1See how the just man has perished, and no one lays it to heart: and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers: for the righteous has been removed out of the way of injustice.

2His burial shall be in peace: he has been removed out of the way.

3But draw you⌃ near hither, you⌃ lawless children, the seed of adulterers and the harlot.

4Wherein have you⌃ been rioting? and against whom have you⌃ opened your mouth, and against whom have you⌃ loosed your tongue? are you⌃ not children of perdition? a lawless seed?

5who call upon idols under the leafy trees, slaying ¹³⁸your children in the valleys among the rocks?

6That is your portion, this is your lot: and to them have you poured forth drink-offerings, and to these have you offered meat-offerings. Shall I not therefore be angry for these things?

7On a lofty and high mountain, there is your bed, and there you carried up your meat-offerings:

8and behind the posts of your door you did place your memorials. Did you think that if you should depart from me, you would gain? you have loved those that lay with you;

9and you have multiplied your whoredom with them, and you have increased the number of them that are far from you, and have sent ambassadors beyond your borders, and have been debased even to hell.

10You have wearied yourself with your many ways; yet you said not, I will cease to strengthen myself: for you have done these things; therefore you have not supplicated me.

11Through dread of whom have you feared, and lied against me, and has not remembered, nor ¹³⁹considered me, nor regarded me, yes, though when I see you I pass you by, yet you have not feared me.

12And I will declare your righteousness, and your sins, which shall not profit you.

13When you cry out, let them deliver you in your affliction: for all these the wind shall take, and the tempest shall carry them away: but they that cleave to me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.

14And they shall say, ¹⁴⁰Clear the ways before him, and take up the stumbling blocks out of the way of my people.

15Thus says the Most High, who dwells on high for ever, ¹⁴¹Holy in the holies, is his name, the Most High resting in the holies, and giving patience to the faint-hearted, and giving life to the broken-hearted:

16I will not take vengeance on you for ever, neither will I be always angry with you: for my Spirit shall go forth from me, and I have created all breath.

17On account of sin for a little while I grieved him, and struck him, and turned away my face from him; and he was grieved, and he went on sorrowful in his ways.

18I have seen his ways, and healed him, and comforted him, and given him true comfort;

19peace upon peace to them that are far off, and to them that are near: and the Lord has said, I will heal them.

20But the unrighteous shall be tossed as troubled waves, and shall not be able to rest.

21There is no ¹⁴²joy to the ungodly, said God.