Psalms 144 Cross References - WEB

¹ By David. Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle: ² my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me. ³ Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him? ⁴ Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away. ⁵ Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke. ⁶ Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them. ⁷ Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners, ⁸ whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. ⁹ I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you. ¹⁰ You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword. ¹¹ Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. ¹² Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace. ¹³ Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. ¹⁴ Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets. ¹⁵ Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.

³⁰ How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up? ³¹ For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.

³⁵ He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

² Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

³¹ For who is God, except Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God,

³⁴ He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

³ For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them. ⁴ You are my King, God. Command victories for Jacob!

¹² Through God we will do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our adversaries.

³ Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go. Give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

¹ Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh. Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!

⁴ Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock.

²⁴ They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’” Even to him will men come. All those who raged against him will be disappointed.

⁴ for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

² and he said: “Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; ³ God is my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence.

⁴⁰ For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ⁴¹ You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. ⁴² They looked, but there was no one to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn’t answer them. ⁴³ Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad. ⁴⁴ You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known will serve me. ⁴⁵ The foreigners will submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me. ⁴⁶ The foreigners will fade away, and will come trembling out of their close places. ⁴⁷ Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, ⁴⁸ even the God who executes vengeance for me, who brings down peoples under me,

⁴⁷ even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me.

⁹ Oh, my Strength, I watch for you, for God is my high tower.

⁹ Behold, God our shield, look at the face of your anointed.

² I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”

³ Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth.

¹⁹ Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

¹⁷ What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

¹⁴ What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

⁴ what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?

³ Don’t put your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help. ⁴ His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.

⁶ But one has somewhere testified, saying, “What is man, that you think of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him?

¹⁴ For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.

¹⁵ For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.

¹⁹ How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!

⁹ (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

¹ “Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. ² He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue. ³ Do you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with you?

⁵ Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah. ⁶ “Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

¹¹ When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.

⁹ Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.

⁴⁷ Remember how short my time is, for what vanity you have created all the children of men!

¹¹ My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. ¹⁶ For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.

²³ I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.

² “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

¹⁴ I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹³ But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.

⁸ “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”

¹⁸ All of Mount Sinai smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

³² He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

¹ Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence. ² As when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the water to boil; Make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!

³ Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴ He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. ⁵ The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. ⁶ Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.

³ God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth. ⁴ His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden. ⁵ Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet. ⁶ He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.

¹⁸ For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,

²³ “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.

⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”

¹² He made darkness a shelter around himself: gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies. ¹³ At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled. ¹⁴ Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice. ¹⁵ He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them.

¹² If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow. ¹³ He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows.

¹³ Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire. ¹⁴ He sent out his arrows, and scattered them. He routed them with great lightning bolts.

¹² For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.

⁵ Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.

¹⁷ The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around. ¹⁸ The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.

¹⁷ He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters.

² The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

¹⁶ He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.

⁴⁴ As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.

³ For strangers have risen up against me. Violent men have sought after my soul. They haven’t set God before them. Selah.

¹ For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck! ² I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

¹⁴ Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. ¹⁵ Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.

³ The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. ⁴ Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, Yahweh on high is mighty.

¹¹ Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

¹¹ Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

¹⁵ The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. ¹⁶ The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth.

¹⁵ He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

²² Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

⁴⁰ For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever,

⁷ His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

² Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.

⁶ If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it.

³ The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

⁴ They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.

²⁶ Therefore he swore to them that he would overthrow them in the wilderness,

² for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue. ³ They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.

²⁰ He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”

⁵ They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. ⁶ Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.

³⁰ If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

¹⁶ He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands, or on their foreheads; ¹⁷ and that no one would be able to buy or to sell, unless he has that mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

¹ Moreover, David and the captains of the army set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with harps, with stringed instruments, and with cymbals. The number of those who did the work according to their service was: ² of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah. The sons of Asaph were under the hand of Asaph, who prophesied at the order of the king. ³ Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising Yahweh with the harp. ⁴ Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. ⁵ All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. ⁶ All these were under the hands of their father for song in Yahweh’s house, with cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps, for the service of God’s house: Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king.

² Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings. ³ Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy!

³ He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh.

¹ For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. By Asaph. Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob! ² Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp. ³ Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.

¹ A Psalm. Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

² Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn. ³ I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations. I will sing praises to you among the peoples.

