LXX Concordance for αὐτήν

God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.

“You are to make a roof,[fn] finishing the sides of the ark to within eighteen inches[fn] of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.

He treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds, male and female donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.

“Get up and walk around the land, through its length and width, for I will give it to you.”

But he said, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it? ”

So she named the LORD who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,”[fn] for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me? ”[fn]

“for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the LORD, that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”

Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar's shoulders, and sent her and the boy away. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba.

Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin ​— ​no man had been intimate with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up.

“Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: LORD, God of my master Abraham, if only you will make my journey successful!

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother's death.

When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.

Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister'? ”

Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”

So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

Then she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she'll bear children for me[fn] so that through her I too can build a family.”

He thought, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining one can escape.”

When Shechem ​— ​son of Hamor the Hivite, who was the region's chieftain ​— ​saw her, he took her and raped her.

“These men are peaceful toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and move about in it, for indeed, the region is large enough for them. Let's take their daughters as our wives and give our daughters to them.

“I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.”

There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

“What should I give you? ” he asked.

She answered, “Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, has been acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant.”

“Bring her out,” Judah said, “and let her be burned to death! ”

Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right[fn] than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her intimately again.

Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.

Pharaoh's daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it,

“This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the LORD. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute.

“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and gives it to you,

“As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy:

For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

“If she is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her.

“But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat from it and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

“Overlay it with pure gold; overlay it both inside and out. Also make a gold molding all around it.

The LORD spoke to Moses: “Go up from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your offspring.

“Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you.

He made the bronze basin and its stand from the bronze mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

“Aaron and his sons may eat the rest of it. It is to be eaten in the form of unleavened bread in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.

“Any male among Aaron's descendants may eat it. It is a permanent portion[fn] throughout your generations from the food offerings to the LORD. Anything that touches the offerings will become holy.”

“It is to be prepared with oil on a griddle; you are to bring it well-kneaded. You are to present it as a grain offering of baked pieces,[fn] a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

“The priest who offers it as a sin offering will eat it. It is to be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.

“Any grain offering that is baked in an oven or prepared in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who presents it; it is his.

“If he presents it for thanksgiving, in addition to the thanksgiving sacrifice, he is to present unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil.

He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them.

“You are not to have sexual intercourse with[fn] your neighbor's wife, defiling yourself with her.

“The land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its iniquity, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.

“If you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it has vomited out the nations that were before you.

“Do not debase[fn] your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.

“You are to celebrate it as a festival to the LORD seven days each year. This is a permanent statute for you throughout your generations; celebrate it in the seventh month.

“You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan.

“As long as it lies desolate, it will have the rest it did not have during your Sabbaths when you lived there.

Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “God, please heal her! ”

When they came to Eshcol Valley, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which was carried on a pole by two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs.

Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “Let's go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it! ”

So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size.

and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.

“will ever see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have despised me will see it.

The donkey saw the angel of the LORD and pressed herself against the wall, squeezing Balaam's foot against it. So he hit her once again.

“But if her father prohibits her on the day he hears about it, none of her vows and none of the obligations she put herself under are binding. The LORD will release her because her father has prohibited her.

“But if her husband prohibits her when he hears about it, he will cancel her vow that is binding or the rash commitment she herself made, and the LORD will release her.

“But if her husband cancels them on the day he hears about it, nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or her obligation, is binding. Her husband has canceled them, and the LORD will release her.

“They left and went up into the hill country and came to Eshcol Valley, scouting the land.

“except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he remained loyal to the LORD.'

“Your children, who you said would be plunder, your sons who[fn] don't yet know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it.

“Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess.

“At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess.

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.

“Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the LORD your God has commanded you.

“Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

“This is the command ​— ​the statutes and ordinances ​— ​the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess.

“Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit,

“For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by hand[fn] as in a vegetable garden.

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.

“There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD is certain to bless you in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance ​— ​

“The officers are to address the army, ‘Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.

“Has any man become engaged to a woman and not married her? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man marry her.'

“When you approach a city to fight against it, make an offer of peace.

“However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it.

“Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her or treat her as merchandise,[fn] because you have humiliated her.

