Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Continuing: the title, Isaiah 52:1, is the LORD, speaking through Isaiah, calling us, His chosen elect remnant, to awaken to realize our identity and understand the time. “11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness [of ignorance], and let us put on the armor of light [the protection that comes with understanding the truth and the reality of the moment]. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put you on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Romans 13
As we know, “rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness, strife and envying” are speaking of the effects of ignorance on the flesh focused mind. “Flesh” is speaking of not understanding the deeper unseen reality, wherein is realized the power and authority, God’s reign, we are to accept (put on) and exercise, in the LORD’s name.
Isaiah 52
2 Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the LORD, You have sold yourselves for naught; and you shall be redeemed without money.
4 For thus says the LORD God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them to howl, says the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!
8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted [led into His truth] his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
As we know, verse 10 is later spoken of in Isaiah 53:1 in telling of how the arm of the LORD has been revealed, now to all the world. It asks “Who has believed our report?” referring to those who’ve seen it and yet still don’t understand what they’ve witnessed. As we’ve seen and discussed in many previous posts, the word “report” is the Hebrew word shmuw’ah, “something heard, i.e. an announcement.” It is speaking of the voice, of which verse 6 says, “my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I.” What is reported is then described in verse 7, saying. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet [see Zechariah 14:4] of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!” It is this sound doctrine, the report that has come as if a foreign language, not understood by those (the ignorant) who’ve refused it, like a rumor that is not yet confirmed.
These last aspects are referring us to Isaiah 28:9 & 19, Ezekiel 7:26, and Obadiah 1:1 (which is identically stated in Jeremiah 49:14).
Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing [see verse 21 below], shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem [tsphiyrah – a crown] of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine [shmuwah - the report, teaching, the rumor of Ezekiel 7:26 below]? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. 14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 16 Therefore thus says the LORD God Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste. 17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it. 19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report [shmuwah – the sound doctrine, teaching, the rumor of Ezekiel 7:26 below].
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim [2 Samuel 5:20 – as water from His throne, breaking forth upon His enemies], he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon [Joshua 10:10 & 11 – His word reserved {frozen} in heaven, sent as great hailstones upon the wicked], that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD GOD of hosts a consumption [kalah – a full end, as in Daniel 9:27], even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give you ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman plow all day to sow? does he open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he has made plain the face thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26 For his God does instruct him to discretion [misphat – good judgment], and does teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
Ezekiel 7
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Also, you son of man, thus says the LORD God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
3 Now is the end come upon you, and I will send mine anger upon you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense upon you all your abominations.
4 And mine eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense your ways upon you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
5 Thus says the LORD God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
6 An end [qets] is come, the end [qets] is come: it watches [quwts – awakens] for you; behold, it is come.
7 The morning [tsphiyrah – the crown, the crowning of the LORD’s chosen, the man of God, as was David] is come unto you, O you that dwells in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon you, and accomplish mine anger upon you: and I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all your abominations.
9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense you according to your ways and your abominations that are in the midst of you; and you shall know that I am the LORD that smites.
10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning [tsphiyrah – the crowning] is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.
11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
12 The time is come, the day draw near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.
20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor [shmuw’ah – teaching sound doctrine, and reporting truth] shall be upon rumor [shmuw’ah – teaching and reporting that isn’t believed, and the man of God reporting it is still unknown – because of the lies and misleading of those who’ve blinded the world by drunkenness]; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Obadiah
1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the LORD God concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor [shmuw’ah] from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise you, and let us rise up against her in battle.
2 Behold, I have made you small among the heathen: you are greatly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you that dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that says in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
4 Though you exalt yourself as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, thence will I bring you down, says the LORD.
5 If thieves came to you, if robbers by night, (how are you cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some grapes?
6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
7 All the men of your confederacy have brought you even to the border: the men that were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you; they that eat your bread have laid a wound under you: there is none understanding in him.
8 Shall I not in that day, says the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
9 And your mighty men, O Teman [were the wise men of this world are – which is the place of the Theophany], shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau [the enemies mixed among us] may be cut off by slaughter.
10 For your violence against your brother Jacob shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.
11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even you were as one of them.
