Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
  for the LORD has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
  but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner,
  and the donkey its master's crib,
but Israel does not know,
  my people do not understand.”

Ah, sinful nation,
  a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
  children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
  they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
  they are utterly estranged.

Why will you still be struck down?
  Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
  and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
  there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
  and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
  or softened with oil.

Your country lies desolate;
  your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
  foreigners devour your land;
  it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
And the daughter of Zion is left
  like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
  like a besieged city.

If the LORD of hosts
  had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
  and become like Gomorrah.

Hear the word of the LORD,
  you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
  you people of Gomorrah!
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
  says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
  and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
  or of lambs, or of goats.

“When you come to appear before me,
  who has required of you
  this trampling of my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings;
  incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
  I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
  my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
  I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,
  I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
  I will not listen;
  your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
  remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
  learn to do good;
seek justice,
  correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
  plead the widow's cause.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
  they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
  they shall become like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
  you shall eat the good of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel,
  you shall be eaten by the sword;
  for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

How the faithful city
  has become a whore,
  she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
  but now murderers.
Your silver has become dross,
  your best wine mixed with water.
Your princes are rebels
  and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
  and runs after gifts.
They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
  and the widow's cause does not come to them.

Therefore the Lord declares,
  the LORD of hosts,
  the Mighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
  and avenge myself on my foes.
I will turn my hand against you
  and will smelt away your dross as with lye
  and remove all your alloy.
And I will restore your judges as at the first,
  and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,
  the faithful city.”

Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
  and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
  and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks
  that you desired;
and you shall blush for the gardens
  that you have chosen.
For you shall be like an oak
  whose leaf withers,
  and like a garden without water.
And the strong shall become tinder,
  and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
  with none to quench them.

It shall come to pass in the latter days
  that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
  and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
  and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
  to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
  and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law,
  and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
  and shall decide disputes for 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 anymore.

O house of Jacob,
  come, let us walk
  in the light of the LORD.

For you have rejected your people,
  the house of Jacob,
because they are full of things from the east
  and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,
  and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
Their land is filled with silver and gold,
  and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
  and there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is filled with idols;
  they bow down to the work of their hands,
  to what their own fingers have made.
So man is humbled,
  and each one is brought low—
  do not forgive them!
Enter into the rock
  and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the LORD,
  and from the splendor of his majesty.
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
  and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

For the LORD of hosts has a day
  against all that is proud and lofty,
  against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
against all the cedars of Lebanon,
  lofty and lifted up;
  and against all the oaks of Bashan;
against all the lofty mountains,
  and against all the uplifted hills;
against every high tower,
  and against every fortified wall;
against all the ships of Tarshish,
  and against all the beautiful craft.
And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
  and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
  and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
And the idols shall utterly pass away.
And people shall enter the caves of the rocks
  and the holes of the ground,
from before the terror of the LORD,
  and from the splendor of his majesty,
  when he rises to terrify the earth.

In that day mankind will cast away
  their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
  to the moles and to the bats,
to enter the caverns of the rocks
  and the clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of the LORD,
  and from the splendor of his majesty,
  when he rises to terrify the earth.
Stop regarding man
  in whose nostrils is breath,
  for of what account is he?

52:1 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
  The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
Your tongue plots destruction,
  like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
  and lying more than speaking what is right.     Selah
You love all words that devour,
  O deceitful tongue.

But God will break you down forever;
  he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
  he will uproot you from the land of the living.     Selah
The righteous shall see and fear,
  and shall laugh at him, saying,
“See the man who would not make
  God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
  and sought refuge in his own destruction!”

But I am like a green olive tree
  in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
  forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
  because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
  in the presence of the godly.

Be not one of those who give pledges,
  who put up security for debts.
If you have nothing with which to pay,
  why should your bed be taken from under you? (ESV)

He

5:1 I came to my garden, my sister, my bride,
  I gathered my myrrh with my spice,
  I ate my honeycomb with my honey,
  I drank my wine with my milk.

Others

Eat, friends, drink,
  and be drunk with love!

She

I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is knocking.
“Open to me, my sister, my love,
  my dove, my perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
  my locks with the drops of the night.”
I had put off my garment;
  how could I put it on?
I had bathed my feet;
  how could I soil them?
My beloved put his hand to the latch,
  and my heart was thrilled within me.
I arose to open to my beloved,
  and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
  on the handles of the bolt.
I opened to my beloved,
  but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he spoke.
I sought him, but found him not;
  I called him, but he gave no answer.
The watchmen found me
  as they went about in the city;
they beat me, they bruised me,
  they took away my veil,
  those watchmen of the walls.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
  if you find my beloved,
that you tell him
  I am sick with love.

