I also know that whatever God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken away from it. God has made it this way, so that men will fear him.

During the days of my fleeting life ¹  I have seen both ²  of these things: Sometimes ³  a righteous person dies prematurely ⁴  in spite of ⁵  his righteousness, and sometimes ⁶  a wicked person lives long ⁷  in spite of his evil deeds.

Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea ¹  says this, O fortress of the sea: “I have not gone into labor or given birth; I have not raised young men or brought up young women.” ² 

¹ Certainly you must have heard! ²  Long ago I worked it out, in ancient times I planned ³  it, and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins. ⁴ 

“Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor ¹  David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your life,

you whom I am bringing back ¹  from the earth’s extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions – I told you, “You are my servant.” I have chosen you and not rejected you.

¹ “Here is my servant whom I support, my chosen one in whom I take pleasure. I have placed my spirit on him; he will make just decrees ²  for the nations. ³ 

Even when you are old, I will take care of you, ¹  even when you have gray hair, I will carry you. I made you and I will support you; I will carry you and rescue you. ² 

This is what your sovereign master, ¹  the Lord your God, says: “Look, I have removed from your hand the cup of intoxicating wine, ²  the goblet full of my anger. ³  You will no longer have to drink it.

I will put it into the hand of your tormentors ¹  who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’ You made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walked over you.”

“I have stomped grapes in the winepress all by myself; no one from the nations joined me. I stomped on them ¹  in my anger; I trampled them down in my rage. Their juice splashed on my garments, and stained ²  all my clothes.

“I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; ¹  I appeared to those who did not look for me. ²  I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’ to a nation that did not invoke ³  my name.

Hear this, you peoples of the earth: ¹  ‘Take note! ²  I am about to bring disaster on these people. It will come as punishment for their scheming. ³  For they have paid no attention to what I have said, ⁴  and they have rejected my law.

The Lord says, “I have rejected them because ¹  the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. ²  They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple ³  which I have claimed for my own ⁴  and have defiled it.

“I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ¹ 

I said, ¹  “Oh, mother, how I regret ²  that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. ³  I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.” ⁴ 

“Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ¹  ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, ²  my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! ³ 

But I have not pestered you to bring disaster. ¹  I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation. ²  You know that. You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken. ³ 

While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. ¹  But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.” That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. ²  Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.

Why do you complain about your injuries, that your pain is incurable? I have done all this to you because your wickedness is so great and your sin is so much.