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Talking to Infi about Xenophon-- where is she?
Apparently ALL the children are in "eggspace"??? A stasis realm until we figure out how to heck to deal with trauma AND until the Core (me) FINALLY stabilizes

We need PROPER TERMS for "parentage" up here-- ALWAYS three persons involved??
Infi said zhe can "incubate" but NOT "conceive"???

I DON'T HAVE AN OVERLAY (YET)????
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TOP PRIORITY TO FIX
Get on Picrew boy!!!!

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Okay Advent is in THREE DAYS so we NEED to FOCUS on FINISHING LAMENTATIONS before then.
NO DEEP DETOURS. We can follow threads later.
Right now we need the actual substance of the book itself, especially since tomorrow is the SCARIEST DAY OF THE YEAR specifically because of our past E.D. sins/ ongoing struggles & consequences of such, so the "lament" vibe is VERY appropriate and badly needed in terms of sobering conviction, empathetic catharsis, and contrite coping.

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1:11 "All her people groaned as they searched for a morsel of bread.They exchanged their valuables for just enough food to stay alive." =  The Hebrew preposition (bet) here (""for" food") is the so-called bet pretii, or "bet" of price, defining the value attached to someone or something.
(E.g. Jacob working 7 years for Rachel, Rachel "buying a night" with the mandrakes, laws against selling food to the poor for profit/ selling a captive wife for profit, David insisting on purchasing sacrificial oxen offered to him for free, etc.)
[This usage HURTS because it implies that everything and everything Israel treasured, or counted as having any "worthy of price" whatsoever, was ultimately only valued as equal to a scrap of bread. Hunger annihilated all other standards of evaluation. I know what that feels like.]


1:16 VERY QUICK ESSENTIAL DETOUR ON "NEFESH" HERE ("one who could cause my soul to return") =
https://biblehub.com/genesis/14-21.htm
"The ruler of the city of Sodom approaches Abram with a proposal after Abram's victory over the kings who captured Lot and the people of Sodom. The king of Sodom’s first demand centers on souls, not stuff... In ancient Near Eastern culture & warfare, captives were often taken as slaves and became property. His request for the people, or "souls," reveals the king’s priorities— he wants "human resources"– control of lives– even more than possession of material wealth.
Captives were also used to repopulate the conquerors city. This reflects the king's desire to restore his city's population and maintain his power.
The king's emphasis on people over goods [is STILL motivated by worldly values & selfish goals, and therefore actually] contrasts with Abram's values, [because the king is effectively asking Abram to treat the captives as mere spoil?? and to think nothing of "handing over" their fates if it would bring him personal profit??? Sodom’s king sees his own captive people as a mere resource??? He wants "souls" AS "profit," NOT as "people"????]
as Abram prioritizes righteousness and divine promises over earthly possessions [trusting God to provide all his wealth as God saw fit, and refusing to make decisions based on selfish interest and the belittling of others?].
Scripture consistently elevates human life over material gain [and power]. Abram’s later refusal shows that true faith fights for people’s freedom, echoing Moses’ later plea, “Let My people go”.
Then comes the temptation: wealth without compromise. The king offers Abram everything except the captives. The offer to Abram to keep the goods aligns with the ancient custom of rewarding victors with spoils of war. However, Abram, already blessed by God Most High, rejects the windfall so that no one can say, “I have made Abram rich”. Abram's refusal underscores his commitment to God's provision and his desire to avoid ANY association with Sodom's corruption. This decision highlights Abram's faith and integrity, serving as a type of Christ, Who also rejected earthly power and wealth for a higher purpose, living out His Own teaching: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?"
Abram’s contentment [in God's Providential care] foreshadows the pilgrim mindset praised in Hebrews 11:9-10— treasuring God’s promises above all earthly treasure... the call for believers to seek heavenly treasures over earthly gains.
Genesis 14:21 captures a stark contrast: a worldly king values possessions second to domination over people, while God’s man prizes freedom and testimony over [the exact same] riches!
Abram’s refusal to profit from evil underscores that the Lord—not human kingship—supplies his reward. The verse invites believers in every age to choose people over possessions and choose God’s glory over all earthly gain.
The interaction with the king of Sodom also teaches the importance of discerning the character and intentions of those with whom we align & ally ourselves.
‼️‼️‼️ Ancient Near-Eastern war custom granted victors rights to plunder, yet returning captives to their city-state typically brought public honor to the liberator. The king of Sodom’s demand violates customary reciprocity; instead of honoring Abram, he seeks immediate control of labor force and population. Contemporary cuneiform law codes treat recovered persons as free citizens, not royal property, further underscoring the king’s moral departure from accepted norms of his day. In total self-interest, the king’s first concern is the restoration of economic power (human capital).
This is a devaluation of Human Life: His wording equates souls with spoils, reducing people to means for his own selfish ends. He also treats literal wealth materialistically: as the coin for negotiation, not as stewardship under God.
The king’s proposal exemplifies a naturalistic ethic— "value is vested in tangible assets and demographic strength"—while Abram’s refusal, invoking “the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth”, embodies theistic ethics: providence, stewardship, and God-centred honor. The encounter thus dramatizes the clash between "autonomous" human pride and covenantal dependency on God. By juxtaposing the king's self-serving demand with Abram’s God-centric refusal, Scripture exposes both the peril of pride and the virtue of faith-grounded humility.
The king’s attitude is overall arrogant, acquisitive, and dismissive of divine authority... manipulative, materialistic, and spiritually obtuse. [Such is the heart of a worldly, godless, self-idolizing man!] His words encapsulate Sodom’s broader moral bankruptcy and therefore set the stage for its eventual inevitable destruction.
[I highlighted this verse because THE DEVIL DOES THIS as a very clever & surreptitious means of deceptive control = even if in the world he "refuses riches," appearing humble & pious, he doesn't need humans to "make him wealthy" because what he is REALLY after is SOULS. Satan is ravenously hungry and salaciously greedy for SOULS, which is ABSOLUTE POWER that transcends all the meager might of money in the world. Furthermore, he's robbing God to do it. The usurper "prince of this world" "wants his captives back," even though Christ bought them with His Blood, and even has the gall to "offer" as compensation "all the kingdoms of the world, and all their wealth." But this means absolutely nothing in God's eyes or in eternity. Besides, it ALL belongs to GOD anyway, whether or not the devil will ever admit the Creator's Omnipotent control over what He created. The point is = Satan sees souls as chattel to control. He wants all of them just so God won't have any. He wants to be rich with absolute power, putting himself in God's own position as "Lord" over lives. BEWARE OF THIS. He has his evil eye on you, even today, on you who Christ both won and bought for Himself– you who He created to be His Own from the beginning! The devil has no claim on you whatsoever. But he will connivingly try to "demand your return" AS a captive, calling you a "vital resource," a "useful asset," trying to flatter you with pride and position and prestige, allegedly available under his rule. DO NOT BE FOOLED. YOU WILL ONLY EVER BE A CAPTIVE SPOIL TO HIM. He will never see you as an individual person, as a unique soul, as a priceless creation. You are just another penny in his bank, just another cog in his machine, just another cow in his butchery. REFUSE HIS OFFERS. COMMIT TO CHRIST. His Providence is forever sufficient, forever generous and gracious, because it is all out of LOVE for you. TRUST THAT and do NOT take ANYTHING from Sodom/Satan's filthy hands!!]