for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man preys on your precious life.

Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow, so is the one who testifies against his neighbor as a false witness.

The one who is tormented by the murder of another will flee to the pit; let no one support him.

before the sun and the light of the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds disappear after the rain;

The Beloved to the Maidens: I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem: “Do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”

The people did not return to the one who struck them, they did not seek reconciliation with the Lord who commands armies.

Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory; their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim.

The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and then healing them. They will turn to the Lord and he will listen to their prayers and heal them.

The fortified city (along with the very tops of your walls) he will knock down, he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground.

Trust in the Lord from this time forward, even in Yah, the Lord, an enduring protector!

This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. Then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will be considered a forest.

Fairness will produce peace and result in lasting security.

He will not grow dim or be crushed before establishing justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait in anticipation for his decrees.”

Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.

In light of all this, how can you still hold back, Lord? How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?

“So, once more I will state my case against you,” says the Lord. “I will also state it against your children and grandchildren.

“Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil so that you may yet be delivered. How long will you continue to harbor up wicked schemes within you?

Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds.

They went on to Egypt because they refused to obey the Lord, and came to Tahpanhes.

The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning. The people of Ashkelon will be struck dumb. How long will you gash yourselves to show your sorrow, you who remain of Philistia’s power?