ז (Zayin) Remember ¹  my impoverished and homeless condition, ²  which is a bitter poison. ³ 

To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, brutally treated, and without a roof over our heads.

I want you ¹  to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ²  When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! ³ 

When you try to cultivate ¹  the ground it will no longer yield ²  its best ³  for you. You will be a homeless wanderer ⁴  on the earth.”

They spend the night naked because they lack clothing; they have no covering against the cold.

By the brush ¹  they would gather ²  herbs from the salt marshes, ³  and the root of the broom tree was their food.

They wandered through the wilderness on a desert road; they found no city in which to live.

Show hospitality ¹  to one another without complaining.

If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without a coat,

You defend ¹  the fatherless and oppressed, ²  so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them. ³ 

Do not let arrogant men overtake me, or let evil men make me homeless! ¹ 

May his children ¹  roam around begging, asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! ² 

The one who neglects ¹  discipline ends up in ²  poverty and shame, but the one who accepts reproof is honored. ³ 

At the fords of the Arnon ¹  the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. ² 

My God will reject them, for they have not obeyed him; so they will be fugitives among the nations.

After ¹  consulting together they bought the Potter’s Field with it, as a burial place for foreigners.

Look! You are driving me off the land ¹  today, and I must hide from your presence. ²  I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.”

ז (Zayin) Jerusalem ¹  remembers, ²  when ³  she became a poor homeless person, ⁴  all her treasures that she owned in days of old. ⁵  When her people fell into an enemy’s grip, ⁶  none of her allies came to her rescue. ⁷  Her enemies ⁸  gloated over ⁹  her; they sneered at her downfall.

For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; ¹  our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security. ² 

“Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ¹  because of the painful cries ²  of the needy, I will spring into action,” ³  says the Lord. “I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ⁴