Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
The above, Ecclesiastes 8:11, is from a chapter wherein Solomon tells of the wise knowing the interpretation of a thing, discerning both time and judgment. The Hebrew word, rendered “interpretation” in verse 1, is pesher, which only appears this once. It’s from the word pathar, “a primitive root; to open up, i.e. (figuratively) interpret (a dream).” It (pathar) is used nine times, in Genesis 40 & 41, all speaking of Joseph’s (God-given) ability to “interpret” dreams.
The Chaldee (Aramaic) equivalents are two identical words, pshar, one appearing thirty-two times, the other only once. The LORD directs us to the once used form, in Daniel 5:16, where the other twice appears giving us the understanding of (Daniel) God’s judgment as what crowns His chosen king, as Joseph (who is the true origin of the Davidic king line) was crowned. As also here much discussed, Daniel’s wisdom (in Daniel 12) extends to giving the formula identifying the time (as now) of our awakening from “deep sleep.”
Daniel 5
14 I have even heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in you.
15 And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation [pshar] thereof: but they could not show the interpretation [pshar] of the thing:
16 And I have heard of you, that thou can make [pshar] interpretations [pshar], and dissolve doubts: now if thou can read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation [pshar] thereof, thou shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation [pshar].
Genesis 41
8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret [pathar] them unto Pharaoh.
9 Then spoke the chief butler [the cupbearer and door keeper] unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day [he remembered the vow he vowed – see Jonah 2:8 & 9, His vow – to call the ignorant to repentance, and Peter’s vow, in John 21, to feed the LORD’s flock]:
10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker:
11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation [pathar] of his dream.
12 And there was there with us a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted [pathar] to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret [pathar].
13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.
14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret [pathar] it: and I have heard say of you, that thou can understand a dream to interpret [pathar] it.
16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
Isaiah 27
5 Or let him take hold of my strength [God-given understanding], that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
7 Has he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
8 In measure, when it shoots forth, you will debate with it: he stays his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
10 Yet the defensed city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.
12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off [the fruit] from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria [at the hand of the communists among us], and the outcasts in the land of Egypt [under the hand of oppression – under a Pharaoh who doesn’t know Joseph], and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Genesis 41
30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine [for hearing the word of God]; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.
32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 22
21 And I will clothe [labash] him with your robe, and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will commit your government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
24 And they shall hang upon him [they shall put their trust in Him] all the glory of his father’s [David’s] house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
25 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened [what they have, in vain, put their trust] in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD has spoken it.
Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who is as the wise man? and who knows the interpretation [pesher] of a thing? a man’s wisdom makes his face [paniym – the LORD’s presence in him] to shine, and the boldness [‘oz – power and strength] of his face [paniym – of the LORD’s presence] shall be changed [shana – be brought into understanding].
2 I counsel you to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he does whatsoever pleases him.
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What does thou?
5 Whoso keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
7 For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
8 There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man rules over another to his own hurt.
10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he fears not before God.
14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.
16 When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes:)
17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
The Hebrew word shana, meaning “to alter,” rendered “changed” in verse 1 above, is there speaking of the wise changed as the LORD’s presence is seen shining through them. It (shana) only appears two other times; in 2 Kings 25:29 telling of when Jehoiachin (Jehovah will establish) is “taken from prison,” and “changed” his prison garments; and Lamentations 4:1 when speaking of the “sons of Zion” are (negatively) “changed,” as gold become dim (not shining God glorious presence).
2 Kings 25
26 And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt [willingly submitted to the oppression of this time] : for they were afraid of the Chaldees [those who used the deceptive words to, by fear and panic, manipulate and control God’s people].