“When he found her in the field, the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

“the man who raped her is to give the young woman's father fifty silver shekels, and she will become his wife because he violated her. He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.

“You may charge a foreigner interest, but you must not charge your brother Israelite interest, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything you do[fn] in the land you are entering to possess.

“the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable to the LORD. You must not bring guilt on the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

“The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don't want to marry her,'

“The LORD will make pestilence cling to you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering to possess.

“You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.

“Just as the LORD was glad to cause you to prosper and to multiply you, so he will also be glad to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be ripped out of the land you are entering to possess.

“The LORD will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

“Future generations of your children who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant country will see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.

“The LORD your God will bring you into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than he did your ancestors.

“And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it? '

“For[fn] I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live[fn] and multiply, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

“I tell you today that you will certainly perish and will not prolong your days in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan.

“Then their children who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

The LORD said to Moses, “You are about to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon me and break the covenant I have made with them.

“For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

The LORD then said to him, “This is the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ‘I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it.”

The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear,

and commanded the people, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God carried by the Levitical priests, you are to break camp and follow it.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the city over to you.” So Joshua held out his javelin toward it.

Now King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and completely destroyed it, treating Ai and its king as he had Jericho and its king, and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living among them.

So the five Amorite kings ​— ​the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon ​— ​joined forces, advanced with all their armies, besieged Gibeon, and fought against it.

From Libnah, Joshua and all Israel with him crossed to Lachish. They laid siege to it and attacked it.

Then Joshua crossed from Lachish to Eglon and all Israel with him. They laid siege to it and attacked it.

Next, Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it.

“Therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

“Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to go and survey the land, write a description of it for the purpose of their inheritance, and return to me.

Caleb said, “Whoever attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher, I will give my daughter Achsah to him as a wife.”

The LORD was with Judah and enabled them to take possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the people who were living in the plain because those people had iron chariots.

He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink for I am thirsty.” She opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come and I will show you the man you are looking for.” So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

He asked for water; she gave him milk.

She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.

Her wisest princesses answer her;

she even answers herself:

For the Midianites came with their cattle and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were without number, and they entered the land to lay waste to it.

When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, “Listen, I had a dream: a loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down so that it collapsed.”

Abimelech went to Thebez, camped against it, and captured it.

When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have devastated me! You have brought great misery on me.[fn] I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”

The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are unable to conceive and have no children, you will conceive and give birth to a son.

Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her.

He told her, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up.”

He told her, “If you weave the seven braids on my head into the fabric on a loom ​— ​”[fn]

Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God for us to determine if we will have a successful journey.”

“Get up,” he told her. “Let's go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

When she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her even gather grain among the bundles, and don't humiliate her.

So Ruth said to her, “I will do everything you say.”[fn]

And he told Ruth, “Bring the shawl you're wearing and hold it out.” When she held it out, he shoveled six measures of barley into her shawl, and she[fn] went into the town.

Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. He slept with her, and the LORD granted conception to her, and she gave birth to a son.

“Take the ark of the LORD, place it on the cart, and put the gold objects that you're sending him as a guilt offering in a box beside the ark. Send it off and let it go its way.

“Look,” the servant said, “there's a man of God in this city who is highly respected; everything he says is sure to come true. Let's go there now. Maybe he'll tell us which way we should go.”

“Then I will send a servant and say, ‘Go and find the arrows! ' Now, if I expressly say to the servant, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you ​— ​get them,' then come, because as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no problem.

He said to the servant, “Run and find the arrows I'm shooting.” As the servant ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn't another one here.”

“There's none like it! ” David said. “Give it to me.”

“Look, my father! Look at the corner of your robe in my hand, for I cut it off, but I didn't kill you. Recognize[fn] that I've committed no crime or rebellion. I haven't sinned against you even though you are hunting me down to take my life.

But the woman said to him, “You surely know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you setting a trap for me to get me killed? ”

Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me! ” But his armor-bearer would not do it because he was terrified. Then Saul took his sword and fell on it.

When they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled.

And Saul's daughter Michal had no child to the day of her death.

David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home.

but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him.

“Now therefore, assemble the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Otherwise I will be the one to capture the city, and it will be named after me.”

So Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that the hatred he hated her with was greater than the love he had loved her with. “Get out of here! ” he said.

So Joab sent someone to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning: dress in mourning clothes and don't put on any oil. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time.

When he had come near her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab? ”

“I am,” he replied.

“Listen to the words of your servant,” she said to him.

He answered, “I'm listening.”

Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the LORD relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now! ” The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah[fn] the Jebusite.

The girl was of unsurpassed beauty, and she became the king's caregiver. She attended to him, but he was not intimate with[fn] her.

He made the cast metal basin,[fn] 15 feet[fn] from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was 7½ feet high and 45 feet in circumference.

“However, I will not do it during your lifetime for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of your son's hand.

They divided the land between them in order to cover it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went the other way by himself.

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.”

“I have been very zealous for the LORD God of Armies,” he replied, “but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they're looking for me to take my life.”

Now King Ben-hadad of Aram assembled his entire army. Thirty-two kings, along with horses and chariots, were with him. He marched up, besieged Samaria, and fought against it.

“Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite,” he replied. “I told him, ‘Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you wish, I will give you a vineyard in its place.' But he said, ‘I won't give you my vineyard! ' ”

They would destroy the cities, and each of them would throw a stone to cover every good piece of land. They would stop up every spring and cut down every good tree. This went on until only the buildings of Kir-hareseth were left. Then men with slings surrounded the city and attacked it.

Then he said, “Go out and borrow empty containers from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few.

So she left.

After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring.

He ordered his attendant Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood before him.

“Call her,” Elisha said. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway.

So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his attendant Gehazi, “Look, there's the Shunammite woman.

When she came up to the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone ​— ​she is in severe anguish, and the LORD has hidden it from me. He hasn't told me.”

So there was a severe famine in Samaria, and they continued the siege against it until a donkey's head sold for thirty-four ounces[fn] of silver, and a cup[fn] of dove's dung[fn] sold for two ounces[fn] of silver.

and he said, “Throw her down! ” So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and Jehu rode over her.

They brought out the pillar of the temple of Baal and burned it,

At that time King Hazael of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he planned to attack Jerusalem.

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Israel's King Hoshea son of Elah, Assyria's King Shalmaneser marched against Samaria and besieged it.

“Now look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him.

“Now, have I attacked this place to destroy it without the LORD's approval? The LORD said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.' ”

“Have you not heard?

I designed it long ago;

I planned it in days gone by.

I have now brought it to pass,

and you have crushed fortified cities

into piles of rubble.

So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah, wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second District. They spoke with her.

After this, Hezron slept with the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead. Hezron had married her when he was sixty years old, and she bore Segub to him.

Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and torture me.” But his armor-bearer would not do it because he was terrified. Then Saul took his sword and fell on it.

In the spring[fn] when kings march out to war, Joab led the army and destroyed the Ammonites' land. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it.

Then God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but when the angel was about to destroy the city,[fn] the LORD looked, relented concerning the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now! ” The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Ornan[fn] the Jebusite.

The likeness of oxen[fn] was below it, completely encircling it, ten every half yard,[fn] completely surrounding the basin. The oxen were cast in two rows when the basin was cast.

Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and seized it.

you gave through your servants the prophets, saying, “The land you are entering to possess is an impure land. The surrounding peoples have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness by their impurity and detestable practices.

and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried,[fn] so that I may rebuild it.”

You multiplied their descendants

like the stars of the sky

and brought them to the land

you told their ancestors to go in and possess.

Some time later, when King Ahasuerus's rage had cooled down, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what was decided against her.

Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai who had adopted her as his own daughter. When her turn came to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king's eunuch, keeper of the women, suggested. Esther gained favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.

As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she gained favor with him. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

he considered wisdom and evaluated it;

he established it and examined it.

Should God repay you on your terms

when you have rejected his?

You must choose, not I!

So declare what you know.

Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?

Let him who argues with God give an answer.[fn]

Break the arm of the wicked, evil person,

until you look for his wickedness,

but it can't be found.

for he laid its foundation on the seas

and established it on the rivers.

Turn away from evil and do what is good;

seek peace and pursue it.

Let those who intend to take my life

be disgraced and confounded.

