He will build me a house, and I will make his dynasty permanent.

So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.

They settled down in it and built in it a temple to honor you, saying,

All the assembly replied in a loud voice: “We will do just as you have said!

Remember that my life is but a breath, that my eyes will never again see happiness.

“Truly, I know that this is so. But how can a human be just before God?

My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.

Its back has rows of shields, shut up closely together as with a seal;

Certainly you are not a God who approves of evil; evil people cannot dwell with you.

Certainly you reward the godly, Lord. Like a shield you protect them in your good favor.

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

The watery deep covered it like a garment; the waters reached above the mountains.

When Israel left Egypt, when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind,

The wicked lay a trap for me, but I do not wander from your precepts.

The wicked person earns deceitful wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a genuine reward.

The scorner seeks wisdom but finds none, but understanding is easy for a discerning person.

and your poverty will come like a bandit, and your need like an armed robber.”

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you yourself also be like him.

Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own estimation.

A servant cannot be corrected by words, for although he understands, there is no answer.