6:1There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men: 6:2a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease. 6:3If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he: 6:4for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 6:5Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other. 6:6Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don’t all go to one place? 6:7All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. 6:8For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living? 6:9Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind. 6:10Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he. 6:11For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man? 6:12For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
7:1A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth. 7:2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart. 7:3Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good. 7:4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 7:5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. 7:6For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. 7:7Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding. 7:8Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 7:9Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. 7:10Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not ask wisely about this. 7:11Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun. 7:12For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. 7:13Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked? 7:14In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him. 7:15All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing. 7:16Don’t be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 7:17Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time? 7:18It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also from that don’t withdraw your hand; for he who fears God will come out of them all. 7:19Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. 7:20Surely there is not a righteous man on earth, who does good and doesn’t sin. 7:21Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you; 7:22for often your own heart knows that you yourself have likewise cursed others. 7:23All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”; but it was far from me. 7:24That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out? 7:25I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness. 7:26I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her. 7:27“Behold, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “to one another, to find out the scheme; 7:28which my soul still seeks; but I have not found. I have found one man among a thousand; but I have not found a woman among all those. 7:29Behold, I have only found this: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes.”
8:1Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. 8:2I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God. 8:3Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him, 8:4for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?” 8:5Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure. 8:6For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him. 8:7For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be? 8:8There 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. 8:9All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt. 8:10So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity. 8:11Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 8:12Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 8:13But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn’t fear God. 8:14There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 8:15Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun. 8:16When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes), 8:17then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.
9:1For 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. 9:2All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath. 9:3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 9:4For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 9:5For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten. 9:6Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. 9:7Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. 9:8Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil. 9:9Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun. 9:10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going. 9:11I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. 9:12For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them. 9:13I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me. 9:14There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. 9:15Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. 9:16Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. 9:17The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools. 9:18Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
10:1Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to produce an evil odor; so does a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor. 10:2A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, but a fool’s heart at his left. 10:3Yes also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. 10:4If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, don’t leave your place; for gentleness lays great offenses to rest. 10:5There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, the sort of error which proceeds from the ruler. 10:6Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place. 10:7I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the earth. 10:8He who digs a pit may fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. 10:9Whoever carves out stones may be injured by them. Whoever splits wood may be endangered thereby. 10:10If the ax is blunt, and one doesn’t sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but skill brings success. 10:11If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer’s tongue. 10:12The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but a fool is swallowed by his own lips. 10:13The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. 10:14A fool also multiplies words. Man doesn’t know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him? 10:15The labor of fools wearies every one of them; for he doesn’t know how to go to the city. 10:16Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning! 10:17Happy are you, land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness! 10:18By slothfulness the roof sinks in; and through idleness of the hands the house leaks. 10:19A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes the life glad; and money is the answer for all things. 10:20Don’t curse the king, no, not in your thoughts; and don’t curse the rich in your bedroom: for a bird of the sky may carry your voice, and that which has wings may tell the matter.
11:1Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days. 11:2Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight; for you don’t know what evil will be on the earth. 11:3If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be. 11:4He who observes the wind won’t sow; and he who regards the clouds won’t reap. 11:5As 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. 11:6In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don’t withhold your hand; for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be equally good. 11:7Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to see the sun. 11:8Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity. 11:9Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 11:10Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
12:1Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 12:2Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain; 12:3in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened, 12:4and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; 12:5yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be on the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets: 12:6before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the spring, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 12:7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 12:8“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!” 12:9Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs. 12:10The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth. 12:11The words of the wise are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. 12:12Furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 12:13This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. 12:14For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
Song of Solomon
1:1The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s. 1:2Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine. 1:3Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you. 1:4Take me away with you. Let us hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. Friends We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! Beloved They are right to love you. 1:5I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains. 1:6Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard. 1:7Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions? 1:8If you don’t know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents. 1:9I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. 1:10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. 1:11We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver. 1:12While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. 1:13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts. 1:14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi. 1:15Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves. 1:16Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant. 1:17The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.
2:1I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. 2:2As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. 2:3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste. 2:4He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love. 2:5Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am faint with love. 2:6His left hand is under my head. His right hand embraces me. 2:7I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. 2:8The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills. 2:9My beloved is like a roe or a young deer. Behold, he stands behind our wall! He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice. 2:10My beloved spoke, and said to me, “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. 2:11For, behold, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone. 2:12The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 2:13The fig tree ripens her green figs. The vines are in blossom. They give out their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.” 2:14My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 2:15Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that plunder the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom. 2:16My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies. 2:17Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young deer on the mountains of Bether.
3:1By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. 3:2I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. 3:3The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” 3:4I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me. 3:5I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. 3:6Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant? 3:7Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel. 3:8They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night. 3:9King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon. 3:10He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem. 3:11Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.
