“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”^[a](I)

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?”^[b](J)

This man’s utterance to Ithiel:

“I am weary, God,
    but I can prevail.^[a]
2 Surely I am only a brute, not a man;
    I do not have human understanding.
³ I have not learned wisdom,
    nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One.^(B)
4 Who has gone up^(C) to heaven and come down?
    Whose hands^(D) have gathered up the wind?
Who has wrapped up the waters^(E) in a cloak?^(F)
    Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name,^(G) and what is the name of his son?
    Surely you know!

⁵ “Every word of God is flawless;^(H)
    he is a shield^(I) to those who take refuge in him.
⁶ Do not add^(J) to his words,
    or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

⁷ “Two things I ask of you, Lord;
    do not refuse me before I die:
⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
    give me neither poverty nor riches,
    but give me only my daily bread.^(K)
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown^(L) you
    and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’^(M)
Or I may become poor and steal,
    and so dishonor the name of my God.^(N)

¹⁰ “Do not slander a servant to their master,
    or they will curse you, and you will pay for it.

¹¹ “There are those who curse their fathers
    and do not bless their mothers;^(O)
12 those who are pure in their own eyes^(P)
    and yet are not cleansed of their filth;^(Q)
13 those whose eyes are ever so haughty,^(R)
    whose glances are so disdainful;
¹⁴ those whose teeth^(S) are swords
    and whose jaws are set with knives^(T)
to devour^(U) the poor^(V) from the earth
    and the needy from among mankind.^(W)

¹⁵ “The leech has two daughters.
    ‘Give! Give!’ they cry.

“There are three things that are never satisfied,^(X)
    four that never say, ‘Enough!’:
¹⁶ the grave,^(Y) the barren womb,
    land, which is never satisfied with water,
    and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’

¹⁷ “The eye that mocks^(Z) a father,
    that scorns an aged mother,
will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley,
    will be eaten by the vultures.^(AA)

¹⁸ “There are three things that are too amazing for me,
    four that I do not understand:
¹⁹ the way of an eagle in the sky,
    the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
    and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰ “This is the way of an adulterous woman:
    She eats and wipes her mouth
    and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’^(AB)

²¹ “Under three things the earth trembles,
    under four it cannot bear up:
²² a servant who becomes king,^(AC)
    a godless fool who gets plenty to eat,
²³ a contemptible woman who gets married,
    and a servant who displaces her mistress.

²⁴ “Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer;^(AD)
26 hyraxes^(AE) are creatures of little power,
    yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts^(AF) have no king,
    yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

²⁹ “There are three things that are stately in their stride,
    four that move with stately bearing:
³⁰ a lion, mighty among beasts,
    who retreats before nothing;
³¹ a strutting rooster, a he-goat,
    and a king secure against revolt.^[b]

³² “If you play the fool and exalt yourself,
    or if you plan evil,
    clap your hand over your mouth!^(AG)
33 For as churning cream produces butter,
    and as twisting the nose produces blood,
    so stirring up anger produces strife.”

⁶ I have posted watchmen^(O) on your walls, Jerusalem;
    they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the Lord,
    give yourselves no rest,^(P)
7 and give him no rest^(Q) till he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes her the praise^(R) of the earth.

⁸ The Lord has sworn^(S) by his right hand
    and by his mighty arm:
“Never again will I give your grain^(T)
    as food for your enemies,
and never again will foreigners drink the new wine
    for which you have toiled;
⁹ but those who harvest it will eat^(U) it
    and praise the Lord,^(V)
and those who gather the grapes will drink it
    in the courts of my sanctuary.”^(W)

¹⁰ Pass through, pass through the gates!^(X)
    Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!^(Y)
    Remove the stones.
Raise a banner^(Z) for the nations.

