then let thorns sprout up in place of wheat, and in place of barley, weeds!” ¹  The words of Job are ended.

When ¹  the plants sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds ¹  among the wheat and went away.

As ¹  the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age.

But he said, ‘No, since in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them.

They ¹  utter empty words, ²  taking ³  false oaths and making empty ⁴  agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds ⁵  in the furrows of a plowed field.

Water engulfed me up to my neck; ¹  the deep ocean ²  surrounded me; seaweed ³  was wrapped around my head.

So the slaves ¹  of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

The field is the world and the good seed are the people ¹  of the kingdom. The weeds are the people ²  of the evil one,

I saw ¹  that thorns had grown up all over it, the ground ²  was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down.

Other seeds fell among the thorns, ¹  and they grew up and choked them. ² 

Let both grow together until the harvest. At ¹  harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, but then ²  gather ³  the wheat into my barn.”’”

Other seed fell among the thorns, ¹  and they grew up with it and choked ²  it.

Look! ¹  Even if ²  they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold ³  of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure ⁴  – thorn bushes will occupy their homes. ⁵ 

When the wicked sprout up like grass, and all the evildoers glisten, ¹  it is so that they may be annihilated. ² 

Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow ¹  in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there. ² 

Other seed fell among the thorns, ¹  and they grew up and choked it, ²  and it did not produce grain.

He is a well-watered plant ¹  in ²  the sun, its shoots spread ³  over its garden. ⁴ 

O my God, make them like dead thistles, ¹  like dead weeds blown away by ²  the wind!