4:1Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is as a flock of goats, that descend from Mount Gilead. 4:2Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock, which have come up from the washing, where every one of them has twins. None is bereaved among them. 4:3Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil. 4:4Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory, whereon a thousand shields hang, all the shields of the mighty men. 4:5Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies. 4:6Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense. 4:7You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you. 4:8Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards. 4:9You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck. 4:10How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine! The fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices! 4:11Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon. 4:12A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain. 4:13Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits: henna with spikenard plants, 4:14spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices, 4:15a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon. 4:16Awake, north wind; and come, you south! Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and taste his precious fruits.
5:1I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. 5:2I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.” 5:3I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on? I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them? 5:4My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him. 5:5I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock. 5:6I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left; and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn’t find him. I called him, but he didn’t answer. 5:7The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me. 5:8I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love. 5:9How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us? 5:10My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand. 5:11His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven. 5:12His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels. 5:13His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. 5:14His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires. 5:15His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 5:16His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.
6:1Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? 6:2My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 6:3I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies, 6:4You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners. 6:5Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead. 6:6Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing; of which every one has twins; no one is bereaved among them. 6:7Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil. 6:8There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number. 6:9My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother’s only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 6:10Who is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners? 6:11I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower. 6:12Without realizing it, my desire set me with my royal people’s chariots. 6:13Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Lover Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?
7:1How beautiful are your feet in sandals, prince’s daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful workman. 7:2Your body is like a round goblet, no mixed wine is wanting. Your waist is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies. 7:3Your two breasts are like two fawns, that are twins of a roe. 7:4Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus. 7:5Your head on you is like Carmel. The hair of your head like purple. The king is held captive in its tresses. 7:6How beautiful and how pleasant you are, love, for delights! 7:7This, your stature, is like a palm tree, your breasts like its fruit. 7:8I said, “I will climb up into the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit.” Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the smell of your breath like apples, 7:9Your mouth like the best wine, that goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding through the lips of those who are asleep. 7:10I am my beloved’s. His desire is toward me. 7:11Come, my beloved, let us go out into the field. Let us lodge in the villages. 7:12Let’s go early up to the vineyards. Let’s see whether the vine has budded, its blossom is open, and the pomegranates are in flower. There I will give you my love. 7:13The mandrakes produce fragrance. At our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old, which I have stored up for you, my beloved.
8:1Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me. 8:2I would lead you, bringing you into my mother’s house, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate. 8:3His left hand would be under my head. His right hand would embrace me. 8:4I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. 8:5Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you. 8:6Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh. 8:7Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. 8:8We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for? 8:9If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. 8:10I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace. 8:11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He leased out the vineyard to keepers. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit. 8:12My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon; two hundred for those who tend its fruit. 8:13You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice! 8:14Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!
Isaiah
1:1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 1:2Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 1:3The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t consider.” 1:4Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward. 1:5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 1:6From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil. 1:7Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 1:8The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city. 1:9Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have been like Gomorrah. 1:10Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 1:11“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. 1:12When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? 1:13Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies. 1:14My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. 1:15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 1:16Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. 1:17Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.” 1:18“Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 1:19If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 1:20but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.” 1:21How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. 1:22Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. 1:23Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don’t judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them. 1:24Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies; 1:25and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin. 1:26I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’ 1:27Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. 1:28But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed. 1:29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. 1:30For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. 1:31The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”
2:1This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2:2It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. 2:3Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem. 2:4He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 2:5House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh. 2:6For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners. 2:7Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. 2:8Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. 2:9Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don’t forgive them. 2:10Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty. 2:11The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day. 2:12For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and haughty, and for all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low: 2:13For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan, 2:14For all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up, 2:15For every lofty tower, for every fortified wall, 2:16For all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery. 2:17The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day. 2:18The idols shall utterly pass away. 2:19Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily. 2:20In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 2:21To go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily. 2:22Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?
3:1For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water; 3:2the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder, 3:3the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter. 3:4I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them. 3:5The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the wicked against the honorable. 3:6Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand.” 3:7In that day he will cry out, saying, “I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. You shall not make me ruler of the people.” 3:8For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh, to provoke the eyes of his glory. 3:9The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves. 3:10Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. 3:11Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him. 3:12As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths. 3:13Yahweh stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples. 3:14Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses. 3:15What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. 3:16Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking to trip as they go, jingling ornaments on their feet; 3:17therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and Yahweh will make their scalps bald.” 3:18In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces, 3:19the earrings, the bracelets, the veils, 3:20the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume bottles, the charms, 3:21the signet rings, the nose rings, 3:22the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses, 3:23the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls. 3:24It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. 3:25Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. 3:26Her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.