I was once young, now I am old. I have never seen a godly man abandoned, or his children ¹  forced to search for food. ² 

For the Lord promotes ¹  justice, and never abandons ²  his faithful followers. They are permanently secure, ³  but the children ⁴  of evil men are wiped out. ⁵ 

so that the next generation, children yet to be born, might know about them. They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. ¹ 

Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! ¹  For the Lord speaks: “I raised children, ²  I brought them up, ³  but ⁴  they have rebelled ⁵  against me!

Their arrows will cut young men to ribbons; ¹  they have no compassion on a person’s offspring, ²  they will not ³  look with pity on children.

Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, ¹  and your children ²  like its granules. Their name would not have been cut off and eliminated from my presence. ³ 

For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your children will conquer ¹  nations and will resettle desolate cities.

At whom are you laughing? At whom are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue? You are the children of rebels, the offspring of liars, ¹ 

you who practice ritual sex ¹  under the oaks and every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs. ² 

“So, once more I will state my case ¹  against you,” says the Lord. “I will also state it against your children and grandchildren. ² 

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.