ד (Dalet) The roads to Zion ¹  mourn ²  because no one ³  travels to the festivals. ⁴  All her city gates ⁵  are deserted; ⁶  her priests groan. ⁷  Her virgins grieve; ⁸  she is in bitter anguish! ⁹ 

I will send the wild animals ¹  against you and they will bereave you of your children, ²  annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population ³  so that your roads will become deserted.

Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. ¹  They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level. ² 

Have you never questioned those who travel the roads? Do you not recognize their accounts ¹  –

In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael caravans ¹  disappeared; ²  travelers ³  had to go on winding side roads.

So ¹  the master said to his ²  slave, ‘Go out to the highways ³  and country roads ⁴  and urge ⁵  people ⁶  to come in, so that my house will be filled. ⁷ 

So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’

I will make all my mountains into a road; I will construct my roadways.”

You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent ¹  of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.

You will say ¹  to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those who are in dark dungeons, ²  ‘Emerge.’ ³  They will graze beside the roads; on all the slopes they will find pasture.

They are unfamiliar with peace; their deeds are unjust. ¹  They use deceitful methods, and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. ² 

For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ¹  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ²  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ³  he examines ⁴  animal livers. ⁵ 

Highways are empty, ¹  there are no travelers. ²  Treaties are broken, ³  witnesses are despised, ⁴  human life is treated with disrespect. ⁵ 

Do not go out into the countryside. Do not travel on the roads. For the enemy is there with sword in hand. ¹  They are spreading terror everywhere.” ² 

Every valley will be filled, ¹  and every mountain and hill will be brought low, and the crooked will be made straight, and the rough ways will be made smooth,

Then the Benjaminites said, “They are defeated just as before.” But the Israelites said, “Let’s retreat ¹  and lure them ²  away from the city into the main roads.”

The rest ¹  turned and ran toward the wilderness, heading toward the cliff of Rimmon. But the Israelites ²  caught ³  five thousand of them on the main roads. They stayed right on their heels ⁴  all the way to Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

How blessed are those who ¹  find their strength in you, and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple! ² 

The Benjaminites attacked ¹  the army, leaving the city unguarded. ²  They began to strike down their enemy ³  just as they had done before. On the main roads (one leads to Bethel, ⁴  the other to Gibeah) and in the field, they struck down ⁵  about thirty Israelites.

“You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon’s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.