The Beloved to Her Lover: Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside; let us spend the night in the villages.

A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s ¹  root stock, a bud will sprout ²  from his roots.

Even if the forest is destroyed ¹  and the city is annihilated, ² 

On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals ¹  will walk ²  on its branches.

then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)! ¹ 

So God sent ¹  a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up.

Open your gates, Lebanon, so that the fire may consume your cedars. ¹ 

And he replied, ¹  “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.

For it is clear that our Lord is descended from Judah, yet Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe.

The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so we can execute him! ¹  He pulled down the Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.”

As for the Hebronites: Jeriah was the leader of the Hebronites according to the genealogical records. In the fortieth year of David’s reign, they examined the records and discovered ¹  there were highly respected men in Jazer in Gilead.

Say to them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: ¹  “‘A great eagle ²  with broad wings, long feathers, ³  with full plumage which was multi-hued, ⁴  came to Lebanon ⁵  and took the top of the cedar.

They will not need to take ¹  wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, ²  declares the sovereign Lord.

whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals ¹  used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest –

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery ¹  against their God.

They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice ¹  under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!

On that day ¹  the mountains will drip with sweet wine, ²  and the hills will flow with milk. ³  All the dry stream beds ⁴  of Judah will flow with water. A spring will flow out from the temple ⁵  of the Lord, watering the Valley of Acacia Trees. ⁶ 

For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ¹  They were as tall as cedars ²  and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ³  and their roots in the ground. ⁴ 

But in the seventh year ¹  you must let it lie fallow and leave it alone so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave any animal in the field ²  may eat; you must do likewise with your vineyard and your olive grove.

King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, “A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal ¹  of Lebanon came by and trampled down the thorn. ²