Study Desk

For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous,So that the righteous would not send forth their hands in unrighteousness.

So that you will walk in the way of good menAnd keep to the paths of the righteous.

The fear of Yahweh leads to life,So that one may sleep satisfied, not visited by evil.

So that your trust may be in Yahweh,I have made you know today, even you.

I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with gladness, so that you shall see good things." And behold, it too was vanity.

For to a man who is good before Him, He has given wisdom and knowledge and gladness, while to the sinner He has given the endeavor of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good before God. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

a man to whom God gives riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God does not empower him to eat from them, for a foreigner eats from them. This is vanity and a sickening evil.

Also, do not give your heart to all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your slave cursing you.

Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field,Until there is no more room,So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people),

So as to turn the poor away from their causeAnd rob the afflicted of My people of their justice,So that widows may be their spoilAnd that they may plunder the orphans.

Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied to destruction within them;And I will confuse their counsel,So that they will seek idols and ghosts of the deadAnd to mediums and spiritists.

The city of chaos is broken down;Every house is shut up so that none may enter.

He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly;He who rejects greedy gain of oppression,And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshedAnd shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;

Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a report and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."'"

So the craftsman strengthens the smelter,And he who smooths metal with the hammer strengthens him who beats the anvil,Saying of the soldering, "It is good";And he strengthens it with nails,So that it will not be shaken.

"You are My witnesses," declares Yahweh,"And My servant whom I have chosen,So that you may know and believe MeAnd understand that I am He.Before Me there was no god formed,And there will be none after Me.

Those who form a graven image are all of them futile, and their desirable things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.

Another crafts wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with a stylus. He makes it with planes and outlines it with a compass and makes it like the form of a man, like the glory of man, so that it may sit in a house.