before the Lord, for he comes! For he comes to judge the earth! He judges the world fairly, and the nations in accordance with his justice.

May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, for I trust in you. Show me the way I should go, because I long for you.

So I loathed life because what happens on earth seems awful to me; for all the benefits of wisdom are futile – like chasing the wind.

For he does not think much about the fleeting days of his life because God keeps him preoccupied with the joy he derives from his activity.

But whoever is among the living has hope; a live dog is better than a dead lion.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything; they have no further reward – and even the memory of them disappears.

So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many – all that is about to come is obscure.

Indeed, O Lord, you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. For diviners from the east are everywhere; they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. Plenty of foreigners are around.

Jerusalem certainly stumbles, Judah falls, for their words and their actions offend the Lord; they rebel against his royal authority.

For he says: “By my strong hand I have accomplished this, by my strategy that I devised. I invaded the territory of nations, and looted their storehouses. Like a mighty conqueror, I brought down rulers.

Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines, just because the club that beat you has been broken! For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root, and its fruit will be a darting adder.

Here is a message about Moab: Indeed, in a night it is devastated, Ar of Moab is destroyed! Indeed, in a night it is devastated, Kir of Moab is destroyed!

For the waters of Nimrim are gone; the grass is dried up, the vegetation has disappeared, and there are no plants.

Indeed, the waters of Dimon are full of blood! Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. A lion will attack the Moabite fugitives and the people left in the land.

When the Moabites plead with all their might at their high places, and enter their temples to pray, their prayers will be ineffective!

For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. Though the breath of tyrants is like a winter rainstorm,

Certainly caraway seed is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin seed. Certainly caraway seed is beaten with a stick, and cumin seed with a flail.

When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning.

They have burned the gods of the nations, for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you – yes, I help you – yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand!