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Rh :So that his voice should no more be heard
 * Upon the mountains of Israel.


 * Thy mother was like a vine, in thy likeness,
 * Planted by the waters;
 * She was fruitful and full of branches
 * By reason of many waters.
 * And she had strong rods
 * To be sceptres for them that bore rule;
 * And her stature was exalted
 * Among the thick branches,
 * And she was seen in her height
 * With the multitude of her tendrils.
 * But she was plucked up in fury,
 * She was cast down to the ground,
 * And the east wind dried up her fruit;
 * Her strong rods were broken off and withered,
 * The fire consumed her.
 * And now she is planted in the wilderness,
 * In a dry and thirsty ground.
 * And fire is gone out of the rod of her branches,
 * It hath devoured her fruit,
 * So that there is in her no strong rod
 * To be a sceptre to rule.'

This is a lamentation, and it was for a lamentation.

And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the, and sat before me. And the word of the came unto me, saying: 'Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them: Thus saith the Lord : Are ye come to inquire of Me? As I live, saith the Lord, I will not be inquired of by you. Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers; and say unto them: Thus saith the Lord : In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up My hand unto them, saying: I am the your God; in that day I lifted up My hand unto them, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had sought out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the beauty of all lands; and I said unto them: Cast ye away every man the detestable things of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the  your God. But they rebelled against Me, and would not hearken unto Me; they did not every man cast away the detestable things of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt; then I said I would pour out My fury upon them, to spend My anger upon them in the midst of the land of Egypt. But I wrought for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among whom they were, in whose sight I made Myself known unto them, so as to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt. So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes, and taught them Mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live by them. Moreover also I gave them My sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they walked not in My statutes, and they rejected Mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live by them, and