Let those who wish me harm

be turned back and humiliated.

Go around Zion, encircle it;

count its towers,

You have shaken the land and split it open.

Heal its fissures, for it shudders.

You visit the earth and water it abundantly,

enriching it greatly.

God's stream is filled with water,

for you prepare the earth in this way,

providing people with grain.

You, God, showered abundant rain;

you revived your inheritance when it languished.

Come near to me and redeem me;

ransom me because of my enemies.

for God will save Zion

and build up[fn] the cities of Judah.

They will live there and possess it.

then smashing all the carvings

with hatchets and picks.

You dug up a vine from Egypt;

you drove out the nations and planted it.

Boars from the forest tear at it

and creatures of the field feed on it.

the root[fn] your right hand planted,

the son[fn] that you made strong for yourself.

The sea is his; he made it.

His hands formed the dry land.

You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to show favor to her —

the appointed time has come.

so they may know that this is your hand

and that you, LORD, have done it.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;

all who follow his instructions[fn] have good insight.

His praise endures forever.

The fear of the LORD

is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and discipline.

if you seek it like silver

and search for it like hidden treasure,

in all your ways know him,

and he will make your paths straight.

“Don't abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you;

love her, and she will guard you.

“Cherish her, and she will exalt you;

if you embrace her, she will honor you.

When you walk here and there, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, they will talk to you.

But he doesn't know that the departed spirits are there,

that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,

so the slacker is to the one who sends him on an errand.

A man fathers a fool to his own sorrow;

the father of a fool has no joy.

All the brothers of a poor person hate him;

how much more do his friends

keep their distance from him!

He may pursue them with words,

but they are not there.[fn]

Counsel in a person's heart is deep water;

but a person of understanding draws it out.

A king's heart is like channeled water in the LORD's hand:

He directs it wherever he chooses.

The leech has two daughters: “Give, Give! ”

Three things are never satisfied;

four never say, “Enough! ”:

Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also praises her:

Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the king's successor[fn] be like? He[fn] will do what has already been done.

When you make a vow to God, don't delay fulfilling it, because he does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow.

When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes?

But my dove, my virtuous one, is unique;

she is the favorite of her mother,

perfect to the one who gave her birth.

Women see her and declare her fortunate;

queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:

A huge torrent cannot extinguish love;

rivers cannot sweep it away.

If a man were to give all his wealth[fn] for love,

it would be utterly scorned.

Your land is desolate,

your cities burned down;

foreigners devour your fields

right in front of you —

a desolation, like a place demolished by foreigners.

This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah: Aram's King Rezin and Israel's King Pekah son of Remaliah went to fight against Jerusalem, but they were not able to conquer it.

So they carry their wealth and belongings

over the Wadi of the Willows.

The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the LORD of Armies has planned against it.

In the year that the chief commander, sent by King Sargon of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it ​— ​

Is this your jubilant city,

whose origin was in ancient times,

whose feet have taken her

to reside far away?

The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,

for they have transgressed teachings,

overstepped decrees,

and broken the permanent covenant.

I am the LORD, who watches over it

to water it regularly.

So that no one disturbs it,

I watch over it night and day.

All the many nations

going out to battle against Ariel —

all the attackers, the siege works against her,

and those who oppress her —

will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.

“Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the LORD's approval? The LORD said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.' ”

“Speak tenderly to[fn] Jerusalem,

and announce to her

that her time of hard service is over,

her iniquity has been pardoned,

and she has received from the LORD's hand

double for all her sins.”

This is what God, the LORD, says —

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk on it —

Sing a new song to the LORD;

sing his praise from the ends of the earth,

you who go down to the sea with all that fills it,

you coasts and islands with your[fn] inhabitants.

For this is what the LORD says —

the Creator of the heavens,

the God who formed the earth and made it,

the one who established it

(he did not create it to be a wasteland,

but formed it to be inhabited) —

he says, “I am the LORD,

and there is no other.

This is what the LORD says:

Where is your mother's divorce certificate

that I used to send her away?

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?

Look, you were sold for your iniquities,

and your mother was sent away

because of your transgressions.

Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her,

all who love her.

