Zion gave ear and was glad; and the daughters of Judah were full of joy, because of your decisions, O Lord.

Covering it with the sea as with a robe: the waters were high over the mountains;

When they were still small in number, and strange in the land;

And he took away all food from the land, so that the people were without bread.

His feet were fixed in chains; his neck was put in iron bands;

And his people were greatly increased, and became stronger than those who were against them.

Their hearts were turned to hate against his people, so that they made secret designs against them.

At his word their waters were turned to blood, and he sent death on all their fish.

He gave their vines and their fig-trees to destruction, and the trees of their land were broken down.

And he took them safely out of the hands of their haters, and kept them from the attacks of those who were against them.

They were full of envy against Moses among the tents, and against Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.

And a fire was lighted among their tents; the sinners were burned up by the flames.

They were disgusted with the good land; they had no belief in his word;

And they were joined to Baal-peor, and took part in the offerings to the dead.

But they were joined to the nations, learning their works.

And they gave worship to images; which were a danger to them:

And he gave them into the hands of the nations; and they were ruled by their haters.

By them they were crushed, and made low under their hands.

Again and again he made them free; but their hearts were turned against his purpose, and they were overcome by their sins.

They were wandering in the waste places; they saw no way to a resting-place.

Those who were in the dark, in the black night, in chains of sorrow and iron;

So that he made their hearts weighted down with grief; they were falling, and had no helper.

He took them out of the dark and the black night, and all their chains were broken.

The mountains were jumping like goats, and the little hills like lambs.

What was wrong with you, O sea, that you went in flight? O Jordan, that you were turned back?

You mountains, why were you jumping like goats, and you little hills like lambs?

The nets of death were round me, and the pains of the underworld had me in their grip; I was full of trouble and sorrow.

If only my ways were ordered so that I might keep your rules!

I gave thought to my steps, and my feet were turned into the way of your unchanging word.

I saw with hate those who were untrue to you; for they did not keep your saying.

When the Lord made a change in Zion's fate, we were like men in a dream.

By him Pharaoh and his army were overturned in the Red Sea: for his mercy is unchanging for ever.

Who kept us in mind when we were in trouble: for his mercy is unchanging for ever.

By the rivers of Babylon we were seated, weeping at the memory of Zion,

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being.

My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me.

Let them give praise to the name of the Lord: for he gave the order, and they were made.

Because your ears were shut to my voice; no one gave attention to my out-stretched hand;

You were not controlled by my guiding, and would have nothing to do with my sharp words:

For they were haters of knowledge, and did not give their hearts to the fear of the Lord:

They had no desire for my teaching, and my words of protest were as nothing to them.

I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!

When there was no deep I was given birth, when there were no fountains flowing with water.

Before the mountains were put in their places, before the hills was my birth:

When he made strong the skies overhead: when the fountains of the deep were fixed:

I said to my heart, See, I have become great and am increased in wisdom more than any who were before me in Jerusalem--yes, my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.

I got men-servants and women-servants, and they gave birth to sons and daughters in my house. I had great wealth of herds and flocks, more than all who were in Jerusalem before me.

Say not, Why were the days which have gone by better than these? Such a question comes not from wisdom.

And then I saw evil men put to rest, taken even from the holy place; and they went about and were praised in the town because of what they had done. This again is to no purpose.

In the day when the keepers of the house are shaking for fear, and the strong men are bent down, and the women who were crushing the grain are at rest because their number is small, and those looking out of the windows are unable to see;

The Preacher made search for words which were pleasing, but his writing was in words upright and true.

Let not your eyes be turned on me, because I am dark, because I was looked on by the sun; my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vine-gardens; but my vine-garden I have not kept.

I got up to let my loved one in; and my hands were dropping with myrrh, and my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the lock of the door.

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the green plants of the valley, and to see if the vine was in bud, and the pomegranate-trees were in flower.

Oh that you were my brother, who took milk from my mother's breasts! When I came to you in the street, I would give you kisses; yes, I would not be looked down on.

For this reason the wrath of the Lord has been burning against his people, and his hand has been stretched out against them in punishment, and the hills were shaking, and their dead bodies were like waste in the open places of the town.

Over him were the winged ones: every one had six wings; two for covering his face, two for covering his feed, and two for flight.

And the bases of the door-pillars were shaking at the sound of his cry, and the house was full of smoke.

Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but were not able to overcome it.

And word came to the family of David that Aram had put up its tents in Ephraim. And the king's heart, and the hearts of his people, were moved, like the trees of the wood shaking in the wind.

