The Blessed Death of the Righteous

1Bvt in the meane season ye righteous perisheth, & no ma regardeth it in his hert. Good godly people are taken awaye. & no ma cosidreth it. Namely: that the righteous is conuayed awaye thorow ye wicked:

2that he himself might be in rest, lie quietly vpon his bed, & lyue after his owne pleasure.

God Condemns Idolatry

3Come hither therfore ye charmers children, ye sonnes of the aduoutrer & the whore:

4Wherin take ye youre pleasure? Vpo whom gape ye with yor mouth, & bleare out yor tonge? Are ye not childre of aduoutry, & a sede of dissimulaicon?

5Ye take youre pleasure vnder the okes, & vnder all grene trees, the childe beynge slayne in the valleys, & dennes of stone.

6Thy parte shalbe with the stony rockes by the ryuer: Yee euen these shal be thy parte. For there thou hast poured meat and drynkoffringes vnto the. Shulde I ouersee that?

7Thou hast made thy bed vpon hie mountaynes, thou wentest vp thither, and there hast thou slayne sacrifices.

8Behynde the dores & postes, hast thou set vp thy remembraunce? When thou haddest discouered thyself to another then me, when thou wetest downe, & made thy bed wyder (that is) when thou didest carue the certayne of yonder Idols, & louedest their couches, where thou sawest the:

9Thou wentest straight to kinges with oyle & dyuerse oyntmentes (that is) thou hast sent thy messaungers farre of, and yet art thou fallen in to the pyt therby.

10Thou hast had trouble for ye multitude of thyne owne wayes, yet saydest thou neuer: I wil leaue of. Thou thinkest to haue life (or health) of thy self, and therfore thou beleuest not that thou art sick.

11For when wilt thou be abasshed or feare, seinge thou hast broken thy promyse, & remembrest not me, nether hast me in thine hert? Thinkest thou, that I also will holde my peace (as afore tyme) yt thou fearest me not?

12Yee verely I wil declare yi goodnes & yi workes, but they shal not profit ye.

13whe thou criest, let yi chosen heape delyuer the. But the wynde shal take them all awaye, & cary the in to ye ayre. Neuertheles, they yt put their trust in me, shal inheret the londe, and haue my holy hill in possession.

Healing for the Repentant

14And therfore thus he saieth: Make redy, make redy, and clense ye strete, take vp what ye can out of the waye, that ledeth to my people.

15For thus saieth the hie and excellet, euen he that dwelleth in euerlastingnesse, whose name is the holyone: I dwel hie aboue and in the sanctuary, & with him also, yt is of a cotrite and huble sprete: yt I maye heale a troubled mynde, and a cotrite herte.

16For I chide not euer, & am not wroth wt out ende. But ye blastinge goeth fro me, though I make the breath.

17I am wroth wt hi for his couetousnes & lust, I smyte him, I hyde me, and am angrie, whe he turneth himself, and foloweth ye bywaye of his owne hert.

18But yf I maye se his right waye agayne, I make him whole, I lede him, and restore him vnto them whom he maketh ioyful, & that were sory for him.

19I make the frutes of thakesgeuinge. I geue peace vnto them that are farre of, and to them that are nye, saye I the LORDE, that make him whole.

20But the wicked are like the raginge see, that ca not rest, whose water fometh with the myre & grauel.

21Eueso ye wicked haue no peace, saieth my God.