27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin [who Jehovah will establish] king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon [the man of vison – in the confusion, mass delusion, that ruled the world] in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin [who Jehovah has established] king of Judah out of prison [this depicts, patterns, Joseph’s coming from prison, as the savior, as foretold in Isaiah 53:8, when the report, shmuw’ah, is believed and understood to be the arm of the LORD revealed, made bare before all the world];
28 And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;
29 And changed [shana] his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.
30 And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.
Isaiah 53
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 thou 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 his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
When the chief butler’s head is lifted, when he was freed from prison as Joseph foretold, all Joseph asked was that he make mention of him, to bring him out of prison. He didn’t keep his vow until several years later, after Pharaoh had his vision of the dearth (as did Evilmerodach).
The word mar’eh, meaning “view (the act of seeing); also an appearance (the thing seen), whether (real) a shape (especially if handsome, comeliness; often plural the looks), or (mental) a vision,” is part of the name Evil-merodach. It’s the word used five times in Genesis 41, rendered “favored,” in describing the appearance of the ill-favored and well-favored kine. When Pharaoh has this vision, mar’eh is used a final time, just before he awakens, he speaks of after the ill-favored (‘ra – here in verse 20, meaning evil) kine ate the seven fat (prosperous) kine. It says (in verse 21) after they had eaten, it couldn’t be known (they remained ignorant), and they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning.
In a pattern, this tells of communism’s outcome, when after prosperity, they (the communists) come to consume it. The end isn’t the ill-favored become prosperous, but rather prosperity is consumed and the ill-favored (the evil destroyers) remain ignorant and just as evil (ill-favored – with the same evil eye, lacking vision, blindly searching for the next victims to consume).
From the post of 26 November 2019:
He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
As we have seen in many previous posts, the title is the final verse of Psalms 110, a Psalm describing the time before the conclusion, of which this last verse speaks. The head spoken of is the one who comes in the order of Melchisedec, who comes as the rod (Branch) of the LORD’s strength. It is he that drinks from the book in way, which is the word of God that is His judgment and brings us to this end, lifting up the head.
Psalms 110
1 The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The LORD at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
In the context of recent studies, lifting up the head is referring us to Genesis 40 and is speaking of lifting the head that will bring Joseph out of prison to the throne. This one is the “chief butler,” from the Hebrew word mashqeh, who is also the “cupbearer” the queen of the south (Sheba) sees, just before she sees the “ascent by which he [the son of David] went up unto the house of the LORD.”
Solomon and Shiloh, meaning peaceful and tranquility, both seem to be from the Hebrew word shalam, from which also comes the word Salem, as in Jerusalem, and the prince of Salem, the prince of peace, Melchisedec, who is Christ, the son of man. The word shalam also means to complete, as in what makes perfect, the point without need of any further preparation.
Here is the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary definition: #7999: shalam (pronounced shaw-lam’) a primitive root; to be safe (in mind, body or estate); figuratively, to be (causatively, make) completed; by implication, to be friendly; by extension, to reciprocate (in various applications):–make amends, (make an) end, finish, full, give again, make good, (re-)pay (again), (make) (to) (be at) peace(-able), that is perfect, perform, (make) prosper(-ous), recompense, render, requite, make restitution, restore, reward, X surely.
Genesis 40
1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their LORD the king of Egypt.
2 And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.
3 And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.
4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.
5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.
6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.
7 And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his LORD’s house, saying, Wherefore look you so sadly today?
8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.
9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;
10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:
11 And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.
12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:
13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up your head, and restore you unto your place: and you shall deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when you were his butler.
14 But think on me when it shall be well with you, and show kindness, I pray you, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:
17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bake-meats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:
19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up your head from off you, and shall hang you on a tree; and the birds shall eat your flesh from off you.
20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
21 And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand:
22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.
As we know from previous discussions, the butler is one who brings drink, merely bearing the cup filled with what someone else has prepared. The baker is one who makes, prepares the dough, adding leaven (corrupting it), and then baking. Both of these are referring to Joseph’s prison, the “dungeon,” from the Hebrew word bowr, which is a pit, well, or fountain, where there is no water (Zechariah 9:11). The cupbearer is released and restored to bear the water, the word of God, given as received. The one adding leaven, corrupting God’s word away from His meaning, in doing so perishes (apoleia – as in 2 Peter 3:16).
