The judge ¹  may sentence him to forty blows, ²  but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite ³  with contempt.

When the Most High ¹  gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, ²  he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly. ³ 

The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people ¹  and allowed no one who breathed to live.

He told the judges, “Be careful what you do, ¹  for you are not judging for men, but for the Lord, who will be with you when you make judicial decisions.

But ¹  Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for ²  skin! ³  Indeed, a man will give up ⁴  all that he has to save his life! ⁵ 

For he ¹  is not a human being like I am, that ²  I might answer him, that we might come ³  together in judgment.

If a man dies, will he live again? ¹  All the days of my hard service ²  I will wait ³  until my release comes. ⁴ 

You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks ¹  of men; ²  you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks. ³ 

Your justice is like the highest mountains, ¹  your fairness like the deepest sea; you preserve ²  mankind and the animal kingdom. ³ 

You severely discipline people for their sins; ¹  like a moth you slowly devour their strength. ²  Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)

A psalm by Asaph. El, God, the Lord ²  speaks, and summons the earth to come from the east and west. ³ 

Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. ¹  When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air. ² 

Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, ¹  or like vinegar poured on soda, ²  so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. ³ 

There is a generation whose teeth are like ¹  swords ²  and whose molars ³  are like knives to devour ⁴  the poor from the earth and the needy from among the human race.

Next, I decided to consider ¹  wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas. ²  For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king ³  has already done?

Whatever has happened was foreordained, ¹  and what happens to a person ²  was also foreknown. It is useless for him to argue with God about his fate because God is more powerful than he is. ³ 

This alone have I discovered: God made humankind upright, but they have sought many evil schemes.

They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. ¹  For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea. ² 

The Lord who commands armies planned it – to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty, ¹  to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.

Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people – an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹  Wise men will have nothing to say, the sages will have no explanations.” ²