flax, and works willingly with her hands.

She is like the merchant ships: she brings her bread from afar.

She also rises while it is yet night, and gives food to her household, and their task to her maidens.

She considers a field, and buys it. With the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

She girds her loins with strength, and makes strong her arms.

She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out by night.

She lays her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

She stretches out her hand to the poor, yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy.

She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers girdles to the merchant.

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness is on her tongue.

She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, [but] a woman who fears LORD, she shall be praised.

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loves, where thou feed [thy flock], where thou make [it] to rest at noon. For why should I be as she who is veiled beside the flocks of thy companions?

My dove, my undefiled, is [but] one. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed, [yea], the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

Who is she who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, sublime as an army with banners?

Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awoke thee. There thy mother was in travail with thee. There she who brought thee forth was in travail.

We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

If she is a wall, we will build upon her a turret of silver. And if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a shed in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

How the faithful city has become a harlot! She who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall be desolate and sit upon the ground.

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then LORD said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

And on great waters the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue, and she was the mart of nations.

And it came to pass after the end of seventy years, that LORD examined Tyre, and she has repented of her gift, that she play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

Then I will distress Ariel, and there shall be mourning and lamentation, and she shall be to me as Ariel.

She shall be visited by LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare has been completed, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of LORD's hand double for all her sins.

who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited, and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places of it,

who says of Cyrus, [He is] my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built, and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, these may forget, yet I will not forget thee.

There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth, nor is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons that she has brought up.

For LORD has called thee as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit. Even a wife of youth when she is cast off, says thy God.

Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.

Before she travailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child.

Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her sons.

For thus has LORD of hosts said: Hew ye down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She has oppression completely in the midst of her.

As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Continually before me is sickness and wounds.

if ye do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own hurt,

What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has wrought lewdness [with] many, and the holy flesh has passed from thee? When thou do evil, then thou rejoice.

My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has uttered her voice against me. Therefore I have hated her.

She who has borne seven, languishes. She has given up the spirit. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been put to shame and confounded. And the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, says

As the partridge that sits on [eggs] which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.

Thus says LORD: Execute ye justice and righteousness. And deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. And do no wrong. Do no violence to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in t

Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the outermost parts of the earth, [and] with them the blind man and the lame man, the woman with child, and she who travails with child together. They shall ret

Thus says LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping. Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is [the name] whereby she shall be called: LORD our righteousness.

The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame. She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get her away. And her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.

Damascus has grown feeble. She turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized on her. Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.

For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country, and they shall set themselves in array against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows shall be as of an exper

your mother shall be utterly put to shame. She who bore you shall be confounded. Behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

Because of the wrath of LORD she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye who bend the bow. Shoot at her; spare no arrows. For she has sinned against LORD.

Shout against her round about. She has submitted herself. Her bulwarks are fallen. Her walls are thrown down. For it is the vengeance of LORD. Take vengeance upon her. As she has done, do to her.

Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her round about; let none thereof escape. Recompense her according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been p

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her. Take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each one into his own country. For her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

The sea has come up upon Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me destroyers shall come to her, says LORD.

[It is] because of the sins of her prophets, [and] the iniquities of her priests, who have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

And she has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her, for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have

And I will judge thee, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged. And I will bring upon thee the blood of wrath and jealousy.

And thine elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at thy left hand, she and her daughters. And thy younger sister, who dwells at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

As I live, says lord LORD, Sodom thy sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as thou have done, thou and thy daughters.

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters, and she did not strengthen the hand of a poor and needy man.

and say, What was thy mother? A lioness. She couched among lions. In the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps.

And she brought up one of her whelps. He became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey. He devoured men.

Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

Thou have become guilty in thy blood that thou have shed, and are defiled in thine idols which thou have made. And thou have caused thy days to draw near, and have come even to thy years. Therefore I have made thee a reproach to th

Behold, the rulers of Israel, each one according to his power, have been in thee to shed blood.

Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood, and in thee they have eaten upon the mountains. In the midst of thee they have committed lewdness.