Even when my strength leaves me, ¹  you watch my footsteps. ²  In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.

Answer me quickly, Lord! My strength is fading. ¹  Do not reject me, ²  or I will join ³  those descending into the grave. 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 

Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished ¹  and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, ²  I concluded: ³  “All these ⁴  achievements and possessions ⁵  are ultimately ⁶  profitless ⁷  – like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained ⁸  from them ⁹  on earth.”

So I loathed ¹  life ²  because what happens ³  on earth ⁴  seems awful to me; for all the benefits of wisdom ⁵  are futile – like chasing the wind.

This is another misfortune: ¹  Just as he came, so will he go. What did he gain from toiling for the wind?

If the anger ¹  of the ruler flares up ²  against you, do not resign ³  from your position, ⁴  for a calm ⁵  response ⁶  can undo ⁷  great offenses.

It was reported to the family ¹  of David, “Syria has allied with ²  Ephraim.” They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. ³ 

He will treat the poor fairly, ¹  and make right decisions ²  for the downtrodden of the earth. ³  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ⁴  and order the wicked to be executed. ⁵ 

The Lord will divide ¹  the gulf ²  of the Egyptian Sea; ³  he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River ⁴  and send a strong wind, ⁵  he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, ⁶  and enable them to walk across in their sandals.

Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ¹  when he shouts at ²  them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles ³  before a strong gale.

The Egyptians will panic, ¹  and I will confuse their strategy. ²  They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead, from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians. ³ 

The Lord has made them undiscerning; ¹  they lead Egypt astray in all she does, so that she is like a drunk sliding around in his own vomit. ² 

For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. Though the breath of tyrants ¹  is like a winter rainstorm, ² 

I ¹  look for ²  you during the night, my spirit within me seeks you at dawn, for when your judgments come upon the earth, those who live in the world learn about justice. ³ 

We were pregnant, we strained, we gave birth, as it were, to wind. ¹  We cannot produce deliverance on the earth; people to populate the world are not born. ² 

For the Lord has poured out on you a strong urge to sleep deeply. ¹  He has shut your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).

“The rebellious ¹  children are as good as dead,” ²  says the Lord, “those who make plans without consulting me, ³  who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, ⁴  and thereby compound their sin. ⁵ 

His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river ¹  that reaches one’s neck. He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff; ²  he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction. ³ 

The Egyptians are mere humans, not God; their horses are made of flesh, not spirit. The Lord will strike with ¹  his hand; the one who helps will stumble and the one being helped will fall. Together they will perish. ²