Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees have been destroyed. Howl, oaks of Bashan, because the impenetrable forest has fallen.

and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message ¹  in all their cities and in Jerusalem: ²  “Go to the hill country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written.”

He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters ¹  of the ceiling. He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens.

He also made ¹  two doors out of wood from evergreens; each door had two folding leaves. ² 

He paneled ¹  the main hall ²  with boards made from evergreen trees ³  and plated it with fine gold, decorated with palm trees and chains. ⁴ 

whom I will see for myself, ¹  and whom my own eyes will behold, and not another. ²  My heart ³  grows faint within me. ⁴ 

Have mercy on me, ¹  Lord, for I am frail! Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ² 

I desperately want to be ¹  in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ²  My heart and my entire being ³  shout for joy to the living God.

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

The land ¹  dries up ²  and withers away; the forest of Lebanon shrivels up ³  and decays. Sharon ⁴  is like the desert; ⁵  Bashan and Carmel ⁶  are parched. ⁷ 

“The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. ¹  Cries of distress come up to me ²  from Jerusalem. ³ 

They crafted ¹  all your planks out of fir trees from Senir; ²  they took a cedar from Lebanon to make your mast.

Consider Assyria, ¹  a cedar in Lebanon, ²  with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds.

Indeed, the residents of Maroth ¹  hope for something good to happen, ²  though the Lord has sent disaster against the city of Jerusalem. ³ 

Therefore, because of you, ¹  Zion will be plowed up like ²  a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount ³  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁴ 

He gave ¹  them another parable: ²  “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ³  that a man took and sowed in his field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, ¹  so that the wild birds ²  come and nest in its branches.” ³ 

when it is sown, it grows up, ¹  becomes the greatest of all garden plants, and grows large branches so that the wild birds ²  can nest in its shade.” ³ 

Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹  ‘With my many chariots ²  I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars, and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, ³  its thickest woods.

(Now the man’s name was Elimelech, ¹  his wife was Naomi, ²  and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. ³  They were of the clan of Ephrath ⁴  from Bethlehem in Judah.) They entered the region of Moab and settled there. ⁵