1 T he 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.

2 H e 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.

4 W hom 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,

5 y ou who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

6 A mong 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?

7 O n a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.

8 Y ou 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.

9 Y ou went to the king with oil, and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol.

10 Y ou 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?

12 I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you.

13 W hen 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.”

14 H e will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way! Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.”

15 F or thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “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.

16 F or I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.

17 I 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.

18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

19 I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says Yahweh; “and I will heal them.”

20 B ut 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.”