How miserable I am! ¹  For I have lived temporarily ²  in Meshech; I have resided among the tents of Kedar. ³ 

There was a young man from Bethlehem ¹  in Judah. He was a Levite who had been temporarily residing among the tribe of Judah. ² 

For this is what the sovereign Lord says: “In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt; Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.

The following events also occurred ¹  while the Babylonian forces ²  had temporarily withdrawn from Jerusalem ³  because the army of Pharaoh was coming.

In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite ¹  living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine ²  from Bethlehem ³  in Judah.

At that time the Babylonian forces ¹  had temporarily given up their siege against Jerusalem. ²  They had had it under siege, but withdrew when they heard that the army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt. ³ )

But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. ¹  The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.) ² 

I will also hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them. I will hand them over to the army of the king of Babylon, even though they have temporarily withdrawn from attacking you. ¹