¹⁶ Instead, you said,
    ‘No! We’ll escape on horses!’
        Therefore, you’ll flee away.
And you said,
    ‘We’ll ride off on swift steeds!’
        Therefore your pursuers will be swift.
¹⁷ A thousand will flee at the threat of one;
    and run away, pursued by^[a] five,
until you are left
    like a flagpole on a mountaintop,^[b]
        like a banner on a hill.”

¹⁸ “Nevertheless, the Lord will wait
    so he can be gracious to you;
        and thus he will rise up to show you mercy.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
    How blessed are all those who wait for him.”