“Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth,

Turn aside from the way, stray off the path. Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.”

They are dark because of ice; snow is piled up over them.

Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

They came from Ephraim, who uprooted Amalek, they follow after you, Benjamin, with your soldiers. From Makir leaders came down, from Zebulun came the ones who march carrying an officer’s staff.

“Listen to me, O family of Jacob, all you who are left from the family of Israel, you who have been carried from birth, you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and they come to an end without hope.

“My days are swifter than a runner, they speed by without seeing happiness.

He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows into the light.

As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up,

my face is reddened because of weeping, and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,

But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

But it was he who filled their houses with good things – yet the counsel of the wicked was far from me.

They detest me and maintain their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

My skin has turned dark on me; my body is hot with fever.

He spares a person’s life from corruption, his very life from crossing over the river.

to turn back his life from the place of corruption, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

You made us retreat from the enemy. Those who hate us take whatever they want from us.

Our record of sins overwhelms me, but you forgive our acts of rebellion.

I will sing a song that imparts wisdom; I will make insightful observations about the past.