¹ Praise Yahweh! Sing to Yahweh a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.

³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre! ⁴ Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute! ⁵ Praise him with loud cymbals! Praise him with resounding cymbals!

⁹ They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood out of every tribe, language, people, and nation, ¹⁰ and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth.”

³ They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth.

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ Today, Yahweh will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you, and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines today to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

¹⁹ David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?” Yahweh said to David, “Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.” ²⁰ David came to Baal Perazim, and David struck them there. Then he said, “Yahweh has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. ²¹ They left their images there; and David and his men took them away. ²² The Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. ²³ When David inquired of Yahweh, he said, “You shall not go up. Circle around behind them, and attack them in front of the mulberry trees. ²⁴ When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then stir yourself up; for then Yahweh has gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.” ²⁵ David did so, as Yahweh commanded him, and struck the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.

⁶ Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷ David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸ From Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took a great quantity of bronze. ⁹ When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had struck all the army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ then Toi sent Joram his son to king David, to greet him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him; for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. Joram brought with him vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze. ¹¹ King David also dedicated these to Yahweh, with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued; ¹² of Syria, of Moab, of the children of Ammon, of the Philistines, of Amalek, and of the plunder of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³ David earned a reputation when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand men of the Syrians in the Valley of Salt. ¹⁴ He put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom, he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went.

¹⁶ and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, he being armed with a new sword, thought he would kill David. ¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “Don’t go out with us to battle any more, so that you don’t quench the lamp of Israel.”

¹ Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

⁵⁰ He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his offspring, forever more.

¹⁶ There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. ¹⁷ A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power. ¹⁸ Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness,

⁷ Yahweh, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.

¹ Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut: ² “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron. ³ I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who calls you by your name, even the God of Israel. ⁴ For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me. ⁵ I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me, ⁶ that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.

⁶ Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given the animals of the field to him to serve him. ⁷ All the nations will serve him, his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their bondservant. ⁸ “‘“‘It will happen that I will punish the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,’ says Yahweh, ‘with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

⁶ When the children of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men. ⁷ When David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of the mighty men. ⁸ The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate. The Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. ⁹ Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians. ¹⁰ The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and he put them in array against the children of Ammon. ¹¹ He said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. ¹² Be courageous, and let’s be strong for our people, and for the cities of our God; and may Yahweh do what seems good to him.” ¹³ So Joab and the people who were with him came near to the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. ¹⁴ When the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, and entered into the city. Then Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. ¹⁵ When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent, and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head. ¹⁷ David was told that; and he gathered all Israel together, passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him. ¹⁸ The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed seven hundred charioteers of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and struck Shobach the captain of their army, so that he died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians were afraid to help the children of Ammon any more.

⁵ When king David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of Saul’s house came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out and cursed as he came. ⁶ He cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷ Shimei said when he cursed, “Be gone, be gone, you man of blood, and wicked fellow! ⁸ Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of Saul’s house, in whose place you have reigned! Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son! Behold, you are caught by your own mischief, because you are a man of blood!” ⁹ Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.” ¹⁰ The king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because Yahweh has said to him, ‘Curse David;’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ¹¹ David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for Yahweh has invited him. ¹² It may be that Yahweh will look on the wrong done to me, and that Yahweh will repay me good for the cursing of me today.” ¹³ So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him, and cursed as he went, threw stones at him, and threw dust. ¹⁴ The king, and all the people who were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there.

¹ Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight. ² I will come on him while he is weary and exhausted, and will make him afraid. All the people who are with him will flee. I will strike the king only, ³ and I will bring back all the people to you. The man whom you seek is as if all returned. All the people shall be in peace.” ⁴ The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. ⁵ Then Absalom said, “Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let’s hear likewise what he says.” ⁶ When Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, “Ahithophel has spoken like this. Shall we do what he says? If not, speak up.” ⁷ Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good.” ⁸ Hushai said moreover, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. ⁹ Behold, he is now hidden in some pit, or in some other place. It will happen, when some of them have fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom!’ ¹⁰ Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. ¹¹ But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person. ¹² So we will come on him in some place where he will be found, and we will light on him as the dew falls on the ground, then we will not leave so much as one of him and of all the men who are with him. ¹³ Moreover, if he has gone into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there isn’t