The labor pains of a woman will overtake him, but the baby will lack wisdom; when the time arrives, he will not come out of the womb!

Those who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete, ¹  are as good as dead. ²  The Lord has decreed your downfall, ³  Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy everyone who lives there!” ⁴ 

Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah ¹  will take possession of it. ²  By the sea ³  they ⁴  will graze, in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening, for the Lord their God will intervene for them ⁵  and restore their prosperity. ⁶ 

Then I cut the second staff “Binders” in two in order to annul the covenant of brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

We captured all his cities at that time – there was not a town we did not take from them – sixty cities, all the region of Argob, ¹  the dominion of Og in Bashan.

The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to half the tribe of Manasseh. ¹  (All the region of Argob, ²  that is, all Bashan, is called the land of Rephaim.

Jair, son of Manasseh, took all the Argob region as far as the border with the Geshurites ¹  and Maacathites ²  (namely Bashan) and called it by his name, Havvoth-Jair, ³  which it retains to this very day.)

The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you assigned us only one tribal allotment? After all, we have many people, for until now the Lord has enabled us to increase in number.” ¹ 

Afterward you will go to Gibeah of God, where there are Philistine officials. ¹  When you enter the town, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place. They will have harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying.

If he regroups in a city, all Israel will take up ropes to that city and drag it down to the valley, so that not a single pebble will be left there!”

Ben-Geber was in charge of Ramoth Gilead; he controlled the tent villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan, including sixty large walled cities with bronze bars locking their gates.

His advisers ¹  said to him, “Look, we have heard that the kings of the Israelite dynasty are kind. ²  Allow us to put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads ³  and surrender ⁴  to the king of Israel. Maybe he will spare our lives.”

So they put sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel. They said, “Your servant ¹  Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live!’” Ahab ²  replied, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” ³ 

The furnishings included linen and purple curtains hung by cords of the finest linen ¹  and purple wool on silver rings, alabaster columns, gold and silver couches ²  displayed on a floor made of valuable stones of alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mineral stone.

Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals! You ¹  will see Jerusalem, ²  a peaceful settlement, a tent that stays put; ³  its stakes will never be pulled up; none of its ropes will snap in two.

So the officials ¹  took Jeremiah and put him in the cistern ²  of Malkijah, one of the royal princes, ³  that was in the courtyard of the guardhouse. There was no water in the cistern, only mud. So when they lowered Jeremiah into the cistern with ropes he sank in the mud. ⁴ 

So Ebed Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasure room in the palace. ¹  He got some worn-out clothes and old rags ²  from there and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

Ebed Melech ¹  called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes. ²  Jeremiah did as Ebed Melech instructed. ³ 

“Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ¹  and your sons and daughters will die violently. ²  Your land will be given to others ³  and you will die in a foreign ⁴  land. Israel will certainly be carried into exile ⁵  away from its land.’”

So I ¹  began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted ²  of all the flock. Then I took two staffs, ³  calling one “Pleasantness” ⁴  and the other “Binders,” ⁵  and I tended the flock.