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21 The horse is prepared understanding, nor counsel against the day of battle: but against the Lord. safety is of the Lord.

22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

23 Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt.

24 Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?

25 There is no wisdom, nor

26 Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.

27 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up:

28 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

SECTION XXI.-Of Death.

LESSON CXX.

MAN that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

3 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee; thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.

4 Turn from him that he may rest, till he shall accomplish as an hireling his day.

5 For there is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not

cease.

6 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground:

7 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

8 But man dieth and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

9 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth, and drieth up:

10 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

11 O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

12 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

13 Remember how short my time is my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

14 O remember that my life is wind mine eye shall no more see good.

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15 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more:

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20 If I wait, the grave is my house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

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21 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister.

22 And where is now my hope? as for my hope who shall see it?

23 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

24 Are not my days few? Behold, I go whence I shall not return, even unto the land of darkness, and the shadow of death.

25 A land of darkness, as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death without any order, and where the light is as dark

ness.

LESSON CXXI.

Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

2 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.

3 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

4 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

5 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

6 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

7 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

8 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.

9 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

10 All go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

11 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.

12 And surely the mountain falling cometh to naught: and the rock is removed out of his place.

13 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth, and thou destroyest the hope of man.

14 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance and sendest him away.

15 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

16 For what pleasure hath

he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst ?

17 As the cloud is consumed, and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

18 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

19 He shall be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

20 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

21 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; 22 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:

23 That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.

24 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

25 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwellingplaces to all generations: they call their lands after their own

names.

26 Nevertheless, man being in honour, abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

27 This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings.

28 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the

morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave, from their dwelling.

¶29 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.

30 For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

31 Though whilst he lived, he blessed his soul; and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

32 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

33 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

34 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me.

LESSON CXXII.

I SAID in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

2 I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

3 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off, like a weaver, my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness; from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

4 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even

to night wilt thou make an end of me.

5 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

6 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

7 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

8 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

9 For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee?

11 Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction ?

12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

14 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing; neither

have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

15 Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is under the sun.

16 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

17 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

LESSON CXXIII.

THE Lord saith, Son of man, behold I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke;

2 Yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

3 Forbear to cry; make no mourning for the dead.

4 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.

5 They shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

6 I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death.

¶ 7 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

8 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlast

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LESSON CXXIV.

O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2 When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained;

3 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

4 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

5 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

6 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

7 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

8 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

9 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.

10 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

11 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.

12 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him: but when he cried unto him, he heard.

13 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

14 The meek shall eat, and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their heart shall live for ever.

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