¹¹ The Lord has made proclamation
    to the ends of the earth:^(AA)
“Say to Daughter Zion,^(AB)
    ‘See, your Savior comes!^(AC)
See, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense accompanies him.’”^(AD)
12 They will be called^(AE) the Holy People,^(AF)
    the Redeemed^(AG) of the Lord;
and you will be called Sought After,
    the City No Longer Deserted.^(AH)

“It is I, proclaiming victory,
    mighty to save.”^(AM)

² Why are your garments red,
    like those of one treading the winepress?^(AN)

³ “I have trodden the winepress^(AO) alone;
    from the nations no one was with me.
I trampled^(AP) them in my anger
    and trod them down in my wrath;^(AQ)
their blood spattered my garments,^(AR)
    and I stained all my clothing.
⁴ It was for me the day of vengeance;^(AS)
    the year for me to redeem had come.
⁵ I looked, but there was no one^(AT) to help,
    I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm^(AU) achieved salvation for me,
    and my own wrath sustained me.^(AV)
6 I trampled^(AW) the nations in my anger;
    in my wrath I made them drunk^(AX)
    and poured their blood^(AY) on the ground.”

¹¹ Then his people recalled^[d] the days of old,
    the days of Moses and his people—
where is he who brought them through the sea,^(BN)
    with the shepherd of his flock?^(BO)
Where is he who set
    his Holy Spirit^(BP) among them,
¹² who sent his glorious arm^(BQ) of power
    to be at Moses’ right hand,
who divided the waters^(BR) before them,
    to gain for himself everlasting renown,^(BS)
13 who led^(BT) them through the depths?^(BU)
Like a horse in open country,
    they did not stumble;^(BV)
14 like cattle that go down to the plain,
    they were given rest^(BW) by the Spirit of the Lord.
This is how you guided your people
    to make for yourself a glorious name.

¹⁵ Look down from heaven^(BX) and see,
    from your lofty throne,^(BY) holy and glorious.
Where are your zeal^(BZ) and your might?
    Your tenderness and compassion^(CA) are withheld^(CB) from us.
¹⁶ But you are our Father,^(CC)
    though Abraham does not know us
    or Israel acknowledge^(CD) us;
you, Lord, are our Father,
    our Redeemer^(CE) from of old is your name.
¹⁷ Why, Lord, do you make us wander^(CF) from your ways
    and harden our hearts^(CG) so we do not revere^(CH) you?
Return^(CI) for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes that are your inheritance.^(CJ)
18 For a little while^(CK) your people possessed your holy place,
    but now our enemies have trampled^(CL) down your sanctuary.^(CM)
19 We are yours from of old;
    but you have not ruled over them,
    they have not been called^[e] by your name.^(CN)

64 ^[f]Oh, that you would rend the heavens^(CO) and come down,^(CP)
    that the mountains^(CQ) would tremble before you!
² As when fire sets twigs ablaze
    and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name^(CR) known to your enemies
    and cause the nations to quake^(CS) before you!
³ For when you did awesome^(CT) things that we did not expect,
    you came down, and the mountains trembled^(CU) before you.
⁴ Since ancient times no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,^(CV)
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.^(CW)
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,^(CX)
    who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
    you were angry.^(CY)
    How then can we be saved?
⁶ All of us have become like one who is unclean,^(CZ)
    and all our righteous^(DA) acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,^(DB)
    and like the wind our sins sweep us away.^(DC)
7 No one^(DD) calls on your name^(DE)
    or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden^(DF) your face from us
    and have given us over^(DG) to^[g] our sins.

⁸ Yet you, Lord, are our Father.^(DH)
    We are the clay, you are the potter;^(DI)
    we are all the work of your hand.^(DJ)
9 Do not be angry^(DK) beyond measure, Lord;
    do not remember our sins^(DL) forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
    for we are all your people.^(DM)
10 Your sacred cities^(DN) have become a wasteland;
    even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.^(DO)
11 Our holy and glorious temple,^(DP) where our ancestors praised you,
    has been burned with fire,
    and all that we treasured^(DQ) lies in ruins.
¹² After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back?^(DR)
    Will you keep silent^(DS) and punish us beyond measure?