After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he ¹  said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up ²  against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, ³  as my servant Job has.

Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years – even if he lives a long, long time, ¹  but cannot enjoy his prosperity – even if he were to live forever ²  – I would say, “A stillborn child ³  is better off than he is!” ⁴ 

The Beloved about Her Lover: I was asleep, but my mind ¹  was dreaming. ²  Listen! ³  My lover ⁴  is knocking ⁵  at the door! ⁶  The Lover to His Beloved: “Open ⁷  for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

But she is unique! ¹  My dove, my perfect one! She is the special daughter ²  of her mother, she is the favorite ³  of the one who bore her. The maidens ⁴  saw her and complimented her; ⁵  the queens and concubines praised her:

No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: ‘I burned half of it in the fire – yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ¹ 

She also saw ¹  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ²  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ³  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁴ 

Let us acknowledge ¹  our shame. Let us bear the disgrace that we deserve. ²  For we have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our ancestors. From earliest times to this very day we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’

“For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah ¹  until now, the Lord has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again ²  what he said. ³  But you would not listen.

Jonadab son of Rechab ordered his descendants not to drink wine. His orders have been carried out. ¹  To this day his descendants have drunk no wine because they have obeyed what their ancestor commanded them. But I ²  have spoken to you over and over again, ³  but you have not obeyed me!

So I, the Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, say: ¹  “I will soon bring on Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem all the disaster that I threatened to bring on them. I will do this because I spoke to them but they did not listen. I called out to them but they did not answer.”’”

Then tell them, ¹  ‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says, “I will bring ³  my servant ⁴  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones which I ⁵  have buried. He will pitch his royal tent ⁶  over them.

You have sacrificed to other gods! You have sinned against the Lord! You have not obeyed the Lord! You have not followed his laws, his statutes, and his decrees! That is why this disaster that is evident to this day has happened to you.” ¹ 

He stretched out the form ¹  of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind ²  lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem ³  by means of divine visions, to the door of the inner gate which faces north where the statue ⁴  which provokes to jealousy was located.

He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people ¹  of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”

I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.

When you present your sacrifices ¹  – when you make your sons pass through the fire – you defile yourselves with all your idols to this very day. Will I allow you to seek me, ²  O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will not allow you to seek me! ³ 

Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary – the source of your confident pride, ¹  the object in which your eyes delight, ²  and your life’s passion. ³  Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die ⁴  by the sword.

I will magnify ¹  my great name that has been profaned among the nations, that you have profaned among them. The nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the sovereign Lord, when I magnify myself among you in their sight.

“While I was watching, thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days ¹  took his seat. His attire was white like snow; the hair of his head was like lamb’s ²  wool. His throne was ablaze with fire and its wheels were all aflame. ³ 

“Then I wanted to know the meaning ¹  of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others. It was very dreadful, with two rows of iron teeth and bronze claws, and it devoured, crushed, and trampled anything that was left with its feet.