When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, ¹  who were standing at a distance, ²  saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah ³  rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

for this is what the Lord says, ‘You will not feel ¹  any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink.’

So now, look, the Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; but the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

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.

Who really knows if the human spirit ¹  ascends upward, and the animal’s spirit descends into the earth?

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 

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 

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 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 

Each of them ¹  will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.

“Indeed, the Lord will call you back like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, ¹  like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.

When you cry out for help, let your idols ¹  help you! The wind blows them all away, ²  a breeze carries them away. ³  But the one who looks to me for help ⁴  will inherit the land and will have access to ⁵  my holy mountain.”

For I will not be hostile ¹  forever or perpetually angry, for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, ²  the life-giving breath I created.