Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! ¹  How faint is the whisper ²  we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

His words are as smooth as butter, ¹  but he harbors animosity in his heart. ²  His words seem softer than oil, but they are really like sharp swords. ³ 

I cry out to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my shelter, my security ¹  in the land of the living.”

Who really knows if the human spirit ¹  ascends upward, and the animal’s spirit descends into the earth?

So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? ¹  And what advantage ²  does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? ³ 

yet a fool keeps on babbling. ¹  No one knows what will happen; who can tell him what will happen in the future? ² 

Is this really your boisterous city ¹  whose origins are in the distant past, ²  and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. ¹  Do you really think you will be rescued? ² 

Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, ¹  for a god that cannot help them at all! ² 

You must change ¹  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ² 

You steal. ¹  You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to ²  other gods whom you have not previously known.

But I am not really the one being troubled!” ¹  says the Lord. “Rather they are bringing trouble on themselves to their own shame! ² 

Your wise men will be put to shame. They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. ¹  Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom do they really have?

You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ¹  They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²  They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you. ³ 

They will lay it waste. It will lie parched ¹  and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed. ² 

“Do you really think anyone can hide himself where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks. ¹  “Do you not know that I am everywhere?” ²  the Lord asks. ³ 

So, now the Lord says, ¹  ‘You have not listened to me. But ²  you have made me angry by the things that you have done. ³  Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

Because he considered ¹  and turned from all the sins he had done, he will surely live; he will not die.

“Are you willing to pronounce judgment? ¹  Are you willing to pronounce judgment, son of man? Then confront them with the abominable practices of their fathers,

But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, ¹  because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.