⁷ Even the stork that flies across the sky
    knows the time of her migration,
as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.^[a]
    They all return at the proper time each year.
But not my people!
    They do not know the Lord’s laws.

⁴ Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor?
    They are ignorant.
They don’t know the ways of the Lord.
    They don’t understand God’s laws.
⁵ So I will go and speak to their leaders.
    Surely they know the ways of the Lord
    and understand God’s laws.”
But the leaders, too, as one man,
    had thrown off God’s yoke
    and broken his chains.

⁶ Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
    Learn from their ways and become wise!
⁷ Though they have no prince
    or governor or ruler to make them work,
⁸ they labor hard all summer,
    gathering food for the winter.

¹² They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties—
    lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—
but they never think about the Lord
    or notice what he is doing.