<t /><p class="poetry">I have seen personally what is the only beneficial and appropriate course of action for people:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">to eat and drink,<n id="2" /> and find enjoyment in all their<n id="3" /> hard work<n id="4" /> on earth<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">during the few days of their life which God has given them,p> <p class="poetry">for this is their reward.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">For no one knows what is best for a person during his life<n id="1" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">during the few days of his fleeting life &#8211; p> <p class="poetry">for<n id="2" /> they pass away<n id="3" /> like a shadow.p> <p class="poetry">Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">While applying<n id="1" /> my mind<n id="2" /> to everything<n id="3" /> that happens in this world,<n id="4" /> I have seen all this:p> <p class="poetry">Sometimes one person<n id="5" /> dominates<n id="6" /> other people<n id="7" /> to their harm.<n id="8" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is the unfortunate fact<n id="1" /> about everything that happens on earth:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the same fate awaits<n id="3" /> everyone.p> <p class="poetry">In addition to this, the hearts of all people<n id="4" /> are full of evil,p> <p class="poetry">and there is folly in their hearts during their lives &#8211; then they die.<n id="5" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Again,<n id="1" /> I observed this on the earth:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the race is not always<n id="3" /> won by the swiftest,p> <p class="poetry">the battle is not always won by the strongest;p> <p class="poetry">prosperity<n id="4" /> does not always belong to those who are the wisest,p> <p class="poetry">wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning,p> <p class="poetry">nor does success<n id="5" /> always come to those with the most knowledge &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">for time and chance may overcome<n id="6" /> them all.p>

One day,<n id="1" /> as he was worshiping<n id="2" /> in the temple of his god Nisroch,<n id="3" /> his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword.<n id="4" /> They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.p>

<p class="poetry">Look up at the sky!p> <p class="poetry">Look at the earth below!p> <p class="poetry">For the sky will dissipate<n id="1" /> like smoke,p> <p class="poetry">and the earth will wear out like clothes;p> <p class="poetry">its residents will die like gnats.p> <p class="poetry">But the deliverance I give<n id="2" /> is permanent;p> <p class="poetry">the vindication I provide<n id="3" /> will not disappear.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because he willingly submitted<n id="3" /> to deathp> <p class="poetry">and was numbered with the rebels,p> <p class="poetry">when he lifted up the sin of manyp> <p class="poetry">and intervened<n id="4" /> on behalf of the rebels.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Indeed,<n id="1" /> long ago you threw off my authorityp> <p class="poetry">and refused to be subject to me.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You said, &#8216;I will not serve you.&#8217;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hillp> <p class="poetry">and under every green tree,p> <p class="poetry">like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">When Josiah was king of Judah, the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done.<n id="1" /> You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">However, you must confess that you have done wrong,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and that you have rebelled against the <sc>Lordsc> your God.p> <p class="poetry">You must confess<n id="2" /> that you have given yourself to<n id="3" /> foreign gods under every green tree,p> <p class="poetry">and have not obeyed my commands,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

&#8220;So then, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> when your people<n id="2" /> ask, &#8216;Why has the <sc>Lordsc> our God done all this to us?&#8217; tell them, &#8216;It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So<n id="3" /> you must serve foreigners<n id="4" /> in a land that does not belong to you.&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;For the <sc>Lordsc> has spoken about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but was carried off into exile. He has said, &#8220;He will never return to this land.<n id="1" />

For they have not paid attention to what I said to them through my servants the prophets whom I sent to them over and over again,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> &#8216;And you exiles<n id="3" /> have not paid any attention to them either,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" />

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> has made you priest in place of Jehoiada.<n id="1" /> He has put you in charge in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple of controlling<n id="2" /> any lunatic<n id="3" /> who pretends to be a prophet.<n id="4" /> And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks<n id="5" /> with an iron collar around his neck.<n id="6" />

&#8220;Your royal Majesty, those men have been very wicked in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into a cistern and he is sure to die of starvation there because there is no food left in the city.<n id="1" />

So Ebed Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasure room in the palace.<n id="1" /> He got some worn-out clothes and old rags<n id="2" /> from there and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple (including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called &#8220;The Sea,&#8221; the twelve bronze bulls under &#8220;The Sea,&#8221; and the movable stands<n id="1" />) was too heavy to be weighed.

The <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> said to the man dressed in linen, &#8220;Go between the wheelwork<n id="2" /> underneath the cherubim.<n id="3" /> Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.&#8221; He went as I watched.p>

<p class="poetry">I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel,p> <p class="poetry">and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar.p> <p class="poetry">Every bird will live under it;p> <p class="poetry">Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.p>