But it is said of Zion’s residents, “Each one of these was born in her, and the sovereign One makes her secure.”

Many people profess their loyalty, but a faithful person – who can find?

Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious person to kindle strife.

The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected.

So now, residents of Jerusalem, people of Judah, you decide between me and my vineyard!

“I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, brothers will fight with each other, as will neighbors, cities, and kingdoms.

But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands and to their own country.

But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’”

On the day after Gedaliah had been murdered, before anyone even knew about it,

Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!”

You rely on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’

Soon I will expose her lewd nakedness in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to rescue her from me!

They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. Each one proceeds on his course; they do not alter their path.

They do not jostle one another; each of them marches straight ahead. They burst through the city defenses and do not break ranks.

They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. They defraud people of their homes, and deprive people of the land they have inherited.

and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten his sword on his side, and go back and forth from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”

One of his attendants replied, “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior and is articulate and handsome, for the Lord is with him.”

Next, I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

Later the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby to have sexual relations with us, according to the way of all the world.

Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up.