1The righteous one has perished, and no one takes it to heart. And kind men are taken away, while no one understands that the righteous one is taken away from the presence of evil,

2he enters into peace. They who walk in integrity rest on their beds.

3“But come here, you sons of the sorceress, you offspring of the adulterer and the whore!

4Against whom are you sporting? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood,

5being inflamed with mighty ones under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

6“Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion; they, they, are your lot! Also to them you have poured a drink offering, you have offered a grain offering. Am I comforted in these?

7“On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. There, too, you went up to make an offering.

8“Also behind the doors and their posts you have set up your remembrance. For you have departed from Me, and have gone up to them. You have made your bed wide and made a covenant with them. You have loved their bed, where you saw their hand.

9“And you went to the sovereign with ointment, and increased your perfumes. And you sent your messengers far off, and lowered yourself even to the grave.

10“You have wearied yourselves with your many wanderings, yet you did not say, ‘I give up!’ You have found the life of your hand, therefore you were not grieved.

11“And of whom have you been afraid, or feared, that you have lied and not remembered Me, nor taken it to your heart? Have I not been silent, even from of old, and you have not feared Me?

12“Let Me declare your righteousness and your works, for they do not profit you.

13“When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind shall bear them all away, a breath take them. But he who takes refuge in Me shall inherit the land, and possess My set-apart mountain.”

14And one shall say, “Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the way, take the stumbling-block out of the way of My people.”

15For thus declares the high and exalted One who dwells forever, whose Name is set-apart, “I dwell in the high and set-apart place, with him who has a bruised and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of bruised ones.

16“For I would not strive forever, nor am I wroth forever, for the spirit would grow faint before Me, even the beings I have made.

17“For the crookedness of his unfair gain I was wroth and I smote him. I hid Myself and was wroth, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.

18“I have seen his ways, but now I heal him, and I lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners,

19creating the fruit of the lips: peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,” said יהוה, “and I shall heal him.”

20But the wrong are like the troubled sea, for it is unable to rest, and its waters cast up mud and dirt.

21“There is no peace,” said my Elohim, “for the wrong.”