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57
1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and pious men are taken away, without one considering that before the evil the righteous is taken away. 2 He shall come [to his fathers] in peace: they shall repose in their resting-place, every one that walketh in his uprightness. 3 But ye draw near hither, sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot. 4 Over whom will you make yourselves merry? concerning whom will you open wide your mouth, stretch out your tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, 5 That are inflamed after the idols under every green tree; that slaughter the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks? 6 Of the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured out a drink-offering, hast thou offered a meat-offering. Shall I for these things repent me [of the evil]? 7 Upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou placed thy couch: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. 8 And behind the doors and the door-posts hast thou placed thy [mark of] remembrance; for [departing] from me, thou hast laid open, and art gone up,—hast enlarged thy couch, and made thee a covenant with some of them; thou hast loved their lying with thee, hast selected a fitting place. 9 And thou didst show thyself unto the king without ointment, and thou didst multiply thy perfumes, and thou didst send out thy messengers even into the far-off distance, and didst debase thyself even down to the nether world. 10 Though thou art wearied by the length of thy way, yet saidst thou not, It is useless: thou hadst found enough for thy hand; therefore didst thou feel no care. 11 And of whom hadst thou dread or fear, that thou becamest false, and didst not remember me, nor lay it to thy heart? is it not so? I kept silence, and this from earliest times, and therefore thou fearest me not! 12 I, I ever tell thee [what deeds would be] thy righteousness; but thy works—these indeed will not profit thee. 13 When thou criest, let thy masses of idols deliver thee; but all of them will the wind carry away, a breath will take them off; but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain. 14 And he will say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, clear out the way, lift up every stumbling block out of the way of my people. 15 For thus hath said the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, In the high and holy place do I dwell, yet also with the contrite and humble of spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16 For not to eternity will I contend, neither will I be for ever wroth: when the spirit from before me is overwhelmed, and the souls which I have made. 17 Because of the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and I smote him, hiding my face, and was wroth: while he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart. 18 I [now] see his ways, and I will heal him; and I will guide him, and bestow full comforts on him and on his mourners; 19 Creating the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him. 20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can never be at rest, but its waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

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