<p class="poetry">I have wandered off like a lost sheep.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Come looking for your servant,p> <p class="poetry">for I do not forget your commands.p>

<p class="poetry">Oppressors treat my<n id="1" /> people cruelly;p> <p class="poetry">creditors rule over them.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">My people&#8217;s leaders mislead them;p> <p class="poetry">they give you confusing directions.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The officials of Zoan are fools,p> <p class="poetry">the officials of Memphis<n id="1" /> are misled;p> <p class="poetry">the rulers<n id="2" /> of her tribes lead Egypt astray.p>

<p class="poetry">My heart palpitates,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I shake in fear;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the twilight I desiredp> <p class="poetry">has brought me terror.p>

<p class="poetry">They will disappoint you,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Each strays off in his own direction,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">leaving no one to rescue you.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">All of us had wandered off like sheep;p> <p class="poetry">each of us had strayed off on his own path,p> <p class="poetry">but the <sc>Lordsc> caused the sin of all of us to attack him.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Why, <sc>Lordsc>, do you make us stray<n id="1" /> from your ways,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Return for the sake of your servants,p> <p class="poetry">the tribes of your inheritance!p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I saw the prophets of Samaria<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">doing something that was disgusting.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They prophesied in the name of the god Baalp> <p class="poetry">and led my people Israel astray.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Even these men<n id="1" /> stagger because of wine,p> <p class="poetry">they stumble around because of beer &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">priests and prophets stagger because of beer,p> <p class="poetry">they are confused<n id="2" /> because of wine,p> <p class="poetry">they stumble around because of beer;p> <p class="poetry">they stagger while seeing prophetic visions,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">they totter while making legal decisions.<n id="4" />p>

But they did not obey,<n id="1" /> and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the <sc>Lordsc> had destroyed from before the Israelites.p>

But Manasseh misled the people of<n id="1" /> Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the <sc>Lordsc> had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.p>

<p class="poetry">For forty years I was continually disgusted<n id="1" /> with that generation,p> <p class="poetry">and I said, &#8216;These people desire to go astray;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they do not obey my commands.&#8217;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">that reaches one&#8217;s neck.p> <p class="poetry">He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">A thoroughfare will be there &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">it will be called the Way of Holiness.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The unclean will not travel on it;p> <p class="poetry">it is reserved for those authorized to use it<n id="2" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">fools<n id="3" /> will not stray into it.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;My people have been lost sheep.p> <p class="poetry">Their shepherds<n id="1" /> have allow them to go astray.p> <p class="poetry">They have wandered around in the mountains.p> <p class="poetry">They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They have forgotten their resting place.p>

<p class="poetry">They consult their wooden idols,p> <p class="poetry">and their diviner&#8217;s staff answers with an oracle.p> <p class="poetry">The wind of prostitution blows them astray;p> <p class="poetry">they commit spiritual adultery<n id="1" /> against their God.p>

When God made me wander<n id="1" /> from my father&#8217;s house, I told her, &#8216;This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me:<n id="2" /> Every place we go, say about me, &#8220;He is my brother.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Early in the morning Abraham took<n id="1" /> some food<n id="2" /> and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child,<n id="3" /> and sent her away. So she went wandering<n id="4" /> aimlessly through the wilderness<n id="5" /> of Beer Sheba.

<p class="poetry">For the fields of Heshbon are dried up,p> <p class="poetry">as well as the vines of Sibmah.p> <p class="poetry">The rulers of the nations trample all over its vines,p> <p class="poetry">which reach Jazer and spread to the desert;p> <p class="poetry">their shoots spread out and cross the sea.p>

I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies.<n id="2" /> I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all.<n id="3" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>