When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the wilderness. I viewed your ancestors ¹  like an early fig on a fig tree in its first season. Then they came to Baal-Peor and they dedicated themselves to shame – they became as detestable as what they loved.

When ¹  the plants sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

Therefore produce ¹  fruit ²  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ³  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁴  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁵ 

and the priest is to wave them – the two lambs ¹  – along with the bread of the first fruits, as a wave offering before the Lord; they will be holy to the Lord for the priest.

Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce, ¹ 

You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe. ¹ 

I also provided for ¹  the wood offering at the appointed times and also for the first fruits. Please remember me for good, O my God.

So I loathed all the fruit of ¹  my effort, ²  for which I worked so hard ³  on earth, ⁴  because ⁵  I must leave it ⁶  behind ⁷  in the hands of my successor. ⁸ 

The seed is still in the storehouse, isn’t it? And the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree have not produced. Nevertheless, from today on I will bless you.’”

So what benefit ¹  did you then reap ²  from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

But now, freed ¹  from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit ²  leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.

Now God ¹  who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your supply of seed and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow.

and the stars in the sky ¹  fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping ²  its unripe figs ³  when shaken by a fierce ⁴  wind.

The first of all the first fruits and all contributions of any kind ¹  will be for the priests; you will also give to the priest the first portion of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your house.

So be patient, brothers and sisters, ¹  until the Lord’s return. ²  Think of how the farmer waits ³  for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient ⁴  for it until it receives the early and late rains.

So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ¹  and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ²  They will make all the stones of the altars ³  like crushed limestone, and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ⁴ 

I do not want you to be unaware, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. ³ 

lest strangers devour ¹  your strength, ²  and your labor ³  benefit ⁴  another man’s house.

So I began to despair ¹  about all the fruit of ²  my labor ³  for which I worked so hard ⁴  on earth. ⁵ 

The Lover to His Beloved: Your stature ¹  is like a palm tree, ²  and your breasts are like clusters of grapes. ³