This is how the once-proud city will end up ¹  – the city that was so secure. ²  She thought to herself, ³  “I am unique! No one can compare to me!” ⁴  What a heap of ruins she has become, a place where wild animals live! Everyone who passes by her taunts her ⁵  and shakes his fist. ⁶ 

Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, ¹  but Rebekah loved ²  Jacob.

Joseph is a fruitful bough, ¹  a fruitful bough near a spring whose branches ²  climb over the wall.

But because it is heavier ¹  than the sand ²  of the sea, that is why my words have been wild. ³ 

Then the dead bodies of these people will be left on the ground for the birds and wild animals to eat. ¹  There will not be any survivors to scare them away.

Now ¹  the serpent ²  was more shrewd ³  than any of the wild animals ⁴  that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that ⁵  God ⁶  said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” ⁷ 

In this place I will thwart ¹  the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword ²  at the hands of their enemies. ³  I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat.

“At that time ¹  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish ²  the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare ³  – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.” ⁴ 

This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet: ¹ 

So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam ¹  no companion who corresponded to him was found. ² 

Therefore, take your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game ¹  for me.

The Philistine said to David, “Come here to me, so I can give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the field!” ¹ 

They have given the corpses of your servants to the birds of the sky; ¹  the flesh of your loyal followers to the beasts of the earth.

The Beloved to the Maidens: I adjure you, ¹  O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does ²  of the open fields: ³  Do not awaken or arouse ⁴  love ⁵  until it pleases! ⁶ 

The Adjuration Refrain The Beloved to the Maidens: ¹ I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields: “Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!”

From the abundance of milk they produce, ¹  he will have sour milk for his meals. Indeed, everyone left in the heart of the land will eat sour milk and honey.

Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. ¹  Her time is almost up, ²  her days will not be prolonged. ³ 

I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals. ¹ 

All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, in its shade all the great ¹  nations lived.

They will no longer be prey for the nations and the wild beasts will not devour them. They will live securely and no one will make them afraid.