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[1] The righteous perisheth, and no man considereth it in heart: and merciful men are taken away, and no man understandeth that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
[2] Peace shall come: they shall rest in their beds, every one that walketh before him.
[3] But you witches' children, come hither, the seed of the adulterer and of the whore.
[4] On whom have ye jested? Upon whom have ye gaped and thrust out your tongue? Are not ye rebellious children, and a false seed?
[5] Inflamed with idols under every green tree? And sacrificing the children in the valleys under the tops of the rocks?
[6] Thy portion is in the smooth stones of the river: they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering: thou hast offered a sacrifice. Should I delight in these?
[7] Thou hast made thy bed upon a very high mountain: thou wentest up thither, even thither wentest thou to offer sacrifice.
[8] Behind the doors also and posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and wentest up, and didst enlarge thy bed, and make a covenant between thee and them, and lovest their bed in every place where thou sawest it.
[9] Thou wentest to the kings with oil, and didst increase thine ointments and send thy messengers far off, and didst humble thyself unto hell.
[10] Thou weariest thyself in thy manifold journeys, yet saidest thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found life by thine hand, therefore thou wast not grieved.
[11] And whom didst thou reverence or fear, seeing thou hast lied unto me, and hast not remembered me, neither set thy mind thereon? Is it not because I hold my peace, and that of long time? Therefore thou fearest not me.
[12] I will declare thy righteousness and thy works, and they shall not profit thee.
[13] When thou cryest, let them that thou hast gathered together deliver thee: but the wind shall take them all away: vanity shall pull them away: but he that trusteth in me, shall inherit the land, and shall possess mine holy mountain.
[14] And he shall say, Cast up, cast up: prepare the way: take up the stumbling blocks out of the way of my people.
[15] For thus saith he that is high and excellent, he that inhabiteth the eternity, whose name is the Holy One, I dwell in the high and holy place: with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble, and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart.
[16] For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before me: and I have made the breath.
[17] For his wicked covetousness I am angry with him, and have smitten him: I hid me and was angry, yet he went away, and turned after the way of his own heart.
[18] I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comfort unto him, and to those that lament him.
[19] I create the fruit of the lips, to be peace: peace unto them that are far off, and to them that are near, saith the Lord: for I will heal him.
[20] But the wicked are like the raging sea that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
[21] There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
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