Then I said, ¹  “Lord, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. ²  Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, ‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods – worthless idols that could not help them at all. ³ 

They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous ¹  men as his followers. ² 

All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” ¹ 

The sons of Eli were wicked men. ¹  They did not recognize the Lord’s authority. ² 

But evil people are like thorns – all of them are tossed away, for they cannot be held in the hand.

Let him not trust in what is worthless, ¹  deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward. ² 

Give us help against the enemy, for any help men might offer is futile. ¹ 

A wicked scoundrel ¹  digs up ²  evil, and his slander ³  is like a scorching fire. ⁴ 

A crooked witness ¹  scorns justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours ²  iniquity.

All the nations are insignificant before him; they are regarded as absolutely nothing. ¹ 

The people of those nations ¹  are both stupid and foolish. Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! ² 

Again the Lord said to me, “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹ 

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, ¹  quarrels, and fights about the law, ²  because they are useless and empty.

For all the gods of the nations are worthless, ¹  but the Lord made the sky.

So Jephthah left ¹  his half-brothers ²  and lived in the land of Tob. Lawless men joined Jephthah’s gang and traveled with him. ³ 

All who worship idols are ashamed, those who boast about worthless idols. All the gods bow down before him. ¹ 

All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. ¹  They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level. ² 

They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. ¹  They paid allegiance to ²  worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. ³  They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. ⁴ 

As he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Leave! Leave! You man of bloodshed, you wicked man! ¹