May the godly strike me in love and correct me! May my head not refuse ¹  choice oil! ²  Indeed, my prayer is a witness against their evil deeds. ³ 

Next, I decided to consider ¹  wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas. ²  For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king ³  has already done?

I also thought to myself, “It is ¹  for the sake of people, ²  so God can clearly ³  show ⁴  them that they are like animals.

Just as you do not know the path ¹  of the wind, or how the bones form ²  in the womb of a pregnant woman, ³  so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

At the end of seventy years ¹  the Lord will revive ²  Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth’s kingdoms. ³ 

For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “You have rejected this message; ¹  you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, ²  and rely on that kind of behavior. ³ 

For a fool speaks disgraceful things; ¹  his mind plans out sinful deeds. ²  He commits godless deeds ³  and says misleading things about the Lord; he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite ⁴  and gives the thirsty nothing to drink. ⁵ 

The one who lives ¹  uprightly ²  and speaks honestly; the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures and rejects a bribe; ³  the one who does not plot violent crimes ⁴  and does not seek to harm others ⁵  –

This is what the Lord says to his chosen ¹  one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ²  in order to subdue nations before him, and disarm kings, ³  to open doors before him, so gates remain unclosed:

Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ¹  but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ²  You get renewed energy, ³  so you don’t collapse. ⁴ 

Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ¹  you will reestablish the ancient foundations. You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls, the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ² 

However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ¹  and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You must confess ²  that you have given yourself to ³  foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

At that time the city of Jerusalem ¹  will be called the Lord’s throne. All nations will gather there in Jerusalem to honor the Lord’s name. ²  They will no longer follow the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. ³ 

“If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord, “if you want to come back to me ¹  you must get those disgusting idols ²  out of my sight and must no longer go astray. ³ 

I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹  They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ²  They do not know what their God requires of them. ³ 

I will go to the leaders ¹  and speak with them. Surely they know what the Lord demands. ²  Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ³  Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him. ⁴ 

All of this is because ¹  the Lord who rules over all ²  has said: ‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem and build up a siege ramp against its walls. ³  This is the city which is to be punished. ⁴  Nothing but oppression happens in it. ⁵ 

So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped ¹  in the early days. See what I did to it ²  because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ¹  They are always telling lies. ²  Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ³ 

The Lord says, “Do not start following pagan religious practices. ¹  Do not be in awe of signs that occur ²  in the sky even though the nations hold them in awe.