Their children are always thinking about ¹  their ²  altars and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, ³  set up beside the green trees on the high hills

“When that time comes, people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children’s teeth have grown numb.’ ¹ 

“Suppose I were to send wild animals through the land and kill its children, leaving it desolate, without travelers due to the wild animals.

“What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “‘The fathers eat sour grapes And the children’s teeth become numb?’ ¹ 

“‘But I said to their children ¹  in the wilderness, “Do not follow the practices of your fathers; do not observe their regulations, ²  nor defile yourselves with their idols.

I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, “You are a devourer of men, and bereave your nation of children,”

They have committed treason ¹  against the Lord, because they bore illegitimate children. Soon ²  the new moon festival will devour them and their fields.

Ephraim will be like a bird; what they value ¹  will fly away. They will not bear children – they will not enjoy pregnancy – they will not even conceive! ² 

Even if they raise their children, I will take away every last one of them. ¹  Woe to them! For I will turn away from them.

He will roar like a lion, and they will follow the Lord; when he roars, his children will come trembling ¹  from the west.

Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love; ¹  shave your foreheads as bald ²  as an eagle, ³  for they are taken from you into exile.

Though I scatter ¹  them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places – they and their children will sprout forth and return.

He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ¹  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ² 

“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, ¹  Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were ²  gone.” ³ 

“Brother ¹  will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against ²  parents and have them put to death.

“To ¹  what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another, ² 

and said, “I tell you the truth, ¹  unless you turn around and become like little children, ²  you will never ³  enter the kingdom of heaven!

Then little children were brought to him for him to lay his hands on them and pray. ¹  But the disciples scolded those who brought them. ² 

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