You have seized me, ¹  and it ²  has become a witness; my leanness ³  has risen up against me and testifies against me.

The king says, ¹  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ²  ‘You are my son! ³  This very day I have become your father!

Give instruction ¹  to a wise person, ²  and he will become wiser still; teach ³  a righteous person and he will add to his ⁴  learning.

When you find ¹  honey, eat only what is sufficient for you, lest you become stuffed ²  with it and vomit it up. ³ 

Don’t set foot too frequently ¹  in your neighbor’s house, lest he become weary ²  of you and hate you.

I thought to myself, ¹  “I have become much wiser ²  than any of my predecessors who ruled ³  over Jerusalem; ⁴  I ⁵  have acquired much wisdom and knowledge.” ⁶ 

How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! ¹  She was once a center of ²  justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers. ³ 

The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹  “Many houses will certainly become desolate, large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. ² 

Look, God is my deliverer! ¹  I will trust in him ²  and not fear. For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ³  he has become my deliverer.” ⁴ 

At that time ¹  the Lord who commands armies will become a beautiful crown and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.

The dry soil will become a pool of water, the parched ground springs of water. Where jackals once lived and sprawled out, grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.

Every valley must be elevated, and every mountain and hill leveled. The rough terrain will become a level plain, the rugged landscape a wide valley.

Sharon ¹  will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor ²  a place where cattle graze; ³  they will belong to my people, who seek me. ⁴ 

“My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! ¹  Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ² 

But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear ¹  that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the Lord, affirm it!” ² 

This whole area ¹  will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.’ ² 

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 

Set up a gravestone for Moab, for it will certainly be laid in ruins! ¹  Its cities will be laid waste and become uninhabited.”

“Hazor will become a permanent wasteland, a place where only jackals live. ¹  No one will live there. No human being will settle in it.” ² 

Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys; all of them will moan – each one for his iniquity.