It eats away parts of his skin; ¹  the most terrible death ²  devours his limbs.

Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like bars of iron.

I will not keep silent about its limbs, and the extent of its might, and the grace of its arrangement. ¹ 

The Lover to His Beloved: (7:2) How beautiful are your sandaled ¹  feet, O nobleman’s daughter! ²  The curves ³  of your thighs ⁴  are like jewels, the work of the hands of a master craftsman.

Then all the color drained from the king’s face ¹  and he became alarmed. ²  The joints of his hips gave way, ³  and his knees began knocking together.

Its branches reached the Mediterranean Sea, ¹  and its shoots the Euphrates River. ² 

So now there are many members, but one body.

But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided.

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.

Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches grew long, because of the plentiful water in its shoots. ¹ 

I made it beautiful with its many branches; all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.

and make straight paths for your feet, ¹  so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

when those who keep watch over the house ¹  begin to tremble, ²  and the virile men begin to stoop over, ³  and the grinders ⁴  begin to cease because they grow few, and those who look through the windows grow dim, ⁵ 

You will probably ask yourself, ¹  ‘Why have these things happened to me? Why have I been treated like a disgraced adulteress whose skirt has been torn off and her limbs exposed?’ ²  It is because you have sinned so much. ³ 

Here is what the Lord says concerning the false prophets: ²  My heart and my mind are deeply disturbed. I tremble all over. ³  I am like a drunk person, like a person who has had too much wine, ⁴  because of the way the Lord and his holy word are being mistreated. ⁵ 

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.”

For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body – though many – are one body, so too is Christ.

There will be some left behind, like when an olive tree is beaten – two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches,” says the Lord God of Israel.

When its branches get brittle, ¹  they break; women come and use them for kindling. ²  For these people lack understanding, ³  therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them; the one who formed them has no mercy on them.