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.

Surely, no one knows his appointed time! Like fish that are caught in a deadly net, and like birds that are caught in a snare -- just like them, all people are ensnared at an unfortunate time that falls upon them suddenly.

The words of the wise are heard in quiet, more than the shouting of a ruler is heard among fools.

Fools are placed in many positions of authority, while wealthy men sit in lowly positions.

The words of a wise person win him favor, but the words of a fool are self-destructive.

At the beginning his words are foolish and at the end his talk is wicked madness,

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time -- with self-control and not in drunkenness.

Feasts are made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.

Do not curse a king even in your thoughts, and do not curse the rich while in your bedroom; for a bird might report what you are thinking, or some winged creature might repeat your words.

If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth, and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls.

Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions.

Banish emotional stress from your mind. and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

and the doors along the street are shut; when the sound of the grinding mill grows low, and one is awakened by the sound of a bird, and all their songs grow faint,

and they are afraid of heights and the dangers in the street; the almond blossoms grow white, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry shrivels up -- because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets --

"Absolutely futile!" laments the Teacher, "All of these things are futile!"

The words of the sages are like prods, and the collected sayings are like firmly fixed nails; they are given by one shepherd.

The Lover to His Beloved: O my beloved, you are like a mare among Pharaoh's stallions.

Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments; your neck is lovely with strings of jewels.

The Lover to His Beloved: Oh, how beautiful you are, my beloved! Oh, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves!

The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how delightful you are! The lush foliage is our canopied bed;

the cedars are the beams of our bedroom chamber; the pines are the rafters of our bedroom.

Look! The winter has passed, the winter rains are over and gone.

All of them are skilled with a sword, well-trained in the art of warfare. Each has his sword at his side, to guard against the terrors of the night.

The Lover to His Beloved: Oh, you are beautiful, my darling! Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. Your hair is like a flock of female goats descending from Mount Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of newly-shorn sheep coming up from the washing place; each of them has a twin, and not one of them is missing.

Your lips are like a scarlet thread; your mouth is lovely. Your forehead behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

Your neck is like the tower of David built with courses of stones; one thousand shields are hung on it -- all shields of valiant warriors.

Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of the gazelle grazing among the lilies.

You are altogether beautiful, my darling! There is no blemish in you!

Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride, honey and milk are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

The Lover to His Beloved: You are a locked garden, my sister, my bride; you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain.

Your shoots are a royal garden full of pomegranates with choice fruits: henna with nard,

You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon.

His eyes are like doves by streams of water, washed in milk, mounted like jewels.

His cheeks are like garden beds full of balsam trees yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with drops of myrrh.

His arms are like rods of gold set with chrysolite. His abdomen is like polished ivory inlaid with sapphires.

His legs are like pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.

The Lover to His Beloved: My darling, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as awe-inspiring as bannered armies!

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin; not one of them is missing.

The Lover to His Beloved: How beautiful are your sandaled feet, O nobleman's daughter! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a master craftsman.

Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

Your neck is like a tower made of ivory. Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus.

Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. The locks of your hair are like royal tapestries -- the king is held captive in its tresses!

How beautiful you are! How lovely, O love, with your delights!

The Lover to His Beloved: Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of grapes.

Let us rise early to go to the vineyards, to see if the vines have budded, to see if their blossoms have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom -- there I will give you my love.

The Lover to His Beloved: O you who stay in the gardens, my companions are listening attentively for your voice; let me be the one to hear it!

The sinful nation is as good as dead, the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. They are alienated from him.

From the soles of your feet to your head, there is no spot that is unharmed. There are only bruises, cuts, and open wounds. They have not been cleansed or bandaged, nor have they been treated with olive oil.

Your land is devastated, your cities burned with fire. Right before your eyes your crops are being destroyed by foreign invaders. They leave behind devastation and destruction.

"Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?" says the Lord. "I am stuffed with burnt sacrifices of rams and the fat from steers. The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats I do not want.

I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies; they are a burden that I am tired of carrying.

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I look the other way; when you offer your many prayers, I do not listen, because your hands are covered with blood.

Come, let's consider your options," says the Lord. "Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.

Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs. They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow.

Indeed, O Lord, you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. For diviners from the east are everywhere; they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. Plenty of foreigners are around.

Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has planned a day of judgment, for all the high and mighty, for all who are proud -- they will be humiliated;

for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so high and mighty, for all the oaks of Bashan;

The Lord says, "The women of Zion are proud. They walk with their heads high and flirt with their eyes. They skip along and the jewelry on their ankles jingles.

Those remaining in Zion, those left in Jerusalem, will be called "holy," all in Jerusalem who are destined to live.

Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got -- disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got -- cries for help!

Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, those who also accumulate landed property until there is no land left, and you are the only landowners remaining within the land.

Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, those who keep drinking long after dark until they are intoxicated with wine.

Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes.

Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.

Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, those who think they possess understanding.

Those who are champions at drinking wine are as good as dead, who display great courage when mixing strong drinks.

Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are prepared. The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm.

I said, "Too bad for me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies."

I replied, "How long, sovereign master?" He said, "Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated,

So Isaiah replied, "Pay attention, family of David. Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me are reminders and object lessons in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

Then you must recall the Lord's instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.

The leaders and the highly respected people are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations,

Indeed, he says: "Are not my officials all kings?

For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. Destruction has been decreed; just punishment is about to engulf you.

There is a loud noise on the mountains -- it sounds like a large army! There is great commotion among the kingdoms -- nations are being assembled! The Lord who commands armies is mustering forces for battle.

They panic -- cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red.

Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; they are not concerned about silver, nor are they interested in gold.

Wail, O city gate! Cry out, O city! Melt with fear, all you Philistines! For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.

The people of Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz. For this reason Moab's soldiers shout in distress; their courage wavers.

For the waters of Nimrim are gone; the grass is dried up, the vegetation has disappeared, and there are no plants.

Indeed, the waters of Dimon are full of blood! Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. A lion will attack the Moabite fugitives and the people left in the land.

At the fords of the Arnon the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest.

We have heard about Moab's pride, their great arrogance, their boasting, pride, and excess. But their boastful claims are empty!

For the fields of Heshbon are dried up, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations trample all over its vines, which reach Jazer and spread to the desert; their shoots spread out and cross the sea.

The cities of Aroer are abandoned. They will be used for herds, which will lie down there in peace.

The many nations massing together are as good as dead, those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea's waves. The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.

that sends messengers by sea, who glide over the water's surface in boats made of papyrus. Go, you swift messengers, to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people, to a people that are feared far and wide, to a nation strong and victorious, whose land rivers divide.

At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies, by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned, a people that are feared far and wide, a nation strong and victorious, whose land rivers divide. The tribute will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion.

The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; Pharaoh's wise advisers give stupid advice. How dare you say to Pharaoh, "I am one of the sages, one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?"

But where, oh where, are your wise men? Let them tell you, let them find out what the Lord who commands armies has planned for Egypt.

The officials of Zoan are fools, the officials of Memphis are misled; the rulers of her tribes lead Egypt astray.

Is this really your boisterous city whose origins are in the distant past, and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

Who planned this for royal Tyre, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the dignitaries of the earth?

So a treaty curse devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt. This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, and are reduced to just a handful of people.

The ruined town is shattered; all of the houses are shut up tight.

This is what will happen throughout the earth, among the nations. It will be like when they beat an olive tree, and just a few olives are left at the end of the harvest.

Terror, pit, and snare are ready to overtake you inhabitants of the earth!