Yes, your land lies in ruins; it is desolate and devastated. ¹  But now you will be too small to hold your residents, and those who devoured you will be far away.

ב (Bet) The Lord ¹  destroyed ²  mercilessly ³  all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁴  In his anger he tore down the fortified cities ⁵  of Daughter Judah. He knocked to the ground and humiliated the kingdom and its rulers. ⁶ 

פ (Pe) All your enemies gloated over you. ¹  They sneered and gnashed their teeth; they said, “We have destroyed ²  her! Ha! We have waited a long time for this day. We have lived to see it!” ³ 

The leaders of this nation were misleading people, and the people being led were destroyed. ¹ 

So ¹  I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it did taste ²  as sweet as honey in my mouth, but ³  when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.

For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has consumed Ar of Moab and the lords ¹  of the high places of Arnon.

so that now instead ¹  you should rather forgive and comfort him. ²  This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. ³ 

By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry ground, but when the Egyptians tried it, they were swallowed up.

ז (Zayin) Remember ¹  my impoverished and homeless condition, ²  which is a bitter poison. ³ 

But because it is heavier ¹  than the sand ²  of the sea, that is why my words have been wild. ³ 

They swayed ¹  and staggered like a drunk, and all their skill proved ineffective. ² 

Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? ¹ 

Even these men ¹  stagger because of wine, they stumble around because of beer – priests and prophets stagger because of beer, they are confused ²  because of wine, they stumble around because of beer; they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, ³  they totter while making legal decisions. ⁴ 

All the Israelites ¹  who were around them fled at their cry, ²  for they said, “What if ³  the earth swallows us too?”

Let darkness and the deepest shadow ¹  claim it; ²  let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day ³  terrify it!

So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip ¹  and slander among the people,

But while the meat was still between their teeth, before they chewed it, ¹  the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.

Oppressors treat my ¹  people cruelly; creditors rule over them. ²  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. ³ 

So Death ¹  will open up its throat, and open wide its mouth; ²  Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it, including those who revel and celebrate within her. ³ 

As your words came to me I drank them in, ¹  and they filled my heart with joy and happiness because I belong to you. ²