Many foreign rulers ¹  will ruin the land where I planted my people. ²  They will trample all over my chosen land. ³  They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wasteland.

“‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ¹  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ²  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

Then the people ¹  of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader, ²  and will flourish in the land. ³  Certainly, ⁴  the day of Jezreel will be great!

People will reside again ¹  in his shade; they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. ²  They will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

I will make up for the years ¹  that the ‘arbeh-locust ²  consumed your crops ³  – the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust – my great army ⁴  that I sent against you.

When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said, “Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ¹  How can Jacob survive? ²  He is too weak!” ³ 

The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ¹  The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²  and then you will experience confusion. ³ 

Ask the Lord for rain in the season of the late spring rains ¹  – the Lord who causes thunderstorms – and he will give everyone showers of rain and green growth in the field.

Though I scatter ¹  them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places – they and their children will sprout forth and return.

Other ¹  seeds fell on rocky ground ²  where they did not have much soil. They sprang up quickly because the soil was not deep. ³ 

But other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

But he has no root in himself and does not endure; ¹  when ²  trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

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

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.”

But his master answered, ¹  ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?

Other seed fell on rocky ground ¹  where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. ² 

But ¹  other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing; some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times.”

But ¹  they have no root in themselves and do not endure. ²  Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

for each tree is known ¹  by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered ²  from thorns, nor are grapes picked ³  from brambles. ⁴ 

“A sower went out to sow ¹  his seed. ²  And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds ³  devoured it.