<p class="poetry">There is no one to plead your cause.p> <p class="poetry">There are no remedies for your wounds.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">There is no healing for you.p>

<p class="poetry">There is still medicinal ointment<n id="1" /> available in Gilead!p> <p class="poetry">There is still a physician there!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Why then have my dear people<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">not been restored to health?<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I looked and saw that there were no more people,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.p>

<p class="poetry">Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels?p> <p class="poetry">Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire?p> <p class="poetry">But my people have forgotten mep> <p class="poetry">for more days than can even be counted.p>

<p class="poetry">The prophets will prove to be full of wind.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has not spoken through them.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So, let what they say happen to them.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Wild donkeys stand on the hilltopsp> <p class="poetry">and pant for breath like jackals.p> <p class="poetry">Their eyes are strained looking for food,p> <p class="poetry">because there is none to be found.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

King Zedekiah said to them, &#8220;Very well, you can do what you want with him.<n id="1" /> For I cannot do anything to stop you.&#8221;<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">I hear my dear people<n id="1" /> crying out<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">throughout the length and breadth of the land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They are crying, &#8216;Is the <sc>Lordsc> no longer in Zion?p> <p class="poetry">Is her divine King<n id="4" /> no longer there?&#8217;&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> answers,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,p> <p class="poetry">with their worthless foreign idols?&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke about the Ammonites.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining?p> <p class="poetry">Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land?p> <p class="poetry">Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities?<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will take away their harvests,<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lord.sc>p> <p class="poetry">There will be no grapes on their vines.p> <p class="poetry">There will be no figs on their fig trees.p> <p class="poetry">Even the leaves on their trees will wither.p> <p class="poetry">The crops that I gave them will be taken away.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Yes indeed,<n id="2" /> I am sending an enemy against youp> <p class="poetry">that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">But our tents have been destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Our children are gone and are not coming back.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">There is no survivor to put our tents back up,p> <p class="poetry">no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.p>

<p class="poetry">They will lay it waste.p> <p class="poetry">It will lie parched<n id="1" /> and empty before me.p> <p class="poetry">The whole land will be laid waste.p> <p class="poetry">But no one living in it will pay any heed.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for<n id="1" /> these people, I would not feel pity for them!<n id="2" /> Get them away from me! Tell them to go away!<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">But you are always thinking and lookingp> <p class="poetry">for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means.p> <p class="poetry">Your eyes and your heart are setp> <p class="poetry">on killing some innocent personp> <p class="poetry">and committing fraud and oppression.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Yes,<n id="1" /> I will restore you to health.p> <p class="poetry">I will heal your wounds.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For you have been called an outcast,p> <p class="poetry">Zion, whom no one cares for.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you dear poor people of Egypt.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">there will be no healing for you.p>

<p class="poetry">People will not praise Moab any more.p> <p class="poetry">The enemy will capture Heshbon<n id="1" /> and plot<n id="2" /> how to destroy Moab,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">saying, &#8216;Come, let&#8217;s put an end to that nation!&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">City of Madmen, you will also be destroyed.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">A destructive army will march against you.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">On all the housetops in Moabp> <p class="poetry">and in all its public squaresp> <p class="poetry">there will be nothing but mourning.p> <p class="poetry">For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar.p> <p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">I have listened to them very carefully,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">but they do not speak honestly.p> <p class="poetry">None of them regrets the evil he has done.p> <p class="poetry">None of them says, &#8220;I have done wrong!&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">All of them persist in their own wayward course<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">like a horse charging recklessly into battle.p>