The Wilderness Years

`Cursed art thou in thy coming in, and cursed art thou in thy going out.

`Jehovah doth send on thee the curse, the trouble, and the rebuke, in every putting forth of thy hand which thou dost, till thou art destroyed, and till thou perish hastily, because of the evil of thy doings by which thou hast forsaken Me.

`Jehovah doth cause to cleave to thee the pestilence, till He consume thee from off the ground whither thou art going in to possess it.

`Jehovah doth smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with extreme burning, and with sword, and with blasting, and with mildew, and they have pursued thee till thou perish

`And thy heavens which are over thy head have been brass, and the earth which is under thee iron;

Jehovah giveth the rain of thy land--dust and ashes; from the heavens it cometh down on thee till thou art destroyed.

`Jehovah giveth thee smitten before thine enemies; in one way thou goest out unto them, and in seven ways dost flee before them, and thou hast been for a trembling to all kingdoms of the earth;

and thy carcase hath been for food to every fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth, and there is none causing trembling.

`Jehovah doth smite thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and with emerods, and with scurvy, and with itch, of which thou art not able to be healed.

`Jehovah doth smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart;

and thou hast been gropling at noon, as the blind gropeth in darkness; and thou dost not cause thy ways to prosper; and thou hast been only oppressed and plundered all the days, and there is no saviour.

`A woman thou dost betroth, and another man doth lie with her; a house thou dost build, and dost not dwell in it; a vineyard thou dost plant, and dost not make it common;

thine ox is slaughtered before thine eyes, and thou dost not eat of it; thine ass is taken violently away from before thee, and it is not given back to thee; thy sheep are given to thine enemies, and there is no saviour for thee.

`Thy sons and thy daughters are given to another people, and thine eyes are looking and consuming for them all the day, and thy hand is not to God!

The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labour, eat up doth a people whom thou hast not known; and thou hast been only oppressed and bruised all the days;

and thou hast been mad, because of the sight of thine eyes which thou dost see.

`Jehovah doth smite thee with an evil ulcer, on the knees, and on the legs (of which thou art not able to be healed), from the sole of thy foot even unto thy crown.

`Jehovah doth cause thee to go, and thy king whom thou raisest up over thee, unto a nation which thou hast not known, thou and thy fathers, and thou hast served there other gods, wood and stone;

and thou hast been for an astonishment, for a simile, and for a byword among all the peoples whither Jehovah doth lead thee.

`Much seed thou dost take out into the field, and little thou dost gather in, for the locust doth consume it;

vineyards thou dost plant, and hast laboured, and wine thou dost not drink nor gather, for the worm doth consume it;

olives are to thee in all thy border, and oil thou dost not pour out, for thine olive doth fall off.

`Sons and daughters thou dost beget, and they are not with thee, for they go into captivity;

all thy trees and the fruit of thy ground doth the locust possess;

the sojourner who is in thy midst goeth up above thee very high, and thou goest down very low;