I chose ¹  the way for them ²  and sat as their chief; ³  I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners. ⁴ 

You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ¹  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ² 

and they are afraid of heights and the dangers ¹  in the street; the almond blossoms ²  grow white, ³  and the grasshopper ⁴  drags itself along, ⁵  and the caper berry ⁶  shrivels up ⁷  – because man goes to his eternal home, ⁸  and the mourners go about in the streets –

Because of Israel’s sins ¹  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ²  says: “In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ³  They will tell the field workers ⁴  to lament and the professional mourners ⁵  to wail.