Now, O <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel, may the promise you made to your servant David be realized.<n id="1" />p>

Now listen to me! Send back those you have seized from your brothers, for the <sc>Lordsc> is very angry at you!&#8221;<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;And now what are we able to say after this, our God? For we have forsaken your commandments

<p class="poetry">And further,<n id="1" /> when you sayp> <p class="poetry">that his anger does not punish,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and that he does not know transgression!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">But now, the sun<n id="1" /> cannot be looked at<n id="2" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">it is bright in the skies &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">after a wind passed and swept the clouds away.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">How tragic that the once-faithful cityp> <p class="poetry">has become a prostitute!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">She was once a center of<n id="2" /> justice,p> <p class="poetry">fairness resided in her,p> <p class="poetry">but now only murderers.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">So now, residents of Jerusalem,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">people<n id="2" /> of Judah,p> <p class="poetry">you decide between me and my vineyard!p>

<p class="poetry">Yet,<n id="1" /> <sc>Lordsc>, you are our father.p> <p class="poetry">We are the clay, and you are our potter;p> <p class="poetry">we are all the product of your labor.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Soon<n id="1" /> I will expose her lewd nakedness<n id="2" /> in front of her lovers,p> <p class="poetry">and no one will be able to rescue her from me!<n id="3" />p>

So now, <sc>Lordsc>, kill me instead,<n id="1" /> because I would rather die than live!&#8221;<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Many nations have now assembled against you.p> <p class="poetry">They say, &#8220;Jerusalem must be desecrated,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">so we can gloat over Zion!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Here then is what the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says: &#8216;Think carefully about what you are doing.<n id="1" />

But I will be different now to this remnant of my people from the way I was in those days,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,

So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful.<n id="1" /> In fact, those who challenge<n id="2" /> God escape!&#8217;&#8221;p>

Now the <sc>Lordsc> your God has made your fellow Israelites secure,<n id="1" /> just as he promised them. So now you may turn around and go to your homes<n id="2" /> in your own land<n id="3" /> which Moses the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant assigned to you east of the Jordan.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Now, my lord, as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives and as surely as you live, it is the <sc>Lordsc> who has kept you from shedding blood and taking matters into your own hands. Now may your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord be like Nabal.

So now, you are banished<n id="1" /> from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother&#8217;s blood from your hand.

Why did you say, &#8216;She is my sister,&#8217; so that I took her<n id="1" /> to be my wife?<n id="2" /> Here is your wife!<n id="3" /> Take her and go!&#8221;<n id="4" />

Indeed,<n id="1" /> you had little before I arrived,<n id="2" /> but now your possessions have increased many times over.<n id="3" /> The <sc>Lordsc> has blessed you wherever I worked.<n id="4" /> But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

Surely all the wealth that God snatched away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So now do everything God has told you.&#8221;p>