Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, ¹  and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms. ² 

He gives back the ill-gotten gain ¹  without assimilating it; ²  he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. ³ 

I ¹  will sing to my love – a song to my lover about his vineyard. ²  My love had a vineyard on a fertile hill. ³ 

Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him. ¹  All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,” says the Lord.’”

All your fortifications will be like fig trees ¹  with first-ripe fruit: ²  If they are shaken, ³  their figs ⁴  will fall ⁵  into the mouth of the eater! ⁶ 

So then, because ¹  he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants ²  on his throne, ³ 

If the first portion ¹  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ² 

By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ¹  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, ¹  I will permit ²  him to eat from the tree of life that is ³  in the paradise of God.’ ⁴ 

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, ¹  you must not chop down its trees, ²  for you may eat fruit ³  from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! ⁴ 

Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit. ¹ 

Even though he flourishes like a reed plant, ¹  a scorching east wind will come, a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. As a result, his spring will dry up; ²  his well will become dry. That wind ³  will spoil all his delightful foods in the containers in his storehouse.

And the Lord God said, “Now ¹  that the man has become like one of us, ²  knowing ³  good and evil, he must not be allowed ⁴  to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am about to give to you and you gather in its harvest, ¹  then you must bring the sheaf of the first portion of your harvest ²  to the priest,

So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him. ¹ 

The fig tree has budded, the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance. Arise, come away my darling; my beautiful one, come away with me!”

Joy and happiness disappear from the orchards, and in the vineyards no one rejoices or shouts; no one treads out juice in the wine vats ¹  – I have brought the joyful shouts to an end. ² 

O sky, rain down from above! Let the clouds send down showers ¹  of deliverance! Let the earth absorb it ²  so salvation may grow, ³  and deliverance may sprout up ⁴  along with it. I, the Lord, create it. ⁵ 

No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ¹  or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ²  for my people will live as long as trees, ³  and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ⁴