I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel, and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar. Every bird will live under it; Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.

Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful; on it there was food enough for all. Under it the wild animals ¹  used to seek shade, and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest. All creatures ²  used to feed themselves from it.

Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land ¹  have departed ²  from its shade and left it.

They travel down to Egypt without seeking my will, ¹  seeking Pharaoh’s protection, and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ² 

People will reside again ¹  in his shade; they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. ²  They will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows ¹  into the light.

My days are coming to an end, ¹  and I am withered like grass.

People ¹  are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears. ² 

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.

Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz.” ¹  And then the shadow went back ten steps. ² 

whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals ¹  used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest –

Let a little water be brought so that ¹  you may all ²  wash your feet and rest under the tree.

When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved ¹  the child under one of the shrubs.

For we were born yesterday ¹  and do not have knowledge, since our days on earth are but a shadow. ² 

He grows up ¹  like a flower and then withers away; ²  he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. ³ 

My eyes have grown dim ¹  with grief; my whole frame ²  is but a shadow.

Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye! ¹  Hide me in the shadow of your wings! ² 

Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; ¹  you have covered us with darkness. ² 

For you are my deliverer; ¹  under your wings ²  I rejoice.

As for you, the one who lives ²  in the shelter of the sovereign One, ³  and resides in the protective shadow ⁴  of the mighty king ⁵  –