He will not escape the darkness; ¹  a flame will wither his shoots and he will depart by the breath of God’s mouth. ² 

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine ¹  in the inner rooms of your house; your children ²  will be like olive branches, as they sit all around your table.

Then ¹  our sons will be like plants, that quickly grow to full size. ²  Our daughters will be like corner pillars, ³  carved like those in a palace. ⁴ 

His cheeks are like garden beds full of balsam trees ¹  yielding ²  perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with drops of myrrh.

His legs are like pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.

All of them will come and make their home ¹  in the ravines between the cliffs, and in the crevices of the cliffs, in all the thorn bushes, and in all the watering holes. ² 

For ¹  evil burned like a fire, ²  it consumed thorns and briers; it burned up the thickets of the forest, and they went up in smoke. ³ 

The splendor of his forest and his orchard will be completely destroyed, ¹  as when a sick man’s life ebbs away. ² 

At that time ¹  the Lord will shake the tree, ²  from the Euphrates River ³  to the Stream of Egypt. Then you will be gathered up one by one, O Israelites. ⁴ 

In a year’s time ¹  you carefree ones will shake with fear, for the grape ²  harvest will fail, and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

Owls ¹  will make nests and lay eggs ²  there; they will hatch them and protect them. ³  Yes, hawks ⁴  will gather there, each with its mate.

Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; ¹  its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings. ² 

I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; ¹  I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn streams into islands, ²  and dry up pools of water. ³ 

You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ¹  They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²  They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you. ³ 

I will send men against it to destroy it ¹  with their axes and hatchets. They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columns and throw them into the fire.

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you ¹  will groan ²  when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

In those days and at that time I will raise up for them a righteous descendant ¹  of David. “‘He will do what is just and right in the land.

The population of Egypt is like a vast, impenetrable forest. But I, the Lord, affirm ¹  that the enemy will cut them down. For those who chop them down will be more numerous than locusts. They will be too numerous to count. ² 

ח (Khet) Now their appearance ¹  is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.

They made your oars from oaks of Bashan; they made your deck ¹  with cypresses ²  from the Kittean isles. ³