Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, ¹  or like vinegar poured on soda, ²  so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. ³ 

His legs are like pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.

If she is a wall, ¹  we will build on her a battlement ²  of silver; but if she is a door, we will barricade ³  her with boards ⁴  of cedar. ⁵ 

The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet ¹  and inscribe these words ²  on it with an ordinary stylus: ³  ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ ⁴ 

For ¹  evil burned like a fire, ²  it consumed thorns and briers; it burned up the thickets of the forest, and they went up in smoke. ³ 

The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, ¹  as when a sick man’s life ebbs away. ² 

They will no longer trust in ¹  the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. ² 

In just a very short time ¹  Lebanon will turn into an orchard, and the orchard will be considered a forest. ² 

For at that time ¹  everyone will get rid of ²  the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made. ³ 

For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded ¹  city is abandoned. Hill ²  and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. ³  Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. ⁴ 

This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. ¹  Then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will be considered a forest. ² 

He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress ¹  or an oak. He gets ²  trees from the forest; he plants a cedar ³  and the rain makes it grow.

Bel ¹  kneels down, Nebo ²  bends low. Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ³  Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ⁴ 

The splendor of Lebanon will come to you, its evergreens, firs, and cypresses together, to beautify my palace; ¹  I will bestow honor on my throne room. ² 

When he heard Jeremiah’s prophecy, he had the prophet flogged. ¹  Then he put him in the stocks ²  which were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin in the Lord’s temple. ³ 

He says, “I will build myself a large palace with spacious upper rooms.” He cuts windows in its walls, panels it ¹  with cedar, and paints its rooms red. ² 

The population of Egypt is like a vast, impenetrable forest. But I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that the enemy will cut them down. For those who chop them down will be more numerous than locusts. They will be too numerous to count. ² 

You will become fuel for the fire – your blood will stain the middle of the land; ¹  you will no longer be remembered, for I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

The Dedanites ¹  were your clients. Many coastlands were your customers; they paid ²  you with ivory tusks and ebony.

They traded with you choice garments, purple clothes and embroidered work, and multicolored carpets, bound and reinforced with cords; these were among your merchandise.