<p class="poetry">I discovered this:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">More bitter than death is the kind of<n id="2" /> woman<n id="3" /> who is like a hunter&#8217;s snare;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">her heart is like a hunter&#8217;s net and her hands are like prison chains.p> <p class="poetry">The man who pleases God escapes her,p> <p class="poetry">but the sinner is captured by her.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">So I recommend the enjoyment of life,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">for there is nothing better on earth<n id="2" /> for a person to do<n id="3" /> except<n id="4" /> to eat, drink, and enjoy<n id="5" /> life.<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">So<n id="7" /> joy<n id="8" /> will accompany him in his toilp> <p class="poetry">during the days of his life which God gives him on earth.<n id="9" />p>

<p class="poetry">Enjoy<n id="1" /> life with your beloved wife<n id="2" /> during all the days of your fleeting<n id="3" /> lifep> <p class="poetry">that God<n id="4" /> has given you on earth<n id="5" /> during all your fleeting days;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">for that is your reward in life and in your burdensome work<n id="7" /> on earth.<n id="8" />p>

<p class="bodytext">At that time<n id="1" /> those left in Israel, those who remain of the family<n id="2" /> of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them.<n id="3" /> Instead they will truly<n id="4" /> rely on the <sc>Lordsc>, the Holy One of Israel.<n id="5" />

At that time<n id="1" /> the sovereign master<n id="2" /> will again lift his hand<n id="3" /> to reclaim<n id="4" /> the remnant of his people<n id="5" /> from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros,<n id="6" /> Cush,<n id="7" /> Elam, Shinar,<n id="8" /> Hamath, and the seacoasts.<n id="9" />p>

<p class="poetry">that sends messengers by sea,p> <p class="poetry">who glide over the water&#8217;s surface in boats made of papyrus.p> <p class="poetry">Go, you swift messengers,p> <p class="poetry">to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">to a people that are feared far and wide,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">to a nation strong and victorious,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">whose land rivers divide.<n id="4" />p>

The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies is planning to do to them.<n id="1" />p>

At that time the <sc>Lordsc> announced through<n id="1" /> Isaiah son of Amoz: &#8220;Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.&#8221; He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments<n id="2" /> and barefoot.

At that time<n id="1" /> those who live on this coast<n id="2" /> will say, &#8216;Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;At that time,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, &#8220;the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Indeed,<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> has spoken.p>

<p class="poetry">At that time<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> will punishp> <p class="poetry">with his destructive,<n id="2" /> great, and powerful swordp> <p class="poetry">Leviathan the fast-moving<n id="3" /> serpent,p> <p class="poetry">Leviathan the squirming serpent;p> <p class="poetry">he will kill the sea monster.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">When its branches get brittle,<n id="1" /> they break;p> <p class="poetry">women come and use them for kindling.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For these people lack understanding,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;p> <p class="poetry">the one who formed them has no mercy on them.p>

<p class="bodytext">To you this entire prophetic revelation<n id="1" /> is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read<n id="2" /> and say, &#8220;Read this,&#8221; he responds, &#8220;I can&#8217;t, because it is sealed.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">He will water the seed you plant in the ground,p> <p class="poetry">and the ground will produce crops in abundance.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">At that time<n id="2" /> your cattle will graze in wide pastures.p>

<p class="poetry">For<n id="1" /> the burial place is already prepared;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">it has been made deep and wide for the king.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The firewood is piled high on it.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,p> <p class="poetry">will ignite it.p>

Perhaps you will tell me, &#8216;We are trusting in the <sc>Lordsc> our God.&#8217; But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, &#8216;You must worship at this altar.&#8217;

&#8220;O <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim!<n id="1" /> You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky<n id="2" /> and the earth.

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">You are my witnesses,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;my servant whom I have chosen,p> <p class="poetry">so that you may consider<n id="1" /> and believe in me,p> <p class="poetry">and understand that I am he.p> <p class="poetry">No god was formed before me,p> <p class="poetry">and none will outlive me.<n id="2" />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>