If it is not the Lord that builds a house,\par the builder is wasting his time.\par If it is not the Lord that watches over a city,\par the guards are wasting their time.\par
The Egyptian people decided to make life hard for the people of Israel. So the Egyptians put slave masters over the people. These masters forced the Israelites to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses for the king. The king used these cities to store grain and other things.
So Pharaoh [5] gave this command to his own people: “Let all the girl babies live. But every time a {Hebrew} boy baby is born, you must throw him into the Nile River.”
You worked hard all your life\par learning tricks and magic.\par So, start using your tricks and magic!\par Maybe those tricks will help you.\par Maybe you will be able to scare someone.\par
Judah, you felt safe.\par But I warned you!\par I warned you,\par but you refused to listen.\par You have lived like this\par from the time you were young.\par And from the time you were young,\par you have not obeyed me, Judah.\par
Judah suffered very much.\par And then Judah was taken into captivity.\par Judah lives among other nations.\par But she has found no rest.\par The people that chased her caught her.\par They caught her in the narrow valleys.\par
They became prostitutes {\cf2\super [179]} in Egypt while they were still young girls. In Egypt, they first made love and let men touch their nipples and hold their young breasts.
There I will give her fields of grapes. I will give her Achor Valley as a doorway of hope. Then she will answer like the time she came out of the land of Egypt.”
When the people of Israel went out to fight, they always lost. They lost because the Lord was not on their side. The Lord had already warned the people of Israel that they would lose if they served the gods of the people living around them. The people of Israel suffered very much.
The Lord was angry with the people of Israel. The Lord allowed Cushan Rishathaim, the king of Aram Naharaim [25] to defeat the people of Israel and to rule over them. The people of Israel were under that king’s rule for eight years.
None of the people of Israel could make things from iron. There weren’t any blacksmiths [121] in Israel. The Philistines did not teach the Israelites how to make things from iron because the Philistines were afraid the Israelites would make iron swords and spears.
