I have spoken once, but I cannot answer; twice, but I will say no more.” ¹ 

I can see the evildoers! They have fallen! ¹  They have been knocked down and are unable to get up! ² 

Indeed, ¹  you are ²  my shelter, a strong tower that protects me from the enemy. ³ 

I will think about all you have done; I will reflect upon your deeds!”

The lips of the wise spread ¹  knowledge, but not so the heart of fools. ² 

There is no wisdom and there is no understanding, and there is no counsel against ¹  the Lord. ² 

Who forms a god and casts an idol that will prove worthless? ¹ 

Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. ¹  Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it. ² 

נ (Nun) My sins are bound around my neck like a yoke; ¹  they are fastened together by his hand. He has placed his yoke ²  on my neck; ³  he has sapped my strength. ⁴  The Lord ⁵  has handed me over ⁶  to those whom I cannot resist.

Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! ¹  His appetite ²  is as big as Sheol’s; ³  like death, he is never satisfied. He gathers ⁴  all the nations; he seizes ⁵  all peoples.

“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. ¹ 

The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made ¹  of gold, silver, ²  bronze, stone, and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk about.

But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!’”

He gives back the ill-gotten gain ¹  without assimilating it; ²  he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. ³ 

For all day long ¹  his work produces pain and frustration, ²  and even at night his mind cannot relax! ³  This also is futile!

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 

Now they come into being, ¹  not in the past; before today you did not hear about them, so you could not say, ‘Yes, ²  I know about them.’

I take no delight ¹  when they offer up to me ²  frankincense that comes from Sheba or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land. I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me. I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’ ³ 

Then those living in the towns of Judah and in Jerusalem will ¹  go and cry out for help to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. However, those gods will by no means ²  be able to save them when disaster strikes them.