hands, but cannot touch, feet, but cannot walk. They cannot even clear their throats. ¹ 

May they praise God while they hold a two-edged sword in their hand, ¹ 

“Their throats are open graves, ¹  they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips.” ² 

For ¹  they do not speak the truth; ²  their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ³  their throats like an open grave, ⁴  their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ⁵ 

In response to all this ¹  I said, “Ah, Lord God, ²  you have surely allowed ³  the people of Judah and Jerusalem ⁴  to be deceived by those who say, ‘You will be safe!’ ⁵  But in fact a sword is already at our throats.” ⁶ 

For he has satisfied those who thirst, ¹  and those who hunger he has filled with food. ² 

From the ends of the earth we ¹  hear songs – the Just One is majestic. ²  But I ³  say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed! Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” ⁴ 

They ¹  reached up to the sky, then dropped into the depths. The sailors’ strength ²  left them ³  because the danger was so great. ⁴ 

Everyone who is caught will be stabbed; everyone who is seized ¹  will die ²  by the sword.

But they all shouted out together, ¹  “Take this man ²  away! Release Barabbas for us!”

For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.

They shed innocent blood – the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted by bloodshed. ¹ 

How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! ¹  She was once a center of ²  justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers. ³ 

The people cry out, ¹  “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! ²  Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

Our adversaries also boasted, ¹  “Before they are aware or anticipate ²  anything, we will come in among them and kill them, and we will bring this work to a halt!”

The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. ¹  Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. ¹  But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods ²  and want to pursue them!’

For just as you ¹  have drunk ²  on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. ³  They will drink, and they will gulp down; they will be as though they had never been.

And another horse, fiery red, ¹  came out, and the one who rode it ²  was granted permission ³  to take peace from the earth, so that people would butcher ⁴  one another, and he was given a huge sword.

Indeed, wine will betray the proud, restless man! ¹  His appetite ²  is as big as Sheol’s; ³  like death, he is never satisfied. He gathers ⁴  all the nations; he seizes ⁵  all peoples.