Say to them, ¹  ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? ²  Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised!’

“Many ¹  daughters ²  have done valiantly, ³  but you surpass them all!”

I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn’t hear even half the story! ¹  Your wisdom surpasses what was reported to me.

I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn’t hear even half the story! ¹  Your wisdom and wealth ²  surpass what was reported to me.

“Son of man, of all the woody branches among the trees of the forest, what happens to the wood of the vine? ¹ 

That is how ¹  they have grown fat and sleek. ²  There is no limit to the evil things they do. ³  They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it. They do not defend the rights of the poor.

The blessings of your father are greater than ¹  the blessings of the eternal mountains ²  or the desirable things of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of the prince of his brothers. ³ 

The Lord also will deliver the homes ¹  of Judah first, so that the splendor of the kingship ²  of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not exceed that of Judah.

For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; ¹  break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains, because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.” ² 

In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long. ¹