<p class="poetry">It is as if I have been given fertile fieldsp> <p class="poetry">or received a beautiful tract of land.<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;How often<n id="1" /> is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?p> <p class="poetry">How often does their<n id="2" /> misfortune come upon them?p> <p class="poetry">How often does God apportion pain<n id="3" /> to them<n id="4" /> in his anger?p>

<p class="poetry">You may feel as secure as a birdp> <p class="poetry">nesting in the cedars of Lebanon.p> <p class="poetry">But oh how you<n id="1" /> will groan<n id="2" /> when the pains of judgment come on you.p> <p class="poetry">They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral;p> <p class="poetry">they do so right<n id="1" /> beside every altar!p> <p class="poetry">They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied;p> <p class="poetry">they do so right in the temple<n id="2" /> of their God!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">What will you say<n id="1" /> when the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> appoints as rulers over you those alliesp> <p class="poetry">that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Then anguish and agony will grip youp> <p class="poetry">like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;Here<n id="1" /> are the borders<n id="2" /> you will observe as you allot the land to the twelve tribes of Israel. (Joseph will have two portions.)<n id="3" />

He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third.<n id="1" /> The Moabites became David&#8217;s subjects and brought tribute.<n id="2" />

If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">So I<n id="1" /> began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted<n id="2" /> of all the flock. Then I took two staffs,<n id="3" /> calling one &#8220;Pleasantness&#8221;<n id="4" /> and the other &#8220;Binders,&#8221;<n id="5" /> and I tended the flock.