Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ¹  when he shouts at ²  them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles ³  before a strong gale.

The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” ¹ 

Kings will be your children’s ¹  guardians; their princesses will nurse your children. ²  With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you and they will lick the dirt on ³  your feet. Then you will recognize that I am the Lord; those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will scrape her soil ¹  from her and make her a bare rock.

The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up ¹  and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.

He ordered the altars of the Baals to be torn down, ¹  and broke the incense altars that were above them. He smashed the Asherah poles, idols and images, crushed them up and sprinkled the dust over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them.

Your maxims ¹  are proverbs of ashes; ²  your defenses ³  are defenses of clay. ⁴ 

Iron is taken from the ground, ¹  and rock is poured out ²  as copper.

¹ Your dead will come back to life; your corpses will rise up. Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! ²  For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, ³  and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. ⁴ 

They trample ¹  on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; ²  they push the destitute away. ³  A man and his father go to the same girl; ⁴  in this way they show disrespect ⁵  for my moral purity. ⁶ 

He also tore down the altar in Bethel ¹  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. ²  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. ³ 

On that day ¹  a Benjaminite ran from the battle lines and came to Shiloh. His clothes were torn and dirt was on his head.

as water wears away stones, and torrents ¹  wash away the soil, ²  so you destroy man’s hope. ³ 

They mock kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every fortified city; they build siege ramps ¹  and capture them.

Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, ¹  and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” ² 

When David reached the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite met him with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers! Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! ¹  The time for you to be slaughtered has come. You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery. ² 

Then ¹  he bent over again and wrote on the ground.

Not so with the wicked! Instead ¹  they are like wind-driven chaff. ² 

“‘Any man from the Israelites ¹  or from the foreigners who reside ²  in their ³  midst who hunts a wild animal ⁴  or a bird that may be eaten ⁵  must pour out its blood and cover it with soil,