² Because the power of Midian was so oppressive,^(A) the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves^(B) and strongholds.^(C)

²⁷ “Say this to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of a plague.^(A)