¹³ ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord^(A)—and I must say only what the Lord says’?^(B)

¹⁹ Surely the fate of human beings^(A) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[a]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.