Have you not fortified him, as well as his house and every one of his belongings around him, blessed the works of his hands, and his possession has increased in the land?
And so, I declared that wisdom is better than strength. But how is it, then, that the wisdom of the poor man is treated with contempt, and his words are not heeded?
You are walking so as to descend into Egypt, and you have not sought answers from my mouth, instead hoping for assistance from the strength of Pharaoh and placing trust in the shadow of Egypt.
And a man will be like someone hidden from the wind, who conceals himself from a storm, or like rivers of waters in a time of thirst, or like the shadow of a rock that juts out in a desert land.
For these things have not been entrusted to you to no purpose, but so that each one would live by them, and so that, in doing these, you may continue for a long time in the land, which you will enter upon crossing the Jordan in order to possess it."
Yet truly, I consider everything to be a loss, because of the preeminent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of everything, considering it all to be like dung, so that I may gain Christ,
And it responded to them: 'If truly you would appoint me as king, come and rest under my shadow. But if you are not willing, let fire go forth from the bramble, and let it devour the cedars of Lebanon.' "