<p class="poetry">Even if the mountains are removedp> <p class="poetry">and the hills displaced,p> <p class="poetry">my devotion will not be removed from you,p> <p class="poetry">nor will my covenant of friendship<n id="1" /> be displaced,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>, the one who has compassion on you.p>

<p class="poetry">I have not departed from the commands of his lips;p> <p class="poetry">I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Disaster is within it;p> <p class="poetry">violence<n id="1" /> and deceit do not depart from its public square.p>

<p class="poetry">As for the one who repays<n id="1" /> evil for good,p> <p class="poetry">evil will not leave<n id="2" /> his house.<n id="3" />p>

He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people.<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">She is full of lies;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">she is filled with plunder;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">she has hoarded her spoil!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">But they dared<n id="1" /> to go up to the crest of the hill, although<n id="2" /> neither the ark of the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc> nor Moses departed from the camp.

Do not leave this place until I come back<n id="1" /> with a gift<n id="2" /> and present it to you.&#8221; The <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;I will stay here until you come back.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">They put it on their shoulder and carry it;p> <p class="poetry">they put it in its place and it just stands there;p> <p class="poetry">it does not<n id="1" /> move from its place.p> <p class="poetry">Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;p> <p class="poetry">it does not deliver him from his distress.p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> affirms,<n id="1" /> &#8220;The descendants of Israel will notp> <p class="poetry">cease forever to be a nation in my sight.p> <p class="poetry">That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lightsp> <p class="poetry">were to cease to operate before me.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> would speak to Moses face to face,<n id="1" /> the way a person speaks<n id="2" /> to a friend. Then Moses<n id="3" /> would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.<n id="4" />p>

This law scroll must not leave your lips!<n id="1" /> You must memorize it<n id="2" /> day and night so you can carefully obey<n id="3" /> all that is written in it. Then you will prosper<n id="4" /> and be successful.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;At that time,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, &#8220;the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Indeed,<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> has spoken.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;As for me, this is my promise to<n id="1" /> them,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">They will be like a tree planted near a streamp> <p class="poetry">whose roots spread out toward the water.p> <p class="poetry">It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.p> <p class="poetry">Its leaves are always green.p> <p class="poetry">It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.p> <p class="poetry">It does not stop bearing fruit.p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore the <sc>Lordsc> says this: &#8220;Look, I am devising disaster for this nation!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You will no longer<n id="3" /> walk proudly,p> <p class="poetry">for it will be a time of catastrophe.p>

<p class="poetry">In that day people will sing this taunt song to you &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">they will mock you with this lament:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;We are completely destroyed;p> <p class="poetry">they sell off<n id="2" /> the property of my people.p> <p class="poetry">How they remove it from me!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They assign our fields to the conqueror.&#8217;<n id="4" />p>

As for the stone<n id="1" /> I have set before Joshua &#8211; on the one stone there are seven eyes.<n id="2" /> I am about to engrave an inscription on it,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, &#8216;to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.<n id="3" />

On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward.<n id="1" />