Even Assyria has allied with them, lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. ¹  (Selah)

I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies; they are a burden that I am tired of carrying.

Bel ¹  kneels down, Nebo ²  bends low. Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ³  Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ⁴ 

They will disappoint you, ¹  those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ²  Each strays off in his own direction, ³  leaving no one to rescue you.”

Your chosen ¹  cities have become a desert; Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem ²  is a desolate ruin.

They will surround Jerusalem ¹  like men guarding a field ²  because they have rebelled against me,” says the Lord.

They are like lusty, well-fed ¹  stallions. Each of them lusts after ²  his neighbor’s wife.

ט (Tet) Those who died by the sword ¹  are better off than those who die of hunger, ²  those who ³  waste away, ⁴  struck down ⁵  from lack of ⁶  food. ⁷ 

י (Yod) The hands of tenderhearted women ¹  cooked their own children, who became their food, ²  when my people ³  were destroyed. ⁴ 

ק (Qof) Those who pursued us were swifter than eagles ¹  in the sky. ²  They chased us over the mountains; they ambushed us in the wilderness.

“‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. ¹ 

“‘See, I strike my hands together ¹  at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed ²  they have done among you.

On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals ¹  will walk ²  on its branches.

The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary markers. I will pour out my rage on them like a torrential flood! ¹ 

They do not realize ¹  that I remember all of their wicked deeds. Their evil deeds have now surrounded them; their sinful deeds are always before me. ² 

Israel will be swallowed up among the nations; they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.

Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning!

Cush ¹  and Egypt had limitless strength; ²  Put and the Libyans ³  were among ⁴  her ⁵  allies. ⁶ 

The waters kept on receding ¹  until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. ² 

When ¹  Jacob heard that Shechem ²  had violated his daughter Dinah, his sons were with the livestock in the field. So Jacob remained silent ³  until they came in.