But there was found in it a poor wise man, and by his wisdom he rescued the city. Yet no man [seriously] remembered that poor man.

But I say that wisdom is better than strength, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heeded.

Even when a fool walks along the road, his [common] sense and good judgment fail him and he demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool.

The labor of a fool so wearies him [because he is ignorant] that he does not even know how to go to a city.

Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle with your hands in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening planting will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Yes, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is to come will be futility.

Rejoice, young man, in your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant in the days of your young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desires of your eyes, but know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.

Therefore, remove sorrow and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, for childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

Remember [thoughtfully] also your Creator in the days of your youth [for you are not your own, but His], before the evil days come or the years draw near when you will say [of physical pleasures], “I have no enjoyment and delight in them”;

Furthermore, they are afraid of a high place and of dangers on the road; the almond tree (hair) blossoms [white], and the grasshopper (a little thing) is a burden, and the caperberry (desire, appetite) fails. For man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets and market places.

When all has been heard, the end of the matter is: fear God [worship Him with awe-filled reverence, knowing that He is almighty God] and keep His commandments, for this applies to every person.

(The Shulammite Bride)
“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” [Solomon arrives, she turns to him, saying,]
“For your love is better than wine.

“My beloved is to me like a pouch of myrrh
Which lies all night between my breasts.

“I am the rose [of the plain] of Sharon,
The lily of the valleys [that grows in deep places].”

(The Bridegroom)
“I command that you take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field [which run free],
That you do not rouse nor awaken my love
Until she pleases.”

(The Chorus)
“Catch the foxes for us,
The little foxes that spoil and ruin the vineyards [of love],
While our vineyards are in blossom.”

(The Shulammite Bride)“On my bed night after night [I dreamed that] I sought the one
Whom my soul loves;
I sought him but did not find him.

(The Bridegroom)
“I command that you take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
That you do not rouse nor awaken my love
Until she pleases.”

(The Shulammite Bride)
“What is this coming up from the wilderness
Like [stately] pillars of smoke
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all the fragrant powders of the merchant?”

“All of them handle the sword,
All expert in war;
Each man has his sword at his thigh,
Guarding against the terrors of the night.

“Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle
Which feed among the lilies.

(The Shulammite Bride)
“Awake, O north wind,
And come, south wind [blow softly upon my garden];
Make my garden breathe out fragrance, [for the one in whom my soul delights],
Let its spices flow forth.
Let my beloved come into his garden
And eat its choicest fruits.” Cross references: Song of Solomon 4:7 : John 14:18; Eph 5:27 Song of Solomon 4:8 : 2 Cor 11:2, 3 Song of Solomon 4:10 : John 15:9; Rom 8:35 Song of Solomon 4:13 : John 15:5; Eph 5:9 Song of Solomon 4:15 : John 4:10; 7:37, 38 end of crossrefs

(The Shulammite Bride)
“I was asleep, but my heart was awake.
A voice [in my dream]! My beloved was knocking:
‘Open to me, my sister, my darling,
My dove, my perfect one!
For my head is drenched with the [heavy night] dew;
My hair [is covered] with the dampness of the night.’

“I command that you take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
As to what you tell him—
[Say that] I am sick from love [sick from being without him].”

(The Chorus)
“What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
That you should so command us to take an oath?”

‘Who is this that looks down like the dawn,
Fair and beautiful as the full moon,
Clear and pure as the sun,
As majestic as an army with banners?’

(The Chorus)
“Return, return, O Shulammite;
Return, return, that we may gaze at you.”

“Your stature is like that of a palm tree
And your breasts like its clusters [of dates].

“I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree;
I will grasp its branches.
Let your breasts be like clusters of the grapevine,
And the fragrance of your breath like apples,

‘And your kisses like the best wine!’”

“Oh, that you were like a brother to me,
Who nursed at the breasts of my mother.
If I found you out of doors, I would kiss you;
No one would blame me or despise me, either.

“Let his left hand be under my head
And his right hand embrace me.”

(The Bridegroom)
“I command you to take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem,
That you do not rouse nor awaken my love
Until she pleases.”

“When you come to appear before Me,
Who requires this of you, this trampling of My [temple] courts [by your sinful feet]?

For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers and dies
And like a garden that has no water.

Now it will come to pass that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be [firmly] established as the highest of the mountains,
And will be exalted above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.

And many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house (temple) of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go out from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

The proud look of man will be degraded
And the arrogance of men will be humbled,
And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

And the wrath of God will be against all the cedars of Lebanon [west of the Jordan] that are high and lifted up,
Against all the oaks of Bashan [east of the Jordan],

Against all the high mountains,
Against all the hills that are lifted up,

Then the pride of man will be humbled
And the arrogance of men will be degraded;
The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day,

In that day men will throw away to the moles and to the bats
Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
Which they made for themselves [as objects] to worship,

He will protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be a governor;
For in my house there is neither bread nor clothing;
You should not make me a judge and ruler of the people.”

Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their [righteous] actions.

In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, [braided] caps, crescent [head] ornaments,

Now it will come to pass that instead of the sweet fragrance of spices there will be [the stench of] rottenness;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, baldness;
Instead of fine clothes, a robe of sackcloth;
And branding [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.

And in that day seven women will take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own food and wear [and provide] our own clothes; only let us be called by your name; take away our shame [of being unmarried].”

In that day the Branch of the Lord will be splendid and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be excellent and lovely to those of Israel who have survived.