As we see in the final verse above, the butler forgets the vow he made to Joseph. He remembers two years later when the Pharaoh had a dream, and Joseph is released to interpret, “And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
Genesis 41
38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are:
40 You shall be over my house, and according unto your word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than you.
41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.
42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon says the name Zaphnathpaaneah means “treasure of the glorious rest.” A more in-depth look shows it to mean hidden treasure given by his presence. Asenath, appears to be from the word ‘acam, meaning storehouse. In these again we see the ideas of the treasures and the storehouse of God’s hidden word.
Regarding the butler’s keeping his vow, the word shalam appears several times rendered “pay” and “perform” concerning keeping vows made.
Jonah 2
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet have you brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto you, into your holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay [shalam] that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
10 And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jonah 3
1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid you.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Nahum 1
1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite [these names tell of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the LORD unknown, as God the ensnarer, who catches the adversaries in the trap they’ve created].
2 God is jealous, and the LORD revenges; the LORD revenges, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies.
3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers: Bashan [fruitfulness] languishes, and Carmel [the garden], and the flower of Lebanon [purity in high places] languishes.
5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
7 The LORD is good, a strong hold [ma’owz] in the day of trouble; and he knows them that trust in him.
8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
9 What do you imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
10 For while they be folded together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
11 There is one come out of you, that imagines evil against the LORD, a wicked counselor.
12 Thus says the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.
13 For now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds in sunder.
14 And the LORD has given a commandment concerning you, that no more of your name be sown: out of the house of your gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make your grave; for you are vile.
15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace! O Judah [God’s leaders], keep your solemn feasts, perform [shalam] your vows [as Jonah kept his vow, and was then returned to Nineveh – see Jonah 2:9]: for the wicked shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off.
Ecclesiastes 5
1 Keep your foot when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
2 Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few.
3 For a dream comes through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
4 When you vow a vow unto God, defer not to pay [shalam] it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you have vowed.
5 Better is it that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.
6 Suffer not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; neither say you before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear you God.
As we’ve seen, Solomon says in ending Ecclesiastes, His conclusion is the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments. He says, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
The word “conclusion” is from the Hebrew word cowph, a word only appearing four other times, meaning termination, as in an ending. In 2 Chronicles 20:16 it is the “end” of the brook mentioned in the title verse
2 Chronicles 20
7 Are not you our God, who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham your friend forever?
8 And they dwelt therein, and have built you a sanctuary therein for your name, saying,
9 If, when evil comes upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in your presence, (for your name is in this house,) and cry unto you in our affliction, then you will hear and help.
10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon [those have exalted themselves above God] and Moab [the gates of hell that hold God’s people therein] and mount Seir [the leaders of Esau, the enemy mixed among us], whom you would not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit.
12 O our God, will you not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon you.
13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
14 Then upon Jahaziel [those beheld by God] the son of Zechariah [who’ve remembered Jehovah], the son of Benaiah [who Jehovah has built up], the son of Jeiel [from whom God has, by His hail, “swept away” the lies – see Isaiah 28:17], the son of Mattaniah [who Jehovah has given a gift {his hidden treasures}], a Levite [and joined them to Himself] of the sons of Asaph [and gathered them into one body], came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
15 And he said, Hearken you, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat, Thus says the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
16 Tomorrow go you down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz [the self-inflicted cliff the enemies is going over, which is now blooming before our eyes]; and you shall find them at the end [cowph] of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel [what is flowing from God, the teaching that is the foundation of the new world, now fully aware of the danger of wickedness un-confronted].
17 You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand you still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
Psalms 81
1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.
6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.
7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder: I proved you at the waters of Meribah [strife]. Selah.
8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto you: O Israel, if you will hearken unto me;
9 There shall no strange god be in you; neither shall you worship any strange god.
10 I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt: open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.
12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
14 I would soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.
15 The haters of the LORD would have submitted themselves unto him: but their time would have endured forever.
16 He would have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied you.