Others

What is your beloved more than another beloved,
  O most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
  that you thus adjure us?

She

My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
  distinguished among ten thousand.
His head is the finest gold;
  his locks are wavy,
  black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
  beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
  sitting beside a full pool.
His cheeks are like beds of spices,
  mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are lilies,
  dripping liquid myrrh.
His arms are rods of gold,
  set with jewels.
His body is polished ivory,
  bedecked with sapphires.
His legs are alabaster columns,
  set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
  choice as the cedars.
His mouth is most sweet,
  and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
  O daughters of Jerusalem.

Others

6:1 Where has your beloved gone,
  O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
  that we may seek him with you?

She

My beloved has gone down to his garden
  to the beds of spices,
to graze in the gardens
  and to gather lilies.
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
  he grazes among the lilies.

He

You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
  lovely as Jerusalem,
  awesome as an army with banners.
Turn away your eyes from me,
  for they overwhelm me—
Your hair is like a flock of goats
  leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
  that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
  not one among them has lost its young.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
  behind your veil.
There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
  and virgins without number.
My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
  the only one of her mother,
  pure to her who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
  the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.

“Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
  beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
  awesome as an army with banners?”

She

I went down to the nut orchard
  to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
  whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
Before I was aware, my desire set me
  among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.

Others

Return, return, O Shulammite,
  return, return, that we may look upon you.

He

Why should you look upon the Shulammite,
  as upon a dance before two armies?

7:1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
  O noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
  the work of a master hand.
Your navel is a rounded bowl
  that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
  encircled with lilies.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
  twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,
  by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,
  which looks toward Damascus.
Your head crowns you like Carmel,
  and your flowing locks are like purple;
  a king is held captive in the tresses.

How beautiful and pleasant you are,
  O loved one, with all your delights!
Your stature is like a palm tree,
  and your breasts are like its clusters.
I say I will climb the palm tree
  and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
  and the scent of your breath like apples,
and your mouth like the best wine.

She

It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
  gliding over lips and teeth.

I am my beloved's,
  and his desire is for me.

Come, my beloved,
  let us go out into the fields
  and lodge in the villages;
let us go out early to the vineyards
  and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened
  and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
  and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
new as well as old,
  which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

8:1 Oh that you were like a brother to me
  who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
  and none would despise me.
I would lead you and bring you
  into the house of my mother—
  she who used to teach me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
  the juice of my pomegranate.
His left hand is under my head,
  and his right hand embraces me!
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
  that you not stir up or awaken love
  until it pleases.

Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
  leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
  there she who bore you was in labor.

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
  as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
  jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
  the very flame of the LORD.
Many waters cannot quench love,
  neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
  all the wealth of his house,
  he would be utterly despised.

Others

We have a little sister,
  and she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
  on the day when she is spoken for?
If she is a wall,
  we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
  we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

She

I was a wall,
  and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
  as one who finds peace.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
  he let out the vineyard to keepers;
  each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
  you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
  and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

He

O you who dwell in the gardens,
  with companions listening for your voice;
  let me hear it.

She

Make haste, my beloved,
  and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
  on the mountains of spices.

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
  his righteousness endures forever.”

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God,
  according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
  blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
  and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,
  and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
  and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
  and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
  and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
  and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
  wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
  let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
  and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
  and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
  and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
  and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
  and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
  O God of my salvation,
  and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
  and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
  you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
  a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
  build up the walls of Jerusalem;
then will you delight in right sacrifices,
  in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
  then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
  nor go with a wrathful man,
lest you learn his ways
  and entangle yourself in a snare. (ESV)

She

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine;
  your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
  therefore virgins love you.
Draw me after you; let us run.
  The king has brought me into his chambers.

Others

We will exult and rejoice in you;
  we will extol your love more than wine;
  rightly do they love you.

She

I am very dark, but lovely,
  O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
  like the curtains of Solomon.
Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
  because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother's sons were angry with me;
  they made me keeper of the vineyards,
  but my own vineyard I have not kept!
Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
  where you pasture your flock,
  where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
  beside the flocks of your companions?

He

If you do not know,
  O most beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
  and pasture your young goats
  beside the shepherds' tents.

I compare you, my love,
  to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.
Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
  your neck with strings of jewels.

Others

We will make for you ornaments of gold,
  studded with silver.

She

While the king was on his couch,
  my nard gave forth its fragrance.
My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
  that lies between my breasts.
My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
  in the vineyards of Engedi.

