<p class="poetry">I have indeed<n id="1" /> heard the people of Israel<n id="2" /> say mournfully,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;We were like a calf untrained to the yoke.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">You disciplined us and we learned from it.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Let us come back to you and we will do so,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">for you are the <sc>Lordsc> our God.p>

I will punish the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials,<n id="1" /> the priests, and all the other people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf.<n id="2" />

I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces.<n id="1" /> I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Even her mercenaries<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">will prove to be like pampered,<n id="2" /> well-fed calves.p> <p class="poetry">For they too will turn and run away.p> <p class="poetry">They will not stand their groundp> <p class="poetry">when<n id="3" /> the time for them to be destroyed comes,p> <p class="poetry">the time for them to be punished.p>