Joseph said to them, “What did you think you were doing? ¹  Don’t you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?” ² 

warn ¹  them of the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk ²  and the work they must do. ³ 

On the third day ¹  you should go down quickly ²  and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. ³  Stay near the stone Ezel.

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.

I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked; for there is an appropriate time for every activity, and there is a time of judgment ¹  for every deed.

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 

That entire generation passed away; ¹  a new generation grew up ²  that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel. ³ 

Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. ¹  When his sons came home, they told their father ²  everything the prophet ³  had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king. ⁴ 

God has made everything fit beautifully ¹  in its appropriate time, but ²  he has also placed ignorance ³  in the human heart ⁴  so that ⁵  people ⁶  cannot discover what God has ordained, ⁷  from the beginning to the end ⁸  of their lives. ⁹ 

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The gate of the inner court that faces east ¹  will be closed six working days, but on the Sabbath day it will be opened and on the day of the new moon it will be opened.

then I discerned all that God has done: ¹  No one really comprehends what happens ²  on earth. ³  Despite all human ⁴  efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp ⁵  it. ⁶  Even if ⁷  a wise person claimed ⁸  that he understood, he would not really comprehend ⁹  it.