אַלּוּף

But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend.

Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.

who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God;

A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.

He who covers an offense promotes love; but he who repeats a matter separates best friends.

Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth?’

But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. I didn’t know that they had devised plans against me, saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, and let’s cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”

What will you say, when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Won’t sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!