¹⁵ Cursed are those who go deep to keep their designs secret from the Lord, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and who has knowledge of our acts?

¹² And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the responsible men of the children of Israel do in the dark, every man in his room of pictured images? for they say, The Lord does not see us; the Lord has gone away from the land.

¹ Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin:

¹⁷ You have made the Lord tired with your words. And still you say, How have we made him tired? By your saying, Everyone who does evil is good in the eyes of the Lord, and he has delight in them; or, Where is God the judge?

¹⁰ For you had faith in your evil-doing; you said, No one sees me; by your wisdom and knowledge you have been turned out of the way: and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no other.

¹⁵ Because you have said, We have made death our friend, and with the underworld we have made an agreement; when the overflowing waters come through they will not come near us; for we are looking to false words for help, taking cover in what is untrue:

¹¹ He says in his heart, God has no memory of me: his face is turned away; he will never see it.

¹² Up! O Lord; let your hand be lifted: give thought to the poor.

¹³ Why has the evil-doer a low opinion of God, saying in his heart, You will not make search for it?

¹ At that time, when thousands of the people had come together, in such numbers that they were crushing one another, he said first to his disciples, Have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees, which is deceit.

² But nothing is covered up, which will not come to light, or secret, which will not be made clear.

³ So, whatever you have said in the dark, will come to men's hearing in the light, and what you have said secretly inside the house, will be made public from the house-tops.

¹⁹ And this is the test by which men are judged: the light has come into the world and men have more love for the dark than for the light, because their acts are evil.

⁵ For this reason let there be no judging before the time, till the Lord comes, who will make clear the secret things of the dark, and the designs of the heart; and then will every man have his praise from God.

² And we have given up the secret things of shame, not walking in false ways, and not making use of the word of God with deceit; but by the revelation of what is true, as before God, we have the approval of every man's sense of right and wrong.

²³ And I will put her children to death; and all the churches will see that I am he who makes search into the secret thoughts and hearts of men: and I will give to every one of you the reward of your works.

¹² And it will come about at that time, that I will go searching through Jerusalem with lights; and I will send punishment on the men who have become like wine stored over-long, who say to themselves, The Lord will not do good and will not do evil.

⁹ Then he said to me, The sin of the children of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is full of blood and the town full of evil ways: for they say, The Lord has gone away from the land, and the Lord does not see.

²⁴ In what secret place may a man take cover without my seeing him? says the Lord. Is there any place in heaven or earth where I am not? says the Lord.

¹³ Then there are those who are haters of the light, who have no knowledge of its ways, and do not go in them.

¹⁴ He who is purposing death gets up before day, so that he may put to death the poor and those in need.

¹⁵ And the man whose desire is for the wife of another is waiting for the evening, saying, No eye will see me; and he puts a cover on his face. And in the night the thief goes about;

¹⁶ In the dark he makes holes in the walls of houses: in the daytime they are shutting themselves up, they have no knowledge of the light.

¹⁷ For the middle of the night is as morning to them, they are not troubled by the fear of the dark.

²² There is no dark place, and no thick cloud, in which the workers of evil may take cover.

⁷ See, hate is dropping from their lips; curses are on their tongues: they say, Who gives attention to it?

⁵ They make themselves strong in an evil purpose; they make holes for secret nets; they say, Who will see it,

⁶ Or make discovery of our secret purpose? The design is framed with care; and the inner thought of a man, and his heart, is deep.

¹¹ And they say, How will the Lord see this? is there knowledge in the Most High?

⁷ And they say, Jah will not see it, the God of Jacob will not give thought to it.

⁸ Give your mind to my words, you who are without wisdom among the people; you foolish men, when will you be wise?

⁹ Has he by whom your ears were planted no hearing? or is he blind by whom your eyes were formed?

¹ <To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.> O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets.

² You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away.

³ You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways.

⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord.

⁵ I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me.

⁶ Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it.

⁷ Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you?

⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there.

¹⁸ Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin!

¹⁹ Who say, Let him do his work quickly, let him make it sudden, so that we may see it: let the design of the Holy One of Israel come near, so that it may be clear to us.

¹⁷ And I will make right decision the measuring-line, and righteousness the weight: and the ice-storm will take away the safe place of false words, and the secret place will be covered by the flowing waters.

¹² I will make clear what your righteousness is like and your works; you will have no profit in them.

¹³ And you say, What knowledge has God? is he able to give decisions through the deep dark?

¹⁴ Thick clouds are covering him, so that he is unable to see; and he is walking on the arch of heaven.