so is a person who deceives his neighbor, and says, “Was I not only joking?”

When a country is rebellious it has many princes, but by someone who is discerning and knowledgeable order is maintained.

This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have not done wrong.”

For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns under a cooking pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This kind of folly also is useless.

The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; your name is like the finest perfume. No wonder the young women adore you!

As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.”

For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage.

For this reason what they have made and stored up, they carry over the Stream of the Poplars.

We have heard about Moab’s pride, their great arrogance, their boasting, pride, and excess. But their boastful claims are empty!

So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, my inner being sighs for Kir Hareseth.

So in the east extol the Lord, along the seacoasts extol the fame of the Lord God of Israel.

So a strong nation will extol you; the towns of powerful nations will fear you.

As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver and strains and cries out because of her labor pains, so were we because of you, O Lord.

Just as birds hover over a nest, so the Lord who commands armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; as he passes over he will rescue it.

I cry out until morning; like a lion he shatters all my bones; you turn day into night and end my life.

They will disappoint you, those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. Each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue you.”

(just as many were horrified by the sight of you) he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man;

for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans.

As a mother consoles a child, so I will console you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” says the Lord.