²⁴ Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected^(A)
the instruction of the Lord of Armies,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.^(B)

⁹ Yet I destroyed the Amorite^(A) as Israel advanced;
his height^(B) was like the cedars,
and he was as sturdy as the oaks;
I destroyed his fruit^(C) above and his roots beneath.