I am ¹  a laughingstock ²  to my friends, ³  I, who called on God and whom he answered ⁴  – a righteous and blameless ⁵  man is a laughingstock!

He will yet ¹  fill your mouth with laughter, ²  and your lips with gladness.

Carrying out a wicked scheme ¹  is enjoyable ²  to a fool, and so is wisdom for the one who has discernment. ³ 

Even in laughter the heart may ache, ¹  and the end ²  of joy may be ³  grief.

I said of partying, ¹  “It is folly,” and of self-indulgent pleasure, ²  “It accomplishes nothing!” ³ 

Sorrow ¹  is better than laughter, because sober reflection ²  is good for the heart. ³ 

I have become the laughingstock of all people, ¹  their mocking song ²  all day long. ³ 

For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns ¹  under a cooking pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This kind of folly ²  also is useless. ³ 

Feasts ¹  are made ²  for laughter, and wine makes life merry, ³  but money is the answer ⁴  for everything.

Lord, you coerced me into being a prophet, and I allowed you to do it. You overcame my resistance and prevailed over me. ¹  Now I have become a constant laughingstock. Everyone ridicules me.

“Moab has vaunted itself against me. So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath ¹  until he splashes ²  around in his own vomit, until others treat him as a laughingstock.

At that time we laughed loudly and shouted for joy. ¹  At that time the nations said, ²  “The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”

For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel? Did you think that they were nothing but thieves, ¹  that you shook your head in contempt ²  every time you talked about them? ³ 

Oh, how shattered Moab will be! Oh, how her people will wail! Oh, how she will turn away ¹  in shame! Moab will become an object of ridicule, a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.”