My child, ²  if you have made a pledge ³  for your neighbor, and ⁴  have become a guarantor ⁵  for a stranger, ⁶ 

Take a man’s ¹  garment ²  when he has given security for a stranger, ³  and when he gives surety for strangers, ⁴  hold him ⁵  in pledge.

Take a man’s ¹  garment when he has given security for a stranger, and when he gives surety for a stranger, ²  hold him in pledge. ³ 

It is best to take hold of one warning ¹  without letting go of the other warning; ²  for the one who fears God will follow ³  both warnings. ⁴ 

If the anger ¹  of the ruler flares up ²  against you, do not resign ³  from your position, ⁴  for a calm ⁵  response ⁶  can undo ⁷  great offenses.

The Lord comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials. He says, ¹  “It is you ²  who have ruined ³  the vineyard! ⁴  You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. ⁵ 

I will put your robe on him, tie your belt around him, and transfer your authority to him. ¹  He will become a protector of ²  the residents of Jerusalem and of the people ³  of Judah.

“I, the Lord, officially commission you; ¹  I take hold of your hand. I protect you ²  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ³  and a light ⁴  to the nations, ⁵ 

For our leaders ¹  are stupid. They have not sought the Lord’s advice. ²  So they do not act wisely, and the people they are responsible for ³  have all been scattered.

The Lord told Jeremiah, ¹  “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. ²  Take with you ³  some of the leaders of the people and some of the leaders ⁴  of the priests.

I will install rulers ¹  over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing. ²  I, the Lord, promise it! ³ 

But I, the Lord, make the following promise: ¹  I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth.

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 

י (Yod) The elders of Daughter Zion sit ¹  on the ground in silence. ²  They have thrown dirt on their heads; They have dressed in sackcloth. ³  Jerusalem’s young women ⁴  stare down at the ground. ⁵ 

I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; ¹  I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies ²  and I will give them tender hearts, ³ 

In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, ¹  some of the elders ²  of Israel came to seek ³  the Lord, and they sat down in front of me.

The elders of Gebal ¹  and her skilled men were within you, mending cracks; ²  all the ships of the sea and their mariners were within you to trade for your merchandise. ³ 

But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, ¹  and he refuses to change, ²  he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.

They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid.

“‘But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for ¹  their sin.