<t /><p class="bodytext">There was a young man from Bethlehem<n id="1" /> in Judah. He was a Levite who had been temporarily residing among the tribe of Judah.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">You must recognize the authority of the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He is the one you must respect;p> <p class="poetry">he is the one you must fear.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Gad will be raided by marauding bands,p> <p class="poetry">but he will attack them at their heels.<n id="1" />p>

He must take a wife who is a virgin.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">So I<n id="1" /> waste away like something rotten,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">like a garment eaten by moths.p>

<p class="poetry">Can anyone teach<n id="1" /> God knowledge,p> <p class="poetry">since<n id="2" /> he judges those that are on high?<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">And when he is carried to the tombs,p> <p class="poetry">and watch is kept<n id="1" /> over the funeral mound,<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">He will deliver<n id="1" /> Israelp> <p class="poetry">from all the consequences of their sins.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Acknowledge<n id="1" /> him in all your ways,<n id="2" /> p> <p class="poetry">and he will make your paths straight.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Do not crave that ruler&#8217;s<n id="1" /> delicacies,p> <p class="poetry">for<n id="2" /> that food is deceptive.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Later<n id="1" /> Hezron had sexual relations with<n id="2" /> the daughter of Makir, the father of Gilead. (He had married<n id="3" /> her when he was sixty years old.) She bore him Segub.

<p class="poetry">Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">but he does not recognize it!p> <p class="poetry">His head is filled with gray hair,p> <p class="poetry">but he does not realize it!p>

<p class="poetry">Asher&#8217;s<n id="1" /> food will be rich,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and he will provide delicacies<n id="3" /> to royalty. p>

<p class="poetry">But it was he<n id="1" /> who filled their housesp> <p class="poetry">with good things &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">yet the counsel of the wicked<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">was far from me.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">But he is unchangeable,<n id="1" /> and who can change<n id="2" /> him?p> <p class="poetry">Whatever he<n id="3" /> has desired, he does.p>

<p class="poetry">God understands the way to it,p> <p class="poetry">and he alone knows its place.p>

<p class="poetry">For I would have committed<n id="1" /> a shameful act,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">an iniquity to be judged.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">He judges the world fairly;p> <p class="poetry">he makes just legal decisions for the nations.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Commit your future to the <sc>Lordsc>!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">By God&#8217;s power we will conquer;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will trample down<n id="2" /> our enemies.p>