“What more could have been done for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield worthless ones?

“I will turn it into a wasteland;
It will not be pruned or cultivated,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.”

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who rise early in the morning to pursue intoxicating drink,
Who stay up late in the night till wine inflames them!

Who say, “Let Him move speedily, let Him expedite His work [His promised vengeance], so that we may see it;
And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel approach
And come to pass, so that we may know it!”

Their roaring is like a lioness, they roar like young lions;
They growl and seize their prey
And carry it off and there is no one to save it.

And in that day they will roar against them (Judah) like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks to the land, in fact, there is darkness and distress;
Even the light will be darkened by its clouds.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [in a vision] the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the [most holy part of the] temple.

For the head (capital) of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is [King] Rezin (now within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces and will no longer be a people).

“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God [one that will convince you that God has spoken and will keep His word]; make your request as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.”

The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim (the ten northern tribes) separated from Judah—[He will call for] the king of Assyria.”

In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the mouth of the rivers and canals of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

In that day [when foreign armies swarm the land] the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from the regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), [that razor will shave] the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard [leaving Judah stripped, shamed and scorned].

Now in that day [because of the poverty caused by the invaders] a man will keep alive only a young milk cow and two sheep;

and because of the abundance of milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left in the land will eat [only] curds and [wild] honey.

And it will come to pass in that day, in every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be briars and thorns.

As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the pick and the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are pastured and where sheep tread.

“Because these people (Judah) have refused the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin [the king of Aram] and Remaliah’s son [Pekah the king of Israel],

“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear nor be in dread of it.

Listen carefully, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders [that will occur] in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

[The tribe of] Manasseh devours [the tribe of his brother] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
And together they are against Judah (the southern kingdom, the house of David).
In spite of all this, God’s anger does not turn away
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of rightful claims,
So that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the fatherless.

Yet it is not Assyria’s intention [to do My will],
Nor does it plan so in its heart,
But instead it is its purpose to destroy
And to cut off many nations.

So when the Lord has completed all His work [of judgment] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit [the thoughts, the declarations, and the actions] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.”

“My hand has found the wealth of the people like a nest,
And as one gathers eggs that are abandoned, so I have gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, or that opened its beak and chirped.”

And the remaining trees of Assyria’s forest will be so few in number
That a child could write them down.

Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

So it will be in that day, that the burden of the Assyrian will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because of the fat.

Then in that day
The nations will make supplications to the Root of Jesse
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.

Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again acquire with His hand a second time
The remnant of His people, who will remain,
From Assyria, from [Lower] Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush (Ethiopia), from Elam [in Persia], from Shinar [Babylonia], from Hamath [in Aram],
And from the coastlands bordering the [Mediterranean] Sea.

And on that day you will say,
“I will give thanks to You, O Lord;
For though You were angry with me,
Your anger has turned away,
And You comfort me.

And in that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name [in prayer].
Make His deeds known among the peoples [of the earth];
Proclaim [to them] that His name is exalted!”

Lift up a signal banner on the bare mountain,
Summon them [the Medes and Persians] with a loud voice,
Wave the [beckoning] hand so that they may enter the doorways of the [Babylonian] nobles.

A sound of tumult on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of the uproar of the kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering an army for battle.

And like the hunted gazelle,
Or like sheep that no man gathers,
Each [foreign resident] will turn [and go back] to his own people,
And each one flee to his own land.

“Prepare a slaughtering place for his sons
Because of the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of their fathers.
They must not rise and take possession of the earth,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”

to break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains I will trample him underfoot. Then the Assyrian’s yoke will be removed from them (the people of Judah) and his burden removed from their shoulder.

This is the plan [of God] decided for the whole earth [regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria]; and this is the hand [of God] that is stretched out over all the nations.

In the year that King Ahaz [of Judah] died this [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) came:

“Do not rejoice, O Philistia, any of you,
Because the rod [of Judah] that struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s root will come a viper [King Hezekiah of Judah],
And its offspring will be a flying serpent.

“Then what answer will one give the messengers of the [Philistine] nation?
That the Lord has founded Zion,
And the afflicted of His people will seek and find refuge in it.”

We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride—
Even of his arrogance, his conceit, his rage,
His untruthful boasting.

So it will come to pass when Moab presents himself,
When he wearies himself [worshiping] on his high place [of idolatry]
And comes to his sanctuary [of Chemosh, god of Moab] to pray,
That he will not prevail.

This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab [when Moab’s pride and resistance to God were first known].

But now the Lord speaks, saying, “Within three years, as the years of a hired man [who will not serve longer than the agreed time], the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all the great population, and the remnant [that survives] will be very small and of no account.”

“Now in that day the [former] glory of Jacob [Israel—his might, his population, his prosperity] will fade,
And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

In that day man will have regard for his Maker,
And his eyes will regard the Holy One of Israel [with awe-inspired reverence].

In that day the strong cities of Aram and Israel will be like deserted places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the children of Israel;
And the land will be a desolation.

Which sends ambassadors by the sea,
Even in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation [of people] tall and smooth (clean shaven),
To a people feared far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.

At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hosts
From a people tall and smooth (clean shaven),
From a people feared far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the place [of worship] of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion [in Jerusalem].

In that day the Egyptians will become like [helpless] women, and they will tremble and be frightened because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He is going to wave over them.

In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of [the Hebrews of] Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One [of them] will be called the City of Destruction.

In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the Lord near its border.