The plowers plowed my back; they made their furrows long.

“If my land cried out against me ²  and all its furrows wept together,

Can you bind the wild ox ¹  to a furrow with its rope, will it till the valleys, following after you?

You saturate ¹  its furrows, and soak ²  its plowed ground. ³  With rain showers you soften its soil, ⁴  and make its crops grow. ⁵ 

They ¹  utter empty words, ²  taking ³  false oaths and making empty ⁴  agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds ⁵  in the furrows of a plowed field.

Is there idolatry ¹  in Gilead? ²  Certainly its inhabitants ³  will come to nothing! ⁴  Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!

In this initial skirmish Jonathan and his armor bearer struck down about twenty men in an area that measured half an acre.

Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper? Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it? Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”

When I please, ¹  I will discipline them; ²  I will gather nations together to attack them, ³  to bind them in chains ⁴  for their two sins. ⁵ 

“‘There was another great eagle ¹  with broad wings and thick plumage. Now this vine twisted its roots toward him and sent its branches toward him to be watered from the soil where it was planted.