from Benhadad: "I will bring enough men to destroy this city of yours and carry off the rubble in their hands. May the gods strike me dead if I don't!"

King Ahab answered, "Tell King Benhadad that a real soldier does his bragging after a battle, not before it."

No one is respected unless he is humble; arrogant people are on the way to ruin.

I realized another thing, that in this world fast runners do not always win the races, and the brave do not always win the battles. The wise do not always earn a living, intelligent people do not always get rich, and capable people do not always rise to high positions. Bad luck happens to everyone.

You never know when your time is coming. Like birds suddenly caught in a trap, like fish caught in a net, we are trapped at some evil moment when we least expect it.

The LORD says, "The wise should not boast of their wisdom, nor the strong of their strength, nor the rich of their wealth.

"Mortal man," he said, "tell the ruler of Tyre what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to him: Puffed up with pride, you claim to be a god. You say that like a god you sit on a throne, surrounded by the seas. You may pretend to be a god, but, no, you are mortal, not divine.

When they come to kill you, will you still claim that you are a god? When you face your murderers, you will be mortal and not at all divine.

You will die like a dog at the hand of godless foreigners. I, the Sovereign LORD, have given the command."

The Sovereign LORD said to me, "Mortal man, call all the birds and animals to come from all around to eat the sacrifice I am preparing for them. It will be a huge feast on the mountains of Israel, where they can eat meat and drink blood.

When I kill these people like sacrifices, the birds and animals are to eat all the fat they can hold and to drink blood until they are drunk.