Rejoice greatly with her,

all who mourn over her —

a wild donkey at home[fn] in the wilderness.

She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.

Who can control her passion?

All who look for her will not become weary;

they will find her in her mating season.[fn]

Who is the person wise enough to understand this? Who has the LORD spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

“The LORD named you

a flourishing olive tree,

beautiful with well-formed fruit.

He has set fire to it,

and its branches are consumed[fn]

with the sound of a mighty tumult.

My inheritance has behaved toward me

like a lion in the forest.

She has roared against me.

Therefore, I hate her.

“This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring on this city ​— ​and on all its cities ​— ​every disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying my words.' ”

“For I am already bringing disaster on the city that bears my name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth. This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.'

But I will bring you health

and will heal you of your wounds —

this is the LORD's declaration —

for they call you Outcast,

Zion whom no one cares about.

King Zedekiah of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why are you prophesying as you do? You say, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look, I am about to hand this city over to Babylon's king, and he will capture it.

“Look! Siege ramps have come against the city to capture it, and the city, as a result of the sword, famine, and plague, has been handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you have spoken has happened. Look, you can see it!

“Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am about to hand this city over to the Chaldeans, to Babylon's king Nebuchadnezzar, and he will capture it.

“The LORD who made the earth,[fn] the LORD who forms it to establish it, the LORD is his name, says this:

“This is what the LORD says: ‘This city will most certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon's army, and he will capture it.' ”

In the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it.

Egypt is a beautiful young cow,

but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.[fn]

I have heard an envoy from the LORD;

a messenger has been sent among the nations:

Assemble yourselves to come against her.

Rise up for war!

Line up in battle formation around Babylon,

all you archers!

Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow,

for she has sinned against the LORD.

Attack the land of Merathaim,

and those living in Pekod.

Put them to the sword;

completely destroy them —

this is the LORD's declaration —

do everything I have commanded you.

Come against her from the most distant places.[fn]

Open her granaries;

pile her up like mounds of grain

and completely destroy her.

Leave her no survivors.

The arrogant will stumble and fall

with no one to pick him up.

I will set fire to his cities,

and it will consume everything around him.

Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered.

Wail for her;

get balm for her wound —

perhaps she can be healed.

Sharpen the arrows!

Fill the quivers![fn]

The LORD has roused the spirit

of the kings of the Medes

because his plan is aimed at Babylon

to destroy her,

for it is the LORD's vengeance,

vengeance for his temple.

The earth quakes and trembles

because the LORD's intentions against Babylon stand:

to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens

and fortify her tall fortresses,

destroyers will come against her from me.

This is the LORD's declaration.

“Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.' ”

The words of Jeremiah end here.

She weeps bitterly during the night,

with tears on her cheeks.

There is no one to offer her comfort,

not one from all her lovers.[fn]

All her friends have betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

Jerusalem has sinned grievously;

therefore, she has become an object of scorn.[fn]

All who honored her now despise her,

for they have seen her nakedness.

She herself groans and turns away.

Zion stretches out her hands;

there is no one to comfort her.

The LORD has issued a decree against Jacob

that his neighbors should be his adversaries.

Jerusalem has become

something impure among them.

All your enemies

open their mouths against you.

They hiss and gnash their teeth,

saying, “We have swallowed her up.

This is the day we have waited for!

We have lived to see it.”

“Son of man,” he said to me, “feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

“Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Face it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.

“Face the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.

“Even so, there will be survivors left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. Indeed, they will come out to you, and you will observe their conduct and actions. Then you will be consoled about the devastation I have brought on Jerusalem, about all I have brought on it.

“It sprouted and became a spreading vine, low in height with its branches turned toward him, yet its roots stayed under it. So it became a vine, produced branches, and sent out shoots.

“so that the kingdom would be humble and not exalt itself but would keep his covenant in order to endure.

“But it was uprooted in fury,

thrown to the ground,

and the east wind dried up its fruit.

Its strong branches were torn off and dried up;

fire consumed them.

“Fire has gone out from its main branch[fn]

and has devoured its fruit,

so that it no longer has a strong branch,

a scepter for ruling.

This is a lament and should be used as a lament.”

