comparable to fine gold,
how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers,
the work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even the jackals offer their breast.
They nurse their young ones.
But the daughter of my people has become cruel,
like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst.
The young children ask for bread,
and no one breaks it for them.
5 Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets.
Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.
6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom,
which was overthrown as in a moment.
No hands were laid on her.
7 Her Nazirites were purer than snow.
They were whiter than milk.
They were more ruddy in body than rubies.
Their polishing was like sapphire.
8 Their appearance is blacker than a coal.
They are not known in the streets.
Their skin clings to their bones.
It is withered.
It has become like wood.
9 Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger;
for these pine away, stricken through,
for lack of the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children.
They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The LORD has accomplished his wrath.
He has poured out his fierce anger.
He has kindled a fire in Zion,
which has devoured its foundations.
12 The kings of the earth didn’t believe,
neither did all the inhabitants of the world,
that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.
13 It is because of the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,
that have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.
14 They wander as blind men in the streets.
They are polluted with blood,
So that men can’t touch their garments.
15 “Go away!” they cried to them.
“Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch!
When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations,
“They can’t live here any more.”
16 The LORD’s anger has scattered them.
He will not pay attention to them any more.
They didn’t respect the persons of the priests.
They didn’t favor the elders.
17 Our eyes still fail,
looking in vain for our help.
In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
18 They hunt our steps,
so that we can’t go in our streets.
Our end is near.
Our days are fulfilled,
for our end has come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky.
They chased us on the mountains.
They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.
20 The breath of our nostrils,
the anointed of the LORD,
was taken in their pits;
of whom we said,
under his shadow we will live among the nations.
21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom,
who dwells in the land of Uz.
The cup will pass through to you also.
You will be drunken,
and will make yourself naked.
22 The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion.
He will no more carry you away into captivity.
He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom.
He will uncover your sins.
5
1 Remember, LORD, what has come on us.
Look, and see our reproach.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our houses to aliens.
3 We are orphans and fatherless.
Our mothers are as widows.
4 We must pay for water to drink.
Our wood is sold to us.
5 Our pursuers are on our necks.
We are weary, and have no rest.
6 We have given our hands to the Egyptians,
and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more.
We have borne their iniquities.
8 Servants rule over us.
There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is black like an oven,
because of the burning heat of famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion,
the virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged up by their hands.
The faces of elders were not honored.
13 The young men carry millstones.
The children stumbled under loads of wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate,
and the young men from their music.
15 The joy of our heart has ceased.
Our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint.
For these things our eyes are dim:
18 for the mountain of Zion, which is desolate.
The foxes walk on it.
19 You, LORD, remain forever.
Your throne is from generation to generation.
20 Why do you forget us forever,
and forsake us for so long a time?
21 Turn us to yourself, LORD, and we will be turned.
Renew our days as of old.
22 But you have utterly rejected us.
You are very angry against us.
† 1:5 When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name.
‡ 1:14 The word translated “Lord” (mixed case) is “Adonai.”
† 3:41 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes or, The Preacher
1
1 The words of Kohelet†, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2 “Vanity of vanities,” says Kohelet‡; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” 3 What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun? 4 One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises. 6 The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses. 7 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. 8 All things are full of weariness beyond uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 That which has been is that which shall be, and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it may be said, “Behold,§ this is new”? It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us. 11 There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.
12 I, Kohelet†, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God‡ has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. 15 That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted. 16 I said to myself, “Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind. 18 For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
2
1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure;” and behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives. 4 I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. 6 I made myself pools of water, to water the forest where trees were grown. 7 I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men: musical instruments of all sorts. 9 So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor. 11 Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
12 I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago. 13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. 14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all. 15 Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it
