If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace.
The bloodthirsty hate a man of integrity; and they seek the life of the upright.
The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.
When the wicked increase, sin increases; but the righteous will see their downfall.
Whoever is an accomplice of a thief is an enemy of his own soul. He takes an oath, but dares not testify.
A dishonest man detests the righteous, and the upright in their ways detest the wicked.
There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.”
Who can find a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies.
Her husband is respected in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.
Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.
All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.
Don’t be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth, who does good and doesn’t sin.
Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.
But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn’t fear God.
There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them.
All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.
Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place.
Happy are you, land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.
“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.
When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?
My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.
Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.
Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”
“Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don’t judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.
I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness, a faithful town.’
Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.
Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
Yahweh stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples.
What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel.
It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem;
when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning.
He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!
He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.
Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;
to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox.
They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive!
A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.
From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs. Glory to the righteous! But I said, “I pine away! I pine away! woe is me!” The treacherous have dealt treacherously. Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.
In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith.
The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.
With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see Yahweh’s majesty.
I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off—
who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.
Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.
The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
But the noble devises noble things; and he will continue in noble things.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness; and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field.
The work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is your treasure.
He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil—
he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.
For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us.
A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
and said, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his foot in righteousness? He hands over nations to him, and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow.
Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in Yahweh. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands will wait for his law.”
“I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;
“I have been silent a long time. I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.
It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law, and make it honorable.
Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.
Rain, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it.
I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.
I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.
They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’” Even to him shall men come; and all those who raged against him shall be disappointed.
All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh, and will rejoice!












