<p class="poetry">The way of the sluggard is like a hedge of thorns,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">but the path of the upright is like<n id="2" /> a highway.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">All of this is because<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="2" /> has said:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Cut down the trees around Jerusalemp> <p class="poetry">and build up a siege ramp against its walls.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">This is the city which is to be punished.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Nothing but oppression happens in it.<n id="5" />p>

Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp<n id="1" /> against it! Post soldiers outside it<n id="2" /> and station battering rams around it.

Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help<n id="1" /> him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will build a siege wall against you, erect a siege ramp against you, and raise a great shield against you.

So Joab&#8217;s men<n id="1" /> came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab&#8217;s soldiers were trying to break through<n id="2" /> the wall so that it would collapse,

<p class="poetry">So this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says about the king of Assyria:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;He will not enter this city,p> <p class="poetry">nor will he shoot an arrow here.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">nor will he build siege works against it.p>

<p class="poetry">So this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says about the king of Assyria:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;He will not enter this city,p> <p class="poetry">nor will he shoot an arrow here.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He will not attack it with his shielded warriors,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">nor will he build siege works against it.p>

Into his right hand<n id="1" /> comes the portent for Jerusalem &#8211; to set up battering rams, to give the signal<n id="2" /> for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry,<n id="3" /> to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.