All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah’s place.

This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ¹  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ²  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

Solomon sat on the Lord’s throne as king in place of his father David; he was successful and all Israel was loyal to him. ¹ 

All the officers and warriors, as well as all of King David’s sons, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. ¹ 

The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its assigned ¹  place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place under the wings of the cherubs.

All the people of Judah took Uzziah, ¹  who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah’s place.

This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ¹  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ²  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

Let the young woman whom the king finds most attractive ¹  become queen in place of Vashti.” This seemed like a good idea to the king, ²  so he acted accordingly.

I also could speak ¹  like you, if ²  you were in my place; I could pile up ³  words against you and I could shake my head at you. ⁴ 

What exists now ¹  is what will be, ²  and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth. ³ 

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.

So I loathed all the fruit of ¹  my effort, ²  for which I worked so hard ³  on earth, ⁴  because ⁵  I must leave it ⁶  behind ⁷  in the hands of my successor. ⁸ 

Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet ¹  he will be master over all the fruit of ²  my labor ³  for which I worked so wisely ⁴  on earth! ⁵  This also is futile!

But better than both is the one who has not been born ¹  and has not seen the evil things that are done on earth. ² 

I considered all the living who walk on earth, ¹  as well as the successor ²  who would arise ³  in his place.

What they loved, ¹  as well as what they hated ²  and envied, ³  perished long ago, and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. ⁴ 

The Maidens about His Beloved: Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved? The Beloved to Her Lover: Under the apple tree I aroused you; ¹  there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth. ² 

Indeed, a man will grab his brother right in his father’s house ¹  and say, ²  ‘You own a coat – you be our leader! This heap of ruins will be under your control.’ ³ 

You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. ¹  Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. ²