During the days of my fleeting life ¹  I have seen both ²  of these things: Sometimes ³  a righteous person dies prematurely ⁴  in spite of ⁵  his righteousness, and sometimes ⁶  a wicked person lives long ⁷  in spite of his evil deeds.

Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, ¹  so no one has power over the day of his ²  death. Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, ³  so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked. ⁴ 

The Lord revealed the following message during the year in which King Sargon of Assyria sent his commanding general to Ashdod, and he fought against it and captured it. ¹ 

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 

Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you; indeed, ¹  every morning it will sweep by, it will come through during the day and the night.” ²  When this announcement is understood, it will cause nothing but terror.

Yet the children born during your time of bereavement will say within your hearing, ‘This place is too cramped for us, ¹  make room for us so we can live here.’ ² 

Your gates will remain open at all times; they will not be shut during the day or at night, so that the wealth of nations may be delivered, with their kings leading the way. ¹ 

This is the order Jeremiah the prophet gave to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went to King Zedekiah of Judah in Babylon during the fourth year of his reign. ¹  (Seraiah was a quartermaster.) ² 

does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains ¹  or pray to the idols ²  of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, does not have sexual relations with a ³  woman during her period,

Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem ¹  during her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Therefore, I will take back ¹  my grain during the harvest time ²  and my new wine when it ripens; ³  I will take away my wool and my flax which I had provided ⁴  in order to clothe her. ⁵ 

“If thieves came to rob you ¹  during the night, ²  they would steal only as much as they wanted! ³  If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards, ⁴  they would leave some behind for the poor! ⁵  But you will be totally destroyed! ⁶ 

This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to ¹  Micah of Moresheth. He delivered this message ²  during the reigns of ³  Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The prophecies pertain to ⁴  Samaria ⁵  and Jerusalem. ⁶ 

This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to ¹  Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. Zephaniah delivered this message during the reign of ²  King Josiah son of Amon of Judah:

During the reign ¹  of Herod ²  king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to ³  the priestly division of Abijah, ⁴  and he had a wife named Elizabeth, ⁵  who was a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ 

One of them, named Agabus, got up ¹  and predicted ²  by the Spirit that a severe ³  famine ⁴  was about to come over the whole inhabited world. ⁵  (This ⁶  took place during the reign of Claudius.) ⁷ 

The God of this people Israel ¹  chose our ancestors ²  and made the people great ³  during their stay as foreigners ⁴  in the country ⁵  of Egypt, and with uplifted arm ⁶  he led them out of it.

During his earthly life ¹  Christ ²  offered ³  both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion.

So now, look, the Lord has preserved my life, just as he promised, these past forty-five years since the Lord spoke these words to Moses, during which Israel traveled through the wilderness. Now look, I am today eighty-five years old.

Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, ¹  Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. ²  He said to her father, ³  “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” ⁴  But her father would not let him enter.