1The 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.
2Peace shall come: they shall rest in their beds, everyone that walketh before him.
3But you witches’ children, come hither, the seed of the adulterer and of the whore.
4On whom have ye jested? upon whom have ye gaped and thrust out your tongue? are not ye rebellious children, and a false seed?
5Inflamed with idols under every green tree? and sacrificing the children in the valleys under the tops of the rocks?
6Thy 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?
7Thou hast made thy bed upon a very high mountain: thou wentest up thither, even thither wentest thou to offer sacrifice.
8Behind 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 lovedst their bed in every place where thou sawest it.
9Thou wentest to the kings with oil, and didst increase thine ointments, and send thy messengers far off, and didst humble thyself unto hell.
10Thou weariedst 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.
11And 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.
12I will declare thy righteousness and thy works, and they shall not profit thee.
13When 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.
14And he shall say, Cast up, cast up: prepare the way: take up the stumbling blocks out of the way of my people.
15For 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.
16For I will not contend forever: neither will I be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before me: and I have made the breath.
17For 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.
18I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comfort unto him, and to those that lament him.
19I 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.
20But the wicked are like the raging sea, that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.