5
If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you fall down,
how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?
6
For even your kinsfolk and your own family,
even they have dealt treacherously with you;
they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them,
though they speak friendly words to you.
7
I have forsaken my house,
I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my heart
into the hands of her enemies.
8
My heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me--
therefore I hate her.
9
Is the hyena greedy 1 for my heritage at my command?
Are the birds of prey all around her?
Go, assemble all the wild animals;
bring them to devour her.
10
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trampled down my portion,
they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.
11
They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
but no one lays it to heart.
12
Upon all the bare heights 2 in the desert
spoilers have come;
for the sword of the
from one end of the land to the other;
no one shall be safe.
13
They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,
they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their 3 harvests
because of the fierce anger of the
14
Thus says the