<t /><p class="poetry">This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and it is a great burden<n id="2" /> to me:p>

<p class="poetry">I have given orders to my chosen soldiers;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">my boasting, arrogant ones.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">The evergreens also rejoice over your demise,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Since you fell asleep,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no woodsman comes up to chop us down!&#8217;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">All of them respond to you, saying:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;You too have become weak like us!p> <p class="poetry">You have become just like us!p>

<p class="poetry">O <sc>Lordsc>, you make us secure,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">for even all we have accomplished, you have done for us.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">This also comes from the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">From this day forward I am he;p> <p class="poetry">no one can deliver from my power;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will act, and who can prevent it?&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Let your private parts be exposed!p> <p class="poetry">Your genitals will be on display!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will get revenge;p> <p class="poetry">I will not have pity on anyone,&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Even if mothers<n id="3" /> were to forget,p> <p class="poetry">I could never forget you!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed;p> <p class="poetry">you go up there to offer sacrifices.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;My, how good you have becomep> <p class="poetry">at chasing after your lovers!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Why do you constantly go aboutp> <p class="poetry">changing your political allegiances?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You will get no help from Egyptp> <p class="poetry">just as you got no help from Assyria.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">No,<n id="1" /> a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding.p> <p class="poetry">Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">But there is little hope for you ever doing good,p> <p class="poetry">you who are so accustomed to doing evil.p> <p class="poetry">Can an Ethiopian<n id="1" /> change the color of his skin?p> <p class="poetry">Can a leopard remove its spots?<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn<n id="1" /> in the fieldp> <p class="poetry">because there is no grass.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Moab has vaunted itself against me.p> <p class="poetry">So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">until he splashes<n id="2" /> around in his own vomit,p> <p class="poetry">until others treat him as a laughingstock.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;Therefore this is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">Woe to the city of bloodshed!p> <p class="poetry">I will also make the pile high.p>

<p class="poetry">You stumble day and night,p> <p class="poetry">and the false prophets stumble with you;p> <p class="poetry">You have destroyed your own people!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">The arrogance of Israel testifies against it;p> <p class="poetry">Israel and Ephraim will be overthrown<n id="1" /> because<n id="2" /> of their iniquity.p> <p class="poetry">Even Judah will be brought down<n id="3" /> with them.p>

<p class="poetry">Even though they have hired lovers among the nations,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will soon gather them together for judgment.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Then<n id="3" /> they will begin to waste awayp> <p class="poetry">under the oppression of a mighty king.<n id="4" />p>