He carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom and plated them with gold, leveled out over the carvings.

When I tried ¹  to gain ²  wisdom and to observe the activity ³  on earth – even though it prevents anyone from sleeping day or night ⁴  –

So I decided ¹  to discern the benefit of ²  wisdom and knowledge over ³  foolish behavior and ideas; ⁴  however, I concluded ⁵  that even ⁶  this endeavor ⁷  is like ⁸  trying to chase the wind! ⁹ 

While applying ¹  my mind ²  to everything ³  that happens in this world, ⁴  I have seen all this: Sometimes one person ⁵  dominates ⁶  other people ⁷  to their harm. ⁸ 

I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

I decided ¹  to carefully ²  and thoroughly examine ³  all that has been accomplished on earth. ⁴  I concluded: ⁵  God has given people ⁶  a burdensome task ⁷  that keeps them ⁸  occupied. ⁹ 

I tried ¹  to understand, examine, and comprehend ²  the role of ³  wisdom in the scheme of things, ⁴  and to understand the stupidity of wickedness ⁵  and the insanity of folly. ⁶ 

Isaiah ordered, “Get a fig cake.” So they did as he ordered ¹  and placed it on the ulcerated sore, and he recovered. ² 

I belong to you. Deliver me! For I seek your precepts.

When I saw this, I gave careful consideration to it; ¹  I received instruction from what I saw: ² 

Then Daniel (whose name is also Belteshazzar) was upset for a brief time; ¹  his thoughts were alarming him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream and its interpretation alarm you.” But Belteshazzar replied, “Sir, ²  if only the dream were for your enemies and its interpretation applied to your adversaries!

I gave myself to the work on this wall, without even purchasing ¹  a field. All my associates were gathered there for the work.

When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you, “Where is the whitewash you coated it with?”

Having said this, ¹  he spat on the ground and made some mud ²  with the saliva. He ³  smeared the mud on the blind man’s ⁴  eyes

It must not be applied ¹  to people’s bodies, and you must not make any like it with the same recipe. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.

This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says – the one who formed you in the womb and helps you: “Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob, Jeshurun, ¹  whom I have chosen!

Foreigners living there will say, ¹  ‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed. Let’s leave Babylonia ²  and each go back to his own country. For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions. It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.’ ³ 

They approach him, all the while plotting against him. Their hearts are like an oven; their anger smolders all night long, but in the morning it bursts into a flaming fire.

So the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight. ¹  He replied, ²  “He put mud ³  on my eyes and I washed, and now ⁴  I am able to see.”

But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing these things so that something will be done for me. ¹  In fact, it would be better for me to die than – no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting! ²