The enemies who chase me are numerous. Yet I do not turn aside from your rules.

The sun will not harm you by day, or the moon by night.

because you neglected all my advice, and did not comply with my rebuke,

they did not comply with my advice, they spurned all my rebuke.

He will be beaten and despised, and his reproach will not be wiped away;

An inheritance gained easily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.

lest the one who hears it put you to shame and your infamy will never go away.

There is a generation who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness.

Again, I observed this on the earth: the race is not always won by the swiftest, the battle is not always won by the strongest; prosperity does not always belong to those who are the wisest, wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning, nor does success always come to those with the most knowledge – for time and chance may overcome them all.

who led them through the deep water? Like a horse running on flat land they did not stumble.

You must not say, ‘No, we will not stay. Instead we will go and live in the land of Egypt where we will not face war, or hear the enemy’s trumpet calls, or starve for lack of food.’

כ (Kaf) For the Lord will not reject us forever.

to defraud a person in a lawsuit – the Lord does not approve of such things!

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes – both calamity and blessing?

“We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven.”

ס (Samek) You shrouded yourself with anger and then pursued us; you killed without mercy.

does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains or pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, does not have sexual relations with a woman during her period,

The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.

Once the satraps, prefects, governors, and ministers of the king had gathered around, they saw that those men were physically unharmed by the fire. The hair of their heads was not singed, nor were their trousers damaged. Not even the smell of fire was to be found on them!

Bunch yourselves together like straw, you undesirable nation,