<p class="poetry">All your allies<n id="1" /> will force<n id="2" /> you from your homeland!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Your treaty partners<n id="4" /> will deceive you and overpower you.p> <p class="poetry">Your trusted friends<n id="5" /> will set an ambush<n id="6" /> for<n id="7" /> youp> <p class="poetry">that will take you by surprise!<n id="8" />p>

<p class="poetry">Each will sit under his own grapevinep> <p class="poetry">or under his own fig tree without any fear.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies has decreed it.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Jerusalem, why are you<n id="1" /> now shouting so loudly?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Has your king disappeared?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Has your wise leader<n id="4" /> been destroyed?p> <p class="poetry">Is this why<n id="5" /> pain grips<n id="6" /> you as if you were a woman in labor?p>

<t /><p class="poetry">I am depressed!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="2" /> it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered,p> <p class="poetry">and the grapes have been harvested.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">There is no grape cluster to eat,p> <p class="poetry">no fresh figs that I crave so much.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Faithful men have disappeared<n id="1" /> from the land;p> <p class="poetry">there are no godly men left.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">they hunt their own brother with a net.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Where now is the den of the lions,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the feeding place<n id="2" /> of the young lions,p> <p class="poetry">where<n id="3" /> the lion, lioness,<n id="4" /> and lion cub once prowled<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">and no one disturbed them?<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">The charioteers<n id="1" /> will charge ahead;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">their swords<n id="3" /> will flash<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and their spears<n id="5" /> will glimmer!<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">There will be many people slain;<n id="7" />p> <p class="poetry">there will be piles of the dead,p> <p class="poetry">and countless casualties<n id="8" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">so many that people<n id="9" /> will stumble over the corpses.p>

<p class="poetry">Your destruction is like an incurable wound;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">your demise is like a fatal injury!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">All who hear what has happened to you<n id="3" /> will clap their hands for joy,<n id="4" />p> <p class="bodytext">for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty!<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">The one who says to wood, &#8216;Wake up!&#8217; is as good as dead<n id="1" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">he who says<n id="2" /> to speechless stone, &#8216;Awake!&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">Can it give reliable guidance?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">It is overlaid with gold and silver;p> <p class="poetry">it has no life&#8217;s breath inside it.p>

<p class="poetry">Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete,<n id="1" /> are as good as dead.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has decreed your downfall,<n id="3" /> Canaan, land of the Philistines:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will destroy everyone who lives there!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;I destroyed<n id="1" /> nations;p> <p class="poetry">their walled cities<n id="2" /> are in ruins.p> <p class="poetry">I turned their streets into ruins;p> <p class="poetry">no one passes through them.p> <p class="poetry">Their cities are desolate;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no one lives there.<n id="4" />p>

I struck all the products of your labor<n id="1" /> with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,&#8217;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.

&#8220;Therefore, I have caused you to be ignored and belittled before all people to the extent to which you are not following after me and are showing partiality in your<n id="1" /> instruction.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">You also do this: You cover the altar of the <sc>Lordsc> with tears<n id="1" /> as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The priest replied, &#8220;The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod. If you wish, take it for yourself. Other than that, there&#8217;s nothing here.&#8221; David said, &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing like it! Give it to me!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Asa prayed<n id="1" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> his God: &#8220;O <sc>Lordsc>, there is no one but you who can help the weak when they are vastly outnumbered.<n id="2" /> Help us, O <sc>Lordsc> our God, for we rely on you and have marched on your behalf against this huge army.<n id="3" /> O <sc>Lordsc> our God, don&#8217;t let men prevail against you!&#8221;<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">Now<n id="1" /> no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field<n id="2" /> had yet sprouted, for the <sc>Lordsc> God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.<n id="3" />

But now give back the man&#8217;s wife. Indeed<n id="1" /> he is a prophet<n id="2" /> and he will pray for you; thus you will live.<n id="3" /> But if you don&#8217;t give her back,<n id="4" /> know that you will surely die<n id="5" /> along with all who belong to you.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she<n id="1" /> became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, &#8220;Give me children<n id="2" /> or I&#8217;ll die!&#8221;

My integrity will testify for me<n id="1" /> later on.<n id="2" /> When you come to verify that I&#8217;ve taken only the wages we agreed on,<n id="3" /> if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.&#8221;<n id="4" />