Study Desk

For the ear heard, and it called me blessed,And the eye saw, and it gave witness of me,

Because I provided escape for the afflicted who cried for help,And the orphan who had no helper.

The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me,And I made the widow's heart sing for joy.

"To me they listened and waited,And kept silent for my counsel.

They waited for me as for the rain,And opened their mouth as for the late rain.

I chose a way for them and sat as chief,And dwelt as their head among the troops,As one who comforted the mourners.

Terrors are turned against me;They pursue my nobility as the wind,And my hope for salvation has passed away like a cloud.

I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;I stand up, and You carefully consider how to be against me.

For I know that You will bring me to deathAnd to the house of meeting for all living.

"Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,Or, in his upheaval, is there a cry for help because of them?

Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard?Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

When I hoped for good, then evil came;When I waited for light, then thick darkness came.

I go about darkened but not by the sun;I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

May my wife grind for another,And let others kneel down over her.

For that would be lewdness;Moreover, it would be an iniquity punishable by judges.

For it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon,And would uproot all my produce.

If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,Or that the needy had no covering,

For disaster from God is a dread to me,And because of His exaltedness I can do nothing.

That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment,For I would have denied God above.

But I have not given over my mouth to sinBy asking for his life in a curse—