If the snake should bite before it is charmed, ¹  the snake charmer ²  is in trouble. ³ 

Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ¹  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ² 

The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but then night. ¹  If you want to ask, ask; come back again.” ² 

Look, I have decreed: ¹  I will not keep silent, but will pay them back; I will pay them back exactly what they deserve, ² 

“Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?” asks your God. ¹ 

“Israel is not a slave, is he? He was not born into slavery, was he? ¹  If not, why then is he being carried off?

You will not always be angry with me, will you? You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ ¹  That is what you say, but you continually do all the evil that you can.” ² 

The Lord said to me, ¹  “Tell them, ‘The Lord says, Do people not get back up when they fall down? Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way? ² 

Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon? Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow? ¹ 

Rather, each person will die for his own sins. The teeth of the person who eats the sour grapes will themselves grow numb. ¹ 

The Lord who rules over all ¹  has solemnly sworn, ²  ‘I will fill your land with enemy soldiers. They will swarm over it like locusts. ³  They will raise up shouts of victory over it.’

You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, ¹  I will not be satisfied; I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. ² 

The Lord confirms this oath ¹  by the arrogance of Jacob: ²  “I swear ³  I will never forget all you have done! ⁴ 

Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, ¹  my hand would pull them up from there. Even if they could climb up to heaven, I would drag them down from there.

Even if you were to soar high like an eagle, ¹  even if you ²  were to make your nest among the stars, I can bring you down even from there!” says the Lord.

All your fortifications will be like fig trees ¹  with first-ripe fruit: ²  If they are shaken, ³  their figs ⁴  will fall ⁵  into the mouth of the eater! ⁶ 

When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We cannot hide from our ¹  lord that the money is used up and the livestock and the animals belong to our lord. Nothing remains before our lord except our bodies and our land.

No hand will touch him ¹  – but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; ²  he must not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast they may ³  go up on the mountain.”

and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,