¹The righteous perish,

and no one lays it to heart .

Merciful men are taken away ,

and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil .

²He enters into peace .

They rest in their beds ,

each one who walks in his uprightness .

³“But draw near here , you sons of a sorceress ,

you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes .

⁴Whom do you mock?

Against whom do you make a wide mouth

and stick out your tongue ?

Aren’t you children of disobedience

and offspring of falsehood ,

⁵you who inflame yourselves amongst the oaks,

under every green tree ;

who kill the children in the valleys ,

under the clefts of the rocks ?

⁶Amongst the smooth stones of the valley is your portion .

They , they are your lot .

You have even poured a drink offering to them .

You have offered an offering .

Shall I be appeased for these things ?

⁷On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed .

You also went up there to offer sacrifice .

⁸You have set up your memorial behind the doors and the posts ,

for you have exposed yourself to someone besides me ,

and have gone up .

You have enlarged your bed

and made you a covenant with them .

You loved what you saw on their bed .

⁹You went to the king with oil ,

increased your perfumes ,

sent your ambassadors far off ,

and degraded yourself even to Sheol .

¹⁰You were wearied with the length of your ways ;

yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’

You found a reviving of your strength ;

therefore you weren’t faint .

¹¹“Whom have you dreaded and feared ,

so that you lie ,

and have not remembered me , nor laid it to your heart ?

Haven’t I held my peace for a long time ,

and you don’t fear me ?

¹²I will declare your righteousness ;

and as for your works , they will not benefit you .

¹³When you cry ,

let those whom you have gathered deliver you ,

but the wind will take them .

A breath will carry them all away ,

but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land,

and will inherit my holy mountain .”

¹⁴He will say, “Build up , build up , prepare the way !

Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people .”

¹⁵For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity ,

whose name is Holy , says :

“I dwell in the high and holy place , with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit ,

to revive the spirit of the humble ,

and to revive the heart of the contrite .

¹⁶For I will not contend forever , neither will I always be angry ;

for the spirit would faint before me ,

and the souls whom I have made .

¹⁷I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness and struck him .

I hid myself and was angry ;

and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart .

¹⁸I have seen his ways , and will heal him .

I will lead him also,

and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

¹⁹I create the fruit of the lips :

Peace , peace , to him who is far off and to him who is near ,”

says the LORD ; “and I will heal them .”

²⁰But the wicked are like the troubled sea ;

for it can ’t rest and its waters cast up mire and mud .

²¹“There is no peace ”, says my God,

“for the wicked .”