<p class="poetry">Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I concluded:<n id="3" /> &#8220;All these<n id="4" /> achievements and possessions<n id="5" /> are ultimately<n id="6" /> profitless<n id="7" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">like chasing the wind!p> <p class="poetry">There is nothing gained<n id="8" /> from them<n id="9" /> on earth.&#8221;<n id="10" />p>

<p class="poetry">So I loathed<n id="1" /> life<n id="2" /> because whatp> <p class="poetry">happens<n id="3" /> on earth<n id="4" /> seems awful to me;p> <p class="poetry">for all the benefits of wisdom<n id="5" /> are futile &#8211; like chasing the wind.p>

<p class="poetry">I thought to myself, &#8220;God will judge both the righteous and the wicked;p> <p class="poetry">for there is an appropriate time for every activity,p> <p class="poetry">and there is a time of judgment<n id="1" /> for every deed. p>

<p class="poetry">So I perceived there is nothing better than for people<n id="1" /> to enjoy their work,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because that is their<n id="3" /> reward;p> <p class="poetry">for who can show them what the future holds?<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">But better than both is the one who has not been born<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and has not seen the evil things that are done on earth.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">When<n id="1" /> a sentence<n id="2" /> is not executed<n id="3" /> at once against a crime,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">the human heart<n id="5" /> is encouraged to do evil.<n id="6" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Go, eat your food<n id="1" /> with joy,p> <p class="poetry">and drink your wine with a happy heart,p> <p class="poetry">because God has already approved your works.p>

<p class="poetry">Whatever you find to do with your hands,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">do it with all your might,p> <p class="poetry">because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the place where you will eventually go.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">For God will evaluate every deed,<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">including every secret thing, whether good or evil.p>

<p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Lover to His Beloved:i>b>p> <p class="poetry"><v id="(7:2)" /> How beautiful are your sandaled<n id="1" /> feet,p> <p class="poetry">O nobleman&#8217;s daughter!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">The curves<n id="3" /> of your thighs<n id="4" /> are like jewels,p> <p class="poetry">the work of the hands of a master craftsman.p>

<p class="poetry">They have stringed instruments,<n id="1" /> tambourines, flutes,p> <p class="poetry">and wine at their parties.p> <p class="poetry">So they do not recognize what the <sc>Lordsc> is doing,p> <p class="poetry">they do not perceive what he is bringing about.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">They will no longer trust in<n id="1" /> the altars their hands made,p> <p class="poetry">or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has made them undiscerning;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they lead Egypt astray in all she does,p> <p class="poetry">so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit.<n id="2" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession,<n id="2" /> Israel!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Those who try to hide their plans from the <sc>Lordsc> are as good as dead,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">who do their work in secret and boast,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Who sees us? Who knows what we&#8217;re doing?&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Your thinking is perverse!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Should the potter be regarded as clay?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Should the thing made say<n id="3" /> about its maker, &#8220;He didn&#8217;t make me&#8221;?p> <p class="poetry">Or should the pottery say about the potter, &#8220;He doesn&#8217;t understand&#8221;?p>

<p class="poetry">For when they see their children,p> <p class="poetry">whom I will produce among them,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they will honor<n id="2" /> my name.p> <p class="poetry">They will honor the Holy One of Jacob;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">they will respect<n id="4" /> the God of Israel.p>

They have burned the gods of the nations,<n id="1" /> for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Look, I create the craftsman,p> <p class="poetry">who fans the coals into a firep> <p class="poetry">and forges a weapon.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I create the destroyer so he might devastate.p>

<p class="poetry">No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">for my people will live as long as trees,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced.<n id="4" />p>