But it is said of Zion’s residents, ¹  “Each one of these ²  was born in her, and the sovereign One ³  makes her secure.” ⁴ 

Many people profess their loyalty, ¹  but a faithful person ²  – who can find? ³ 

Like charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious person ¹  to kindle strife. ² 

The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. ¹  Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

So now, residents of Jerusalem, ¹  people ²  of Judah, you decide between me and my vineyard!

“I will provoke civil strife in Egypt, ¹  brothers will fight with each other, as will neighbors, cities, and kingdoms. ² 

But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent ¹  and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands ²  and to their own country.

But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! ¹  We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” ² 

On the day after Gedaliah had been murdered, before anyone even knew about it,

Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, ¹  you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!”

You rely ¹  on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’

Soon ¹  I will expose her lewd nakedness ²  in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to rescue her from me! ³ 

They ¹  charge ²  like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. ³  Each one proceeds on his course; they do not alter ⁴  their path.

They do not jostle one another; ¹  each of them marches straight ahead. ²  They burst through ³  the city defenses ⁴  and do not break ranks.

They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. ¹  They defraud people of their homes, ²  and deprive people of the land they have inherited. ³ 

and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten ¹  his sword on his side, and go back and forth ²  from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ³ 

One of his attendants replied, ¹  “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem ²  who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior ³  and is articulate ⁴  and handsome, ⁵  for the Lord is with him.”

Next, I noticed ¹  six men ²  coming from the direction of the upper gate ³  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit ⁴  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

Later the older daughter said ¹  to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby ²  to have sexual relations with us, ³  according to the way of all the world.

Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. ¹  She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up.