He

Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
  behold, you are beautiful;
  your eyes are doves.

She

Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
  the beams of our house are cedar;
  our rafters are pine.

2:1 I am a rose of Sharon,
  a lily of the valleys.

He

As a lily among brambles,
  so is my love among the young women.

She

As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
  so is my beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
  and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to the banqueting house,
  and his banner over me was love.
Sustain me with raisins;
  refresh me with apples,
  for I am sick with love.
His left hand is under my head,
  and his right hand embraces me!
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
  by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
  until it pleases.

The voice of my beloved!
  Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
  bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle
  or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
  behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
  looking through the lattice.
My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
  and come away,
for behold, the winter is past;
  the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
  the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
  is heard in our land.
The fig tree ripens its figs,
  and the vines are in blossom;
  they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
  and come away.
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
  in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
  let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
  and your face is lovely.
Catch the foxes for us,
  the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
  for our vineyards are in blossom.”

My beloved is mine, and I am his;
  he grazes among the lilies.
Until the day breathes
  and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
  or a young stag on cleft mountains.

3:1 On my bed by night
I sought him whom my soul loves;
  I sought him, but found him not.
I will rise 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 found him not.
The watchmen found me
  as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
Scarcely had I passed 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,
  and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
  by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
  until it pleases.

What is that coming up from the wilderness
  like columns of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
  with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
Behold, it is the litter of Solomon!
Around it are sixty mighty men,
  some of the mighty men of Israel,
all of them wearing swords
  and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh,
  against terror by night.
King Solomon made himself a carriage
  from the wood of Lebanon.
He made its posts of silver,
  its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love
  by the daughters of Jerusalem.
Go out, O daughters of Zion,
  and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
  on the day of his wedding,
  on the day of the gladness of his heart.

He

4:1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love,
  behold, you are beautiful!
Your eyes are doves
  behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
  leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
  that have come up from the washing,
all of which bear twins,
  and not one among them has lost its young.
Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
  and your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
  behind your veil.
Your neck is like the tower of David,
  built in rows of stone;
on it hang a thousand shields,
  all of them shields of warriors.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
  twins of a gazelle,
  that graze among the lilies.
Until the day breathes
  and the shadows flee,
I will go away to the mountain of myrrh
  and the hill of frankincense.
You are altogether beautiful, my love;
  there is no flaw in you.
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
  come with me from Lebanon.
Depart from the peak of Amana,
  from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
  from the mountains of leopards.

You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;
  you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,
  with one jewel of your necklace.
How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
  How much better is your love than wine,
  and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
Your lips drip nectar, my bride;
  honey and milk are under your tongue;
  the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
  a spring locked, a fountain sealed.
Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates
  with all choicest fruits,
  henna with nard,
nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
  with all trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
  with all choice spices—
a garden fountain, a well of living water,
  and flowing streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind,
  and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden,
  let its spices flow.

She

Let my beloved come to his garden,
  and eat its choicest fruits.

50:1 The Mighty One, God the LORD,
  speaks and summons the earth
  from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
  God shines forth.

Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
  before him is a devouring fire,
  around him a mighty tempest.
He calls to the heavens above
  and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
“Gather to me my faithful ones,
  who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
The heavens declare his righteousness,
  for God himself is judge!     Selah

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
  O Israel, I will testify against you.
  I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
  your burnt offerings are continually before me.
I will not accept a bull from your house
  or goats from your folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
  the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
  and all that moves in the field is mine.

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
  for the world and its fullness are mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
  or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
  and perform your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
  I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

But to the wicked God says:
  “What right have you to recite my statutes
  or take my covenant on your lips?
For you hate discipline,
  and you cast my words behind you.
If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
  and you keep company with adulterers.

“You give your mouth free rein for evil,
  and your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother;
  you slander your own mother's son.
These things you have done, and I have been silent;
  you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

“Mark this, then, you who forget God,
  lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
  to one who orders his way rightly
  I will show the salvation of God!”

Do not rob the poor, because he is poor,
  or crush the afflicted at the gate,
for the LORD will plead their cause
  and rob of life those who rob them. (ESV)

10:1 Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench;
  so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
A wise man's heart inclines him to the right,
  but a fool's heart to the left.
Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense,
  and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place,
  for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.

He who digs a pit will fall into it,
  and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall.
He who quarries stones is hurt by them,
  and he who splits logs is endangered by them.
If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge,
  he must use more strength,
  but wisdom helps one to succeed.
If the serpent bites before it is charmed,
  there is no advantage to the charmer.

