There was a young man from Bethlehem ¹  in Judah. He was a Levite who had been temporarily residing among the tribe of Judah. ² 

You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ¹  He is the one you must respect; he is the one you must fear. ² 

Gad will be raided by marauding bands, but he will attack them at their heels. ¹ 

He must take a wife who is a virgin. ¹ 

So I ¹  waste away like something rotten, ²  like a garment eaten by moths.

Can anyone teach ¹  God knowledge, since ²  he judges those that are on high? ³ 

And when he is carried to the tombs, and watch is kept ¹  over the funeral mound, ² 

He will deliver ¹  Israel from all the consequences of their sins. ² 

Acknowledge ¹  him in all your ways, ²  and he will make your paths straight. ³ 

Do not crave that ruler’s ¹  delicacies, for ²  that food is deceptive. ³ 

Later ¹  Hezron had sexual relations with ²  the daughter of Makir, the father of Gilead. (He had married ³  her when he was sixty years old.) She bore him Segub.

Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, ¹  but he does not recognize it! His head is filled with gray hair, but he does not realize it!

Asher’s ¹  food will be rich, ²  and he will provide delicacies ³  to royalty.

But it was he ¹  who filled their houses with good things – yet the counsel of the wicked ²  was far from me. ³ 

But he is unchangeable, ¹  and who can change ²  him? Whatever he ³  has desired, he does.

God understands the way to it, and he alone knows its place.

For I would have committed ¹  a shameful act, ²  an iniquity to be judged. ³ 

He judges the world fairly; he makes just legal decisions for the nations. ¹ 

Commit your future to the Lord! ¹  Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf. ² 

By God’s power we will conquer; ¹  he will trample down ²  our enemies.