For just as the ground produces its crops and a garden yields its produce, so the sovereign Lord will cause deliverance ¹  to grow, and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations. ² 

A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit. ¹  No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.’ This is a lament song, and has become a lament song.”

He shot his ¹  arrows and scattered them, ²  many lightning bolts ³  and routed them. ⁴ 

The Lord frustrates ¹  the decisions of the nations; he nullifies the plans ²  of the peoples.

Like an archer who wounds at random, ¹  so is the one who hires ²  a fool or hires any passer-by.

So the Lord cut off Israel’s head and tail, both the shoots and stalk ¹  in one day.

Egypt will not be able to do a thing, head or tail, shoots and stalk. ¹ 

So the slaves ¹  of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

“Learn ¹  this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible.

The Lord says, ¹  “These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows. Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. ²  They have become powerful in the land, but they have not done so by honest means. ³  Indeed, they do one evil thing after another ⁴  and do not pay attention to me. ⁵ 

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 

Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in ¹  the richness of the olive root,

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up ¹  and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘I will take a sprig ¹  from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. ²  I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.