The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor,
  but the lips of a fool consume him.
The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness,
  and the end of his talk is evil madness.
A fool multiplies words,
  though no man knows what is to be,
  and who can tell him what will be after him?
The toil of a fool wearies him,
  for he does not know the way to the city.

Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,
  and your princes feast in the morning!
Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility,
  and your princes feast at the proper time,
  for strength, and not for drunkenness!
Through sloth the roof sinks in,
  and through indolence the house leaks.
Bread is made for laughter,
  and wine gladdens life,
  and money answers everything.
Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king,
  nor in your bedroom curse the rich,
for a bird of the air will carry your voice,
  or some winged creature tell the matter.

11:1 Cast your bread upon the waters,
  for you will find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
  for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
If the clouds are full of rain,
  they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
  in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
He who observes the wind will not sow,
  and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

49:1 Hear this, all peoples!
  Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
both low and high,
  rich and poor together!
My mouth shall speak wisdom;
  the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
I will incline my ear to a proverb;
  I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

Why should I fear in times of trouble,
  when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
those who trust in their wealth
  and boast of the abundance of their riches?
Truly no man can ransom another,
  or give to God the price of his life,
for the ransom of their life is costly
  and can never suffice,
that he should live on forever
  and never see the pit.

For he sees that even the wise die;
  the fool and the stupid alike must perish
  and leave their wealth to others.
Their graves are their homes forever,
  their dwelling places to all generations,
  though they called lands by their own names.
Man in his pomp will not remain;
  he is like the beasts that perish.

This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
  yet after them people approve of their boasts.     Selah
Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
  death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
  Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
  for he will receive me.     Selah

Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
  when the glory of his house increases.
For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
  his glory will not go down after him.
For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed
  —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
  who will never again see light.
Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Have I not written for you thirty sayings
  of counsel and knowledge,
to make you know what is right and true,
  that you may give a true answer to those who sent you? (ESV)

7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment,
  and the day of death than the day of birth.
It is better to go to the house of mourning
  than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
  and the living will lay it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
  for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
  but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
  than to hear the song of fools.
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
  so is the laughter of the fools;
  this also is vanity.
Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,
  and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
  and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
  for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
  For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
  an advantage to those who see the sun.
For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
  and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
Consider the work of God:
  who can make straight what he has made crooked?

8:1 Who is like the wise?
  And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man's wisdom makes his face shine,
  and the hardness of his face is changed.

48:1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
  in the city of our God!
His holy mountain, 2 beautiful in elevation,
  is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
  the city of the great King.
Within her citadels God
  has made himself known as a fortress.

For behold, the kings assembled;
  they came on together.
As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
  they were in panic; they took to flight.
Trembling took hold of them there,
  anguish as of a woman in labor.
By the east wind you shattered
  the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so have we seen
  in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God,
  which God will establish forever.     Selah

We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,
  in the midst of your temple.
As your name, O God,
  so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
  Let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
  because of your judgments!

Walk about Zion, go around her,
  number her towers,
consider well her ramparts,
  go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
  that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
  He will guide us forever.

Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise,
  and apply your heart to my knowledge,
for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
  if all of them are ready on your lips.
That your trust may be in the LORD,
  I have made them known to you today, even to you. (ESV)

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
  and I will be their God,
  and they shall be my people.
Therefore go out from their midst,
  and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
  then I will welcome you,
and I will be a father to you,
  and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

47:1 Clap your hands, all peoples!
  Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
  a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us,
  and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us,
  the pride of Jacob whom he loves.     Selah

God has gone up with a shout,
  the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
  Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
  sing praises with a psalm!

God reigns over the nations;
  God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the peoples gather
  as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
  he is highly exalted!

Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth,
  or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty. (ESV)

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
  vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil
  at which he toils under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
  but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
  and hastens to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south
  and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
  and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
  but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
  there they flow again.
All things are full of weariness;
  a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
  nor the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
  and what has been done is what will be done,
  and there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
  “See, this is new”?
It has been already
  in the ages before us.
There is no remembrance of former things,
  nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
  among those who come after.

What is crooked cannot be made straight,
  and what is lacking cannot be counted.

For in much wisdom is much vexation,
  and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
  and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

46:1 God is our refuge and strength,
  a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
  though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
  though the mountains tremble at its swelling.     Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
  the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
  God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
  he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
  the God of Jacob is our fortress.     Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
  how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
  he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
  he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
  I will be exalted among the nations,
  I will be exalted in the earth!”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
  the God of Jacob is our fortress.     Selah

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
  but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. (ESV)