Even your clothes are stained with the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong; you did not catch them breaking into your homes. ¹  Yet, in spite of all these things you have done, ² 

I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹  They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ²  They do not know what their God requires of them. ³ 

I will take away their harvests, ¹  says the Lord. There will be no grapes on their vines. There will be no figs on their fig trees. Even the leaves on their trees will wither. The crops that I gave them will be taken away.’” ² 

I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors ¹  have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords ²  until I have destroyed them.’” ³ 

So I went to Perath and dug up ¹  the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found ²  that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.

The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ¹  Do not carry any loads ²  in through ³  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

The Lord says, “Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless. ¹  Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime. For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear. ¹  Do not be afraid of him because I will be with you to save you and to rescue you from his power. I, the Lord, affirm it! ² 

ל (Lamed) Is it nothing to you, ¹  all you who pass by on the road? ²  Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord ³  has afflicted me, ⁴  he ⁵  has inflicted it on me when ⁶  he burned with anger. ⁷ 

פ (Pe) Zion spread out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob; his neighbors ¹  have become his enemies. Jerusalem has become like filthy garbage ²  in their midst. ³ 

ט (Tet) Her city gates have fallen ¹  to the ground; he smashed to bits ²  the bars that lock her gates. ³  Her king and princes were taken into exile; ⁴  there is no more guidance available. ⁵  As for her prophets, they no longer receive ⁶  a vision from the Lord.

ד (Dalet) The infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, ¹  but no one gives them even a morsel. ² 

Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

“Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ¹  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ²  me?

Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ¹  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

In every matter of wisdom and ¹  insight the king asked them about, he found them to be ten times ²  better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were in his entire empire.

If ¹  our God whom we are serving exists, ²  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do ¹  with idols anymore! I will answer him and care for him. I am like ²  a luxuriant cypress tree; ³  your fruitfulness comes from me! ⁴ 

You stood aloof ¹  while strangers took his army ²  captive, and foreigners advanced to his gates. ³  When they cast lots ⁴  over Jerusalem, ⁵  you behaved as though you were in league ⁶  with them.

Jonah left the city and sat down east ¹  of it. ²  He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city. ³