¹The righteous person perishes,

and no one takes it to heart.

Loyal people are gathered together,

and no one understands that because of evil

the righteous one passed away.

²They will find peace;

those who walk in straight paths

will find rest on their burial beds.

Accusations against idolators

³Come here, you children of sorcery,

offspring of adultery and prostitution!

⁴Whom are you mocking?

Against whom do you open your mouth wide

and stick out your tongue?

Aren’t you children of rebellion, offspring of lies,

⁵who console yourselves with idols under every green tree,

who slaughter children in the valleys, under the rocky cliffs?

⁶You belong with the smooth talkers in the valley;[#57.6 Or smooth things]

they, they are your lot.

For them you poured out a drink offering,

and presented a grain offering.

Should I condone these things?

⁷On a very high mountain you made your bed.

You went up there to offer a sacrifice.

⁸Behind the door and the doorpost

you placed your symbols.

You abandoned me and lay down,

making room in your bed

and making deals for yourself with them.

You loved their bed;

you saw their nakedness.

⁹You went down to Molech with oil,[#57.9 Or the king]

and you slathered on your ointments;

you sent your messengers far away,

sent them down to the underworld.

¹⁰Worn out by all your efforts,

yet you wouldn’t say, “This is useless.”

You found new strength;

therefore, you weren’t tired.

¹¹Whom did you dread and fear so that you lied,

didn’t remember me or give me a thought?

Isn’t it because I was silent and closed my eyes

that you stopped fearing me?

¹²I will bring evidence about your righteousness and your actions;

they won’t help you.

¹³When you cry out,

let those things you’ve gathered save you!

The wind will lift them all;

one breath will take them away.

but those taking refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.

Peace for the remorseful

¹⁴It will be said: “Survey, survey; build a road!

Remove barriers from my people’s road!”

¹⁵The one who is high and lifted up,

who lives forever, whose name is holy, says:

I live on high, in holiness,

and also with the crushed and the lowly,

reviving the spirit of the lowly,

reviving the heart of those who have been crushed.

¹⁶I won’t always accuse,

nor will I be enraged forever.

It is my own doing that their spirit is exhausted—

I gave them breath!

¹⁷I was enraged about their illegal profits;

I struck them; in rage I withdrew from them.

Yet they went on wandering wherever they wanted.

¹⁸I have seen their ways, but I will heal them.

I will guide them,

And for those who mourn,

¹⁹I will create reason for praise:[#57.19 Heb uncertain]

utter prosperity to those far and near,

and I will heal them, says the LORD .

²⁰But the wicked are like the churning sea that can’t keep still.

They churn up from their waters muck and mud.

²¹There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.