And it will be in that day that in every place where before there were a thousand vines valued at a thousand shekels of silver, there will be nothing but blackberries and thorns.

And they will send out the oxen and the sheep on all the hills which before were worked with the spade, ... fear of blackberries and thorns.

The people who went in the dark have seen a great light, and for those who were living in the land of the deepest night, the light is shining.

For evil was burning like a fire; the blackberries and thorns were burned up; the thick woods took fire, rolling up in dark clouds of smoke.

The land was dark with the wrath of the Lord of armies: the people were like those who take men's flesh for food.

Manasseh was making a meal of Ephraim, and Ephraim of Manasseh; and together they were attacking Judah. For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

As my hand has come on the kingdoms of the images, whose pictured images were more in number than those of Jerusalem and Samaria;

And in that day you will say I will give praise to you, O Lord; for though you were angry with me, your wrath is turned away, and I am comforted.

And the people will take them with them to their place: and the children of Israel will give them a heritage in the Lord's land as men-servants and women-servants, making them prisoners whose prisoners they were; and they will be rulers over their masters.

For the fields of Heshbon are waste, the vine of Sibmah is dead; the lords of nations were overcome by the produce of her vines; her vine-plants went as far as Jazer, and came even to the waste land; her branches were stretched out to the sea.

In the day of your planting you were watching its growth, and in the morning your seed was flowering: but its fruit is wasted away in the day of grief and bitter sorrow.

And your most fertile valleys were full of war-carriages, and the horsemen took up their positions in front of the town.

He took away the cover of Judah; and in that day you were looking with care at the store of arms in the house of the woods.

And you made a place between the two walls for storing the waters of the old pool: but you gave no thought to him who had done this, and were not looking to him by whom it had been purposed long before.

But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.

My passion is over: if the thorns were fighting against me, I would make an attack on them, and they would be burned up together.

And it will be in that day that a great horn will be sounded; and those who were wandering in the land of Assyria, and those who had been sent away into the land of Egypt, will come; and they will give worship to the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

And the help you were looking for from death will come to nothing, and your agreement with the underworld will be broken; when the overflowing waters come through, then you will be overcome by them.

Those whose hearts were turned away from him will get knowledge, and those who made an outcry against him will give attention to his teaching.

Ho! you who make waste those who did not make you waste; acting falsely to those who were not false to you. When you have come to an end of wasting, you will be made waste, and after your false acts, they will do the same to you.

Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered?

Your cords have become loose; they were not able to make strong the support of their sails, the sail was not stretched out: then the blind will take much property, the feeble-footed will make division of the goods of war.

Did the gods of the nations keep safe those on whom my fathers sent destruction, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

And have given their gods to the fire: for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.

This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field, or a green plant; like the grass on the house-tops, which a cold wind makes waste.

The sea-lands saw it, and were in fear; the ends of the earth were shaking: they came near.

Only in the Lord will Jacob overcome and be strong: together all those who were angry with him will be put to shame and come to destruction.

They are bent down, they are falling together: they were not able to keep their images safe, but they themselves have been taken prisoner.

I was angry with my people, I put shame on my heritage, and gave them into your hands: you had no mercy on them; you put a cruel yoke on those who were old;

Yes, by my hand was the earth placed on its base, and by my right hand the heavens were stretched out; at my word they take up their places.

Then you will say in your heart, Who has given me all these children? when my children had been taken from me, and I was no longer able to have others, who took care of these? when I was by myself, where then were these?

This is the word of the Lord: Where is the statement which I gave your mother when I put her away? or to which of my creditors have I given you for money? It was for your sins that you were given into the hands of others, and for your evil-doing was your mother put away.

I was offering my back to those who gave me blows, and my face to those who were pulling out my hair: I did not keep my face covered from marks of shame.

Give ear to me, you who are searching for righteousness, who are looking for the Lord: see the rock from which you were cut out, and the hole out of which you were taken.

And you have given no thought to the Lord your Maker, by whom the heavens were stretched out, and the earth placed on its base; and you went all day in fear of the wrath of the cruel one, when he was making ready for your destruction. And where is the wrath of the cruel one?

For the Lord says, You were given for nothing, and you will be made free without price.

As peoples were surprised at him, And his face was not beautiful, so as to be desired: his face was so changed by disease as to be unlike that of a man, and his form was no longer that of the sons of men.

But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come.

Men were cruel to him, but he was gentle and quiet; as a lamb taken to its death, and as a sheep before those who take her wool makes no sound, so he said not a word.

You were tired with your long journeys; but you did not say, There is no hope: you got new strength, and so you were not feeble.