O God, behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power, and by Thy stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee, who showest mercy unto thousands, and dost recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them, the great, the mighty GOD, Yahweh Sabaoth is His name, great in counsel and mighty in work; whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to every one according to his way and according to the fruit of his doings; who didst signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, both in Israel and among other men; and madest Thee a name as at this day; and didst bring forth Thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror; and gavest them this land which Thou didst swear unto their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; and they came in and possessed it; but they hearkened not to Thy voice, neither walked in Thy laws; they have done nothing at all that Thou didst command them to do; therefore Thou hast caused all this evil to befall them

(Ch. xxxii, 17-23.)

Thus saith Yahweh, the Maker thereof, Yahweh who formed it
To establish it; (Yahweh is His name),

Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and will tell thee

Great things and hidden,
Which thou knowest not.

(Ch. xxxiii, 2-3.)

Considerest

And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying: thou not what this people have spoken, saying: The two families which Yahweh did choose, He hath cast them off? And they contemn My people, that they should no longer be a nation before them. Therefore thus saith Yahweh: If My covenant be not with day and night; if I have not appointed the laws of heaven and earth; then will I also cast away the seed of David My servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob; for I will cause their exiles to return, and I will have compassion upon them.

(xxxiii, 23-26.)

A LEGEND OF A PROPHECY CONCERNING THE FATE OF BABYLON
WHICH WAS CAST INTO THE RIVER EUPHRATES

The word which Jeremiah the Prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was quarter-master. And Jeremiah wrote in one book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words which are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: When thou comest

1 Compare with Jeremiah's prayer, (Ch. xviii, 19-23). The conclusion of this prolix preamble has been given in its proper connection in Booklet V, a simple, earnest prayer of the perplexed prophet for guidance.

2 Ch. xxxiii, 14-18; 19-22; are slight re-arrangements of xxiii, 5-7 and xx, 35-37, given above. Ch. xxxviii, 14-20 is a second version of xxxvii, 18-21. It is unnecessary to give these repetitions here.

to Babylon, then see that thou read all these words, and say: O Yahweh! Thou hast spoken concerning this place to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates. And thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her; and they will be weary.

(Ch. li, 59-64.)

THE PRAISE OF WISDOM

(Proverbs, i, 2-ix, 18. A. V.) 1

SUPERSCRIPTION

To know Wisdom and Instruction, to discern words of understanding;
To receive the discipline of wisdom in justice and right and equity;
To give prudence to the simple, to the young knowledge and discretion
That the wise may hear and increase in learning;

And the man of understanding may attain to wise counsels.
To understand a proverb and a figure,

The words of the wise and their dark sayings.

(Ch. i, 2-6.)

The Fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge,
But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not
the teaching of thy mother,

For they shall be a chaplet of grace to thy head,
and chains about thy neck.

My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
Let us lurk for the innocent causelessly,

Let us swallow them alive like Sheol,

And whole, as those that go down into the pit;
We shall find all precious substance,

We shall fill our houses with spoil;
Thou shalt cast in thy lot with us,
We will all have one purse,-

My son, walk not thou in the way with them,
Restrain thy feet from their path.

For their feet run to evil, they make haste to shed blood.
But in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird;
And these lie in wait for their own blood,
That lurk privily for their own lives.

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;
It taketh away the lives of the owners thereof.

(Ch. i, 7-19.)

Wisdom crieth aloud in the street,

She uttereth her voice in the broad places,
She crieth in the market of commerce,

At the entrance of the city-gates she uttereth her voice:
How long, ye thoughtless ones, will ye love thoughtlessness?

Indisputably post-Deuternomic; written as an introduction to the extant collections of proverbs, and to emphasize the necessity for wisdom in overcoming the special temptations of the author's day. The title was first applied by Prof. Ewald, of Göttingen, c. 1840, and has since been generally accepted.

And scorners take delight in scorning, and fools hate wisdom?
Turn you at my reproof! Behold, I will pour out
My spirit upon you,

I will make known my words unto you.

Because I have called, and ye refused,

I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded,
But ye set at naught my counsel, and would none of my rebuke,—
I also will laugh in the day of your calamity,

I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as a storm,

And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you;

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;
They shall seek me diligently, but they shall not find me.
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose
the Fear of Yahweh.

They would none of my counsel, they despised my reproof, Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,

And be filled with their own devices.

For the waywardness of the thoughtless shall slay them
And the confidence of fools shall destroy them;
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely,
And shall be quiet, without fear of evil.

(Ch. i, 20-33.)

My son, if thou wilt hear my words
And lay up my commandments within thee,
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom,
And apply thy heart to understanding;
Yea, if thou call for understanding,
And lift up thy voice for discernment;
If thou seek her as silver, and search for her
as for hid treasures;

Then shalt thou understand the Fear of Yahweh,
And find the knowledge of God.

For Yahweh giveth wisdom.

Out of His mouth cometh knowledge and discernment.
He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright,

He is a shield to them who walk in integrity,
That He may guard the paths of justice,
And preserve the way of His saints.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice and equity,
Yea, every good path.

For wisdom shall enter into thine heart,

And knowledge be pleasant unto thy soul;

Discretion shall watch over thee, discernment shall guard thee,
To deliver thee from the way of evil,

From the men that speak froward things.

(Who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in ways of darkness;
Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of evil;
Who are crooked in their ways, and perverse in their paths.)
To deliver thee from the strange woman,
From the stranger of flattering words,
That forsaketh the lord of her youth,
And forgetteth the covenant of her God.

(For her house sinketh down to death, her paths unto the shades; None that go unto her return, nor attain unto the paths of life.) That thou mayest walk in the way of good men,

And keep the paths of the righteous.
For the upright shall dwell in the land,
And the whole-hearted shall remain in it.
But the wicked shall be cut off from the land,
And the faithless shall be plucked up out of it.

(Ch. ii, 1-22.)

My son, forget not my teaching,

But let thy heart keep my commandments.
For length of days and years of life and peace
Will they add to thee.

Let not kindness and truth forsake thee

Bind them about thy neck, write them on the table of thy heart.
So shalt thou find favor and good repute in the eyes of God and man.

Trust in Yahweh with all thy heart

And lean not upon thine own understanding!

In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes,

Fear Yahweh and depart from evil;

It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Honor Yahweh with thy substance,

And with the first-fruits of all thine increase;
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
And thy vats overflow with new wine.

My son, despise not the chastening of Yahweh
Neither spurn his correction.

For whom Yahweh loveth, He chasteneth
Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Happy is the man that findeth Wisdom
And the man that getteth understanding,
For the merchandise of it is better than that of silver,
And the gain thereof than wrought gold.

She is more precious than rubies;

All the things that thou canst desire are not to be compared
unto her.

Length of days is in her right hand;

In her left are riches and honor.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her,
And happy is every one that holdeth her feet.

Yahweh by wisdom founded the earth,
By understanding, He established the heavens;
By His knowledge the depths were broken up,
And the skies drop down the dew.

(Ch. iii, 1-20.)

My son, keep sound wisdom and discretion,
Let them not depart from thine eyes;
So shall they be life to thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely,

And thy feet shall not stumble.

When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid;
Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.