<p class="poetry">It will produce thorns and thistles for you,p> <p class="poetry">but you will eat the grain<n id="1" /> of the field.p>

<p class="poetry">But evil people are like thorns &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">all of them are tossed away,p> <p class="poetry">for they cannot be held in the hand.p>

<p class="poetry">The nations will be burned to ashes;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.p>

<p class="poetry">They surrounded me like bees.p> <p class="poetry">But they disappeared as quickly<n id="1" /> as a fire among thorns.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Indeed, in the name of the <sc>Lordsc> I pushed them away.p>

<p class="poetry">My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it.p> <p class="poetry">They will be disappointed in their harvests<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">because the <sc>Lordsc> will take them away in his fierce anger.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;If a fire breaks out and spreads<n id="1" /> to thorn bushes,<n id="2" /> so that stacked grain or standing grain or the whole field is consumed, the one who started<n id="3" /> the fire must surely make restitution.p>

Gideon said, &#8220;Since you will not help,<n id="1" /> after the <sc>Lordsc> hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh<n id="2" /> your skin<n id="3" /> with<n id="4" /> desert thorns and briers.&#8221;

He seized the leaders<n id="1" /> of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then &#8220;threshed&#8221; the men of Succoth with them.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Mourn<n id="1" /> over the land of my people,p> <p class="poetry">which is overgrown with thorns and briers,p> <p class="poetry">and over all the once-happy houses<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">in the city filled with revelry.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Yes,<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> has this to sayp> <p class="poetry">to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground,p> <p class="poetry">you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning;p> <p class="poetry">just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted,p> <p class="poetry">you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers<n id="1" /> or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them.<n id="2" /> Then they will know that I am the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">The high places of the &#8220;House<n id="1" /> of Wickedness&#8221;<n id="2" /> will be destroyed;p> <p class="poetry">it is the place where Israel sins.p> <p class="poetry">Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars.p> <p class="poetry">Then they will say to the mountains, &#8220;Cover us!&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">and to the hills, &#8220;Fall on us!&#8221;p>