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1 O Lord Almighty, thou God of Israel, the soul in anguish, the troubled spirit, crieth unto thee. 2 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy; for thou art a merciful God: yea, have mercy upon us, because we have sinned before thee. 3 For thou sittest as king for ever, and we perish evermore. 4 O Lord Almighty, thou God of Israel, hear now the prayer of * the dead Israelites, and of the children of them which were sinners before thee, that hearkened not unto the voice of thee their God: for the which cause these plagues clave unto us. 5 Remember not the iniquities of our fathers: but remember thy power and thy name now at this time. 6 For thou art the Lord our God, and thee, O Lord, will we praise. 7 For for this cause thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, † to the intent that we should call upon thy name: and we will praise thee in our captivity, for we have ‡ called to mind all the iniquity of our fathers, that sinned before thee. 8 Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where thou hast scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to penalty, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, which departed from the Lord our God.
9 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear to understand wisdom. 10 How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thine enemies’ land, that thou art waxen old in a strange country, that thou art defiled with the dead, 11 that thou art counted with them that go down into § the grave? 12 Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom. 13 For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou shouldest have dwelled in peace for ever. 14 Learn where is ** wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding; that thou mayest know also where is length of days, and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace. 15 Who hath found out her place? and who hath come into her treasuries? 16 Where are the princes of the heathen, and such as ruled the beasts that are upon the earth; 17 they that had their pastime with the fowls of the air, and they that hoarded up silver and gold, wherein men trust; and of whose getting there is no end? 18 For they that †† wrought in silver, and were so careful, and whose works are past finding out, 19 they are vanished and gone down to ‡‡ the grave, and others are come up in their steads. 20 Younger men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the way of knowledge have they not known, 21 neither understood they the paths thereof: neither have their children laid hold of it: they are far off from §§ their way. 22 It hath not been heard of in Canaan, neither hath it been seen in Teman. 23 The sons also of Agar that seek understanding, which are in the land, the merchants of Merran and Teman, and the authors of fables, and the searchers out of understanding; none of these have known the way of wisdom, or remembered her paths. 24 O Israel, how great is the house of God! and how large is the place of his possession! 25 great, and hath none end; high, and unmeasurable. 26 There were the giants born that were famous of old, great of stature, and expert in war. 27 These did not God choose, neither gave he the way of knowledge unto them: 28 so they perished, because they had no *** wisdom, they perished through their own foolishness. 29 Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? 30 Who hath gone over the sea, and found her, and will bring her for choice gold? 31 There is none that knoweth her way, nor any that comprehendeth her path. 32 But he that knoweth all things knoweth her, he found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore hath filled it with fourfooted beasts: 33 he that sendeth forth the light, and it goeth; he called it, and it obeyed him with fear: 34 and the stars shined in their watches, and were glad: when he called them, they said, Here we be; they shined with gladness unto him that made them. 35 This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of him. 36 He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel that is beloved of him. 37 Afterward did she appear upon earth, and was conversant with men.
* 3:4 Probably a mistake for the men of Israel. † 3:7 Another reading is, and made us to call. ‡ 3:7 Another reading is, put away from our heart all &c. § 3:11 Gr. Hades. ** 3:14 Or, prudence †† 3:18 Or, diligently sought after: Prov. xi. 27 (Sept.). ‡‡ 3:19 Gr. Hades. §§ 3:21 Another reading is, the way thereof. *** 3:28 Or, prudence