12 But you should not have looked on the day of your brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
13 You should not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, you should not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;
14 Neither should you have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither should you have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.
15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as you have done, it shall be done unto you: your reward shall return upon your own head.
16 For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau [Edom – the enemies mixed among us] for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD has spoken it.
19 And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines [who were as strangers]; and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim [this second blessing], and the fields of Samaria [where idols were set in God’s place]: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead [the right hand of God, His strength, shall be in this mountain of testimony].
20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites [those zealous in their hate for God’s people], even unto Zarephath [until they melt away in the refiner’s fire]; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad [who were separated from God, by forgetting Him], shall possess the cities of the south.
21 And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.
Jeremiah 49
17 Also Edom [the enemies mixed among us] shall be a desolation: every one that goes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom [burning] and Gomorrah [ruin] and the neighbor cities thereof, says the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Edom [the enemies among us]; and his purposes [machashabah], that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman [the place of the wise men of the world – which is also where the LORD’s power is manifested in their destruction]: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.
21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea [as they are overthrown by the sea, the masses, coming together against them].
22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah [the one flock]: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart [their corrupt minds] of a woman in her pangs.
23 Concerning Damascus [where God’s work and word have been silenced]. Hamath [which is their stronghold] is confounded, and Arpad [the lies they’ve spread over the land]: for they have heard evil tidings [shmuw’ah – they have heard the report, know their time is short, and therefor have sent forth their lie and caused mass delusion]: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea [causing fear and sorrow to cover the masses]; it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turns herself to flee, and fear has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus [what has silenced God’s word], and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad [their idols – the men they’ve listened to instead – the gods of this world].
28 Concerning Kedar [the resulting darkness – ignorance], and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor [observing lies], which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon [the lies of the false prophet, the cause of the confusion now turned delusion, that has caused total desolation] shall smite, thus says the LORD; Arise you, go up to Kedar [to the darkness, to the ignorant], and spoil the men of the east.
29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.
30 Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O you inhabitants of Hazor [who follow lying advice], says the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose [machashabah – has plotted] against you.
31 Arise, get you up [back to work] unto the wealthy nation, that dwells without care, says the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.
32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, says the LORD.
33 And Hazor [the place where they follow the lying advice of false prophets, and are enclosed by it] shall be a dwelling for dragons [whose venom is in their mouths, who devour with the same mouth after they poison minds], and a desolation forever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.
34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam [the evil that has ruled all time, in the age before this time] in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah [the beginning of the reign of Jehovah’s righteousness in those leading His people], saying,
35 Thus saying the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam [the means by which the evil has shot its arrows, the lies and false accusations, throughout history], the chief of their might.
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, says the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
38 And I will set my throne in Elam [here and now, into all eternity after now], and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, says the LORD.
39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, says the LORD.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our report [shmuw’ah – this sound doctrine, that was heard as a rumor – now verified]? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out [‘arah – uncovered – revealed His arm] his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Hebrews 13
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
6 So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Jeremiah 15
19 Therefore thus says the LORD, If you return, then will I bring you again, and you shall stand before me: and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: let them return unto you; but return not you unto them.
20 And I will make you unto this people a fenced brazen wall: and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the LORD.
21 And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.
Revelation 18
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled fill to her double.
7 How much she has glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the LORD God who judges her.
9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is your judgment come.
Ecclesiastes 3
1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit has he that works in that wherein he labors?
10 I have seen the travail, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 He has made every thing beautiful in his time: also he has set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God does, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God does it, that men should fear before him.
15 That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.
16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man has no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knows the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the beast that goes downward to the earth?
22 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
Psalms 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon [confusion], there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
6 If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom [the enemies mixed among us] in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it [destroy it], raze it, even to the foundation thereof.
8 O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewards you as you have served us.
9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dashes your little ones against the stones.
Psalms 138
1 I will praise you with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto you.
2 I will worship toward your holy temple, and praise your name for your lovingkindness and for your truth: for you have magnified your word above all your name.
3 In the day when I cried you answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth.
5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.
6 Though the LORD be high, yet has he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knows afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me: you shall stretch forth your hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and your right hand shall save me.
8 The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: your mercy, O LORD, endures forever: forsake not the works of your own hands.
