until the time that his word came, and until the word of the LORD had tried him.

Then sent the king and caused him to be delivered; the prince of the people had let him go.

He made him lord of his house, and ruler over everything he had;

He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen.

Egypt was glad when they departed; For the fear of them had fallen upon them.

For why? He remembered his holy promise which he had made to Abraham his servant.

He gave them the lands of the nations,
and they inherited
what other peoples had worked for.

Then they had faith in his words; they gave him songs of praise.

They quickly forgot what he had done; they did not wait for his instructions.

In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving for meat; they challenged God in the desert.

They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;

Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

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

They had provoked anger by their deeds, so that a plague broke out against them.

They have not destroyed the peoples, As Jehovah had said to them,

But had fellowship with the nations, and learned their doings;

And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood.

So he delivered them up into the hand of the nations, And they who hated them, had dominion over them;

Their enemies oppressed them, and had them in subjection.

Many times he delivered them, but they had a rebellious attitude, and degraded themselves by their sin.

But when their cry came to his ears, he had pity on their trouble:

And he caused them to find compassion of all those that had carried them captives.

Because they had rebelled against the words of God, and had despised the counsel of the Most High; ...

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

God had promised in his sanctuary: "I will triumph and divide Shechem, then I will measure the valley of Succoth!

For the love that I had unto them, they take now my contrary part; but I give myself unto prayer.

Let the wickedness of his fathers be had in remembrance in the sight of LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be done away.

Because he had no mercy, but was cruel to the low and the poor, designing the death of the broken-hearted.

As he took pleasure in cursing, so let it come on him; and as he had no delight in blessing, let it be far from him.

His work is worthy to be praised and had in honour, and his righteousness endureth forever.

The merciful and gracious LORD hath so done his marvelous works, that they ought to be had in remembrance.

For he shall never be moved; The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.

The cords and sorrows of death encompassed me,
And the terrors of Sheol came upon me;
I found distress and sorrow.

I still had faith, though I said, I am in great trouble;

The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.

This I had, because I kept thy precepts.

They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.

Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

I have long had knowledge that your unchanging word is for ever.

My soul hath long had her dwelling With him that hateth peace.

Be gracious to us, O Yahweh, be gracious to us, for long enough we have had our fill of contempt.

For long enough our soul has had its fill of the derision of the self-confident, the contempt of [the] arrogant.

{A Song of degrees of David.} If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:

Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:

Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

The Lord had done great things for us;
we were joyful.

For there those who had taken us prisoners made request for a song; and those who had taken away all we had gave us orders to be glad, saying, Give us one of the songs 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.

Let the righteous rather smite me friendly, and reprove me: so will I take it as though he had poured oil on my head; it shall not hurt my head. Yea, I will pray yet for their wickedness.

When my spirit fainted concerning myself, then, thou, didst take note of my path, - In the course which I was about to take, they had hidden a snare for me.

Looking to my right side, I saw no man who was my friend: I had no safe place; no one had any care for my soul.

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

"I had a vow to pay, and this day I perform it.

Yahweh, had constituted me the beginning of his way, before his works, at the commencement of that time;

At the outset of the ages, had I been established, in advance of the antiquities of the earth;

When there was no resounding deep, I had been brought forth, when there were no fountains, abounding with water;

Before mountains had been shaped, before hills, I was brought forth.

While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

A man may be acting as if he had wealth, but have nothing; another may seem poor, but have great wealth.

If you say, See, we had no knowledge of this: does not the tester of hearts give thought to it? and he who keeps your soul, has he no knowledge of it? and will he not give to every man the reward of his work?

And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

If you have done foolishly in lifting yourself up, or if you have had evil designs, put your hand over your mouth.

The words of Lemuel, king of Massa: the teaching which he had from his mother.

I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

And I became great, and increased more than all that had been before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

Whenever I wanted something I had seen, I never refused that desire. Instead, I enjoyed everything I did, and this became the reward in what I had undertaken.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

For a wise man beareth his eyes about in his head, but the fool goeth in the darkness. I perceived also that they both had one end.

So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

and who could know whether a, wise man, he would be or a foolish, and yet he would lord it over all my toil, wherein I had toiled and wherein I had acted wisely, under the sun, - even this, was vanity.

Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun.

That which was, already, had been, and, that which shall be, already, shall have been, - but, God, seeketh that which hath been chased away.

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

So I commended the dead who had already died as being happier than the living who are still alive.

and, as better than both, him who had not yet come into being, - who had not seen the vexatious work, which was done under the sun.

For he came out of prison to become king, even though he had been born poor in what would become his kingdom.

There was no end to all of his subjects or to all of the people who had come before them. But those who come along afterward will not be happy with him. This is also pointless and a chasing after wind.

Here was an incurable evil, I had seen under the sun, riches kept by the owner thereof, to his hurt;

And I saw the destruction of his wealth by an evil chance; and when he became the father of a son he had nothing in his hand.

As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.

Here was an evil, I had seen under the sun, - and it is, common, among men:

If a man doth beget a hundred, and live many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he hath not had a grave, I have said, 'Better than he is the untimely birth.'

It has not seen the sun nor had any knowledge; yet it has more rest and is better off than he.

And though he had lived a thousand years twice over, yet good he hath not seen; to the same place doth not every one go?

Everything, had I seen, in my days of vanity, - Here was a righteous man, perishing in his righteousness, and there was a lawless man, continuing long in his wickedness.

I turned around and directed my heart to know, to investigate and to seek [skillful and godly] wisdom and the reason for things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness [leading to stupidity and recklessness].

(that still my soul had sought, and I had not found), One man, a teacher, I have found, and a woman among all these I have not found.

All this, had I seen, and tried to apply my heart to every work which was done under the sun, - at such time as one man had power over another man, to his hurt.

And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

Yet is there a vanity upon earth: there be just men, unto whom it happeneth, as though they had the works of the ungodly; Again, there be ungodly, with whom it goeth as though they had the works of the righteous. This me think also a vain thing.

Then extolled I, gladness, in that there was nothing better for a man, under the sun, than to eat and to drink, and to be glad, - since, that, should tarry with him in his toil, for the days of his life which God had given him under the sun.

Every one, was like every one else, one destiny, had the righteous and the lawless, the good and the pure and the impure, and he that sacrificed, and he that did not sacrifice, - as the good man, so, the sinner, he that took an oath, as he who, of an oath, stood in fear.

This was a misfortune in all that was done under the sun, that, one destiny, had they all, - yea also, the heart of the sons of men, was full of wickedness, and, madness, was in their heart, while they lived, and, after that, they went unto the dead.

For, the living, knew that they should die, - -but, the dead, knew not, anything, neither had they any longer a reward, because forgotten was their memory.

Both their love and their hatred and their envy, already had perished, - and, portion, had they none any longer, unto times age-abiding, in aught that was done under the sun.

So I turned me unto other things under the Sun, and I saw that in running it helpeth not to be swift; in battle it helpeth not to be strong; to feeding it helpeth not to be wise; to riches, it helpeth not to be suttle; to be had in favour, it helpeth not to be cunning: but that all lieth in time and fortune.