treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God.

Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians ¹  for whom she lusted.

For people ¹  will be lovers of themselves, ²  lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

The Beloved about Her Lover: I am my lover’s ¹  and my lover is mine; ²  he grazes among the lilies.

They have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey that wanders off. Ephraim has hired prostitutes as lovers. ¹ 

All prostitutes receive payment, ¹  but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors!

“Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. ¹  She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians ²  – warriors ³ 

Soon ¹  I will expose her lewd nakedness ²  in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to rescue her from me! ³ 

“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ¹  I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side:

ב (Bet) She weeps bitterly at night; tears stream down her cheeks. ¹  She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. ²  All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

“I will punish her for the festival days when she burned incense to the Baal idols; ¹  she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but ²  she forgot me!” ³  says the Lord.

ק (Qof) I called for my lovers, ¹  but they had deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city. Truly they had ²  searched for food to ³  keep themselves ⁴  alive. ⁵ 

You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance; ¹  those who know me leave me alone in the darkness. ² 

The Beloved about Her Lover: Listen! ¹  My lover is approaching! ²  Look! ³  Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills!

The Beloved about Her Lover: My lover is mine and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. ¹ 

The Beloved about Her Lover: I am my beloved’s, and he desires me! ¹ 

The Pharisees ¹  (who loved money) heard all this and ridiculed ²  him.

not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money.

I will destroy her vines and fig trees, about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution ¹  that my lovers gave to me!” I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees ²  into an uncultivated thicket, so that wild animals ³  will devour them.

People of Jerusalem, ¹  go up to Lebanon and cry out in mourning. Go to the land of Bashan and cry out loudly. Cry out in mourning from the mountains of Moab. ²  For your allies ³  have all been defeated.