“A ruin, a ruin,

I will make it a ruin!

Yet this will not happen

until he comes;

I have given the judgment to him.[fn]

“You are to say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: A city that sheds blood within her walls so that her time of judgment has come and who makes idols for herself so that she is defiled!

“I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one.

“She didn't give up her promiscuity that began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin nipples, and poured out their lust on her.

“Yet they had sex with her as one does with a prostitute. This is how they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those depraved women.

“Then they will lament for you and say of you,

‘How you have perished, city of renown,

you who were populated from the seas![fn]

She who was powerful on the sea,

she and all of her inhabitants

inflicted their terror.[fn]

No human foot will pass through it, and no animal foot will pass through it. It will be uninhabited for forty years.

“Son of man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder chafed, but he and his army received no compensation from Tyre for the labor he expended against it.

“ ‘The daughters of the nations will chant that lament. They will chant it over Egypt and all its hordes. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.' ”

“Son of man, take a single stick and write on it: Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him. Then take another stick and write on it: Belonging to Joseph ​— ​the stick of Ephraim ​— ​and all the house of Israel associated with him.

He measured the gate of the outer court facing north, both its length and width.

Its windows, portico, and palm trees had the same measurements as those of the gate that faced east. Seven steps led up to the gate, and its portico was ahead of them.

In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar[fn] of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

“This word is by decree of the watchers,

and the decision is by command from the holy ones.

This is so that the living will know

that the Most High is ruler

over human kingdoms.

He gives them to anyone he wants

and sets the lowliest of people over them.

“You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants.

“You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals, and you will feed on grass like cattle for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants.”

“He was driven away from people, his mind was like an animal's, he lived with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky until he acknowledged that the Most High God is ruler over human kingdoms and sets anyone he wants over them.

“This is the interpretation of the message:

‘Mene'[fn] means that God has numbered[fn] the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.

“He will resolve to come with the force of his whole kingdom and will reach an agreement with him.[fn] He will give him a daughter in marriage[fn] to destroy it,[fn] but she will not stand with him or support him.

I said to her, “You are to live with me many days. You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.”

For this reason the land mourns,

and everyone who lives in it languishes,

along with the wild animals and the birds of the sky;

even the fish of the sea disappear.

The LORD says:

I will not relent from punishing Tyre

for three crimes, even four,

because they handed over

a whole community of exiles to Edom

and broke[fn] a treaty of brotherhood.

I also withheld the rain from you

while there were still three months until harvest.

I sent rain on one city

but no rain on another.

One field received rain

while a field with no rain withered.

She has fallen;

Virgin Israel will never rise again.

She lies abandoned on her land

with no one to raise her up.

The Lord GOD has sworn by himself ​— ​this is the declaration of the LORD, the God of Armies:

I loathe Jacob's pride

and hate his citadels,

so I will hand over the city and everything in it.

The Lord, the GOD of Armies —

he touches the earth;

it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn;

all of it rises like the Nile

and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.

And the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night.

Then my enemy will see,

and she will be covered with shame,

the one who said to me,

“Where is the LORD your God? ”

My eyes will look at her in triumph;

at that time she will be trampled

like mud in the streets.

Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying,

“Nineveh is devastated;

who will show sympathy to her? ”

Where can I find anyone to comfort you?

Since you have plundered many nations,

all the peoples who remain will plunder you —

because of human bloodshed

and violence against lands, cities,

and all who live in them.

For your violence against Lebanon

will overwhelm you;

the destruction of animals will terrify you[fn]

because of your human bloodshed and violence

against lands, cities, and all who live in them.

I said: You will certainly fear me

and accept correction.

Then her dwelling place[fn]

would not be cut off

based on all that I had allocated to her.

However, they became more corrupt

in all their actions.

I asked, “What are they coming to do? ”

He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off[fn] the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

The LORD of Armies says this: “I am extremely jealous for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath.”

“If you don't listen, and if you don't take it to heart to honor my name,” says the LORD of Armies, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

The LORD swore an oath to David,

a promise he will not abandon:

“I will set one of your offspring[fn]

on your throne.

“This is my resting place forever;

I will make my home here

because I have desired it.

This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.

It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.