1The righteous one perishes, and no one takes it to heart; men of loyal love are gathered away, with no one understanding that it is from before the evil that the righteous is gathered away.
2He enters into peace; they rest upon their beds — each one walking in his uprightness.
3But you, draw near here, sons of a sorceress, offspring of an adulterer and a whore.
4Against whom do you make merry? Against whom do you widen the mouth and stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood —
5you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter the children in the wadis, under the clefts of the rocks?
6Among the smooth stones of the wadi is your portion; they, they are your lot. To them also you have poured out a drink offering, you have brought up a grain offering. Should I relent over these?
7Upon a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed; there too you went up to offer sacrifice.
8And behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your memorial. For, deserting me, you uncovered yourself and went up; you made your bed wide and cut a bargain for yourself with them; you loved their bed — you gazed on the phallus.
9You journeyed to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far off and debased yourself down to Sheol.
10With the length of your way you grew weary, yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless.’ You found the life of your hand; therefore you did not grow faint.
11Whom did you dread and fear, that you should deal falsely and not remember me, not lay it to your heart? Was I not silent, even from of old — and so you did not fear me?
12I myself will declare your righteousness — and your deeds, they will not profit you.
13When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! But a wind will carry them all off, a breath will take them away. Yet the one who takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.
14And it will be said, ‘Build up, build up, clear the way, remove the obstacle from the way of my people.’
15For thus says the exalted and lofty One, who dwells forever, and whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the crushed.’
16For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breaths I myself have made.
17Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid myself and was angry, yet he went on turning away in the way of his own heart.
18I have seen his ways, yet I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
19creating the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to the far and to the near, says Yahweh, and I will heal him.
20But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be still, and its waters churn up mire and mud.
21‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’
Open in the interactive reader →Where this passage connects across Scripture — each link typed and reasoned, part of the AIT Bible Nexus Chart.