Solomon had made a bronze platform and had placed it in the middle of the enclosure. It was seven and one-half feet<n id="1" /> long, seven and one-half feet<n id="2" /> wide, and four and one-half feet<n id="3" /> high. He stood on it and then got down on his knees in front of the entire assembly of Israel. He spread out his hands toward the sky,

When all your people Israel pray and ask for help,<n id="1" /> as they acknowledge their intense pain<n id="2" /> and spread out their hands toward this temple,

<p class="poetry">In fact,<n id="1" /> I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,p> <p class="poetry">a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby.p> <p class="poetry">It is the cry of Daughter Zion<n id="2" /> gasping for breath,p> <p class="poetry">reaching out for help,<n id="3" /> saying, &#8220;I am done in!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">My life is ebbing away before these murderers!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing<n id="1" /> that you had reached the age for love.<n id="2" /> I spread my cloak<n id="3" /> over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, and you became mine.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Hear this, you priests!p> <p class="poetry">Pay attention, you Israelites!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Listen closely,<n id="2" /> O king!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For judgment is about to overtake you!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">For you were like a trap<n id="5" /> to Mizpah,<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">like a net<n id="7" /> spread out to catch Tabor.<n id="8" />p>

<p class="poetry">It will be<n id="1" /> a day of dreadful darkness,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">a day of foreboding storm clouds,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">like blackness<n id="4" /> spread over the mountains.p> <p class="poetry">It is a huge and powerful army<n id="5" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">there has never been anything like it ever before,p> <p class="poetry">and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come!<n id="6" />p>