unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good,

I will pour out my anger on you; the fire of my fury I will blow on you. I will hand you over to brutal men, who are skilled in destruction.

Their hearts are calloused, ¹  but I find delight in your law.

Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

idolatry, sorcery, ¹  hostilities, ²  strife, ³  jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, ⁴  factions,

So a strong nation will extol you; the towns of ¹  powerful nations will fear you.

Ephraim will be oppressed, ¹  crushed ²  under judgment, ³  because he was determined to pursue worthless idols. ⁴ 

The slave masters were pressuring ¹  them, saying, “Complete ²  your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”

From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble ¹  for this people, and you have certainly not rescued ²  them!” ³ 

For the law of the life-giving Spirit ¹  in Christ Jesus has set you ²  free from the law of sin and death.

So they put foremen ¹  over the Israelites ²  to oppress ³  them with hard labor. As a result ⁴  they built Pithom and Rameses ⁵  as store cities for Pharaoh.

This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of ¹  Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped ²  other gods;

Wail, O city gate! Cry out, O city! Melt with fear, ¹  all you Philistines! For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke, and there are no stragglers in its ranks. ² 

For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. Though the breath of tyrants ¹  is like a winter rainstorm, ² 

I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah just like the town of Jazer weeps over them. ¹  Their branches once spread as far as the Dead Sea. ²  They reached as far as the town of Jazer. ³  The destroyer will ravage her fig, date, ⁴  and grape crops.

He and his people with him, the most terrifying of the nations, ¹  will be brought there to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with corpses.

By the swords of the mighty warriors I will cause your hordes to fall – all of them are the most terrifying among the nations. They will devastate the pride of Egypt, and all its hordes will be destroyed.

Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land ¹  have departed ²  from its shade and left it.