Chapter 57

  The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth [it] to heart: and merciful men [are] taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil [to come].  

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  He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, [each one] walking [in] his uprightness.  

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  But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.  

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  Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, [and] draw out the tongue? [are] ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,  

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  Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?  

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  Among the smooth [stones] of the stream [is] thy portion; they, they [are] thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these?  

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  Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.  

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  Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered [thyself to another] than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee [a covenant] with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest [it].  

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  And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase [thyself even] unto hell.  

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  Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; [yet] saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.  

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  And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid [it] to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?  

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  I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.  

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  When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take [them]: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;  

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  And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.  

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  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name [is] Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.  

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  For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls [which] I have made.  

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  For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.  

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  I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.  

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  I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to [him that is] far off, and to [him that is] near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.  

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  But the wicked [are] like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.  

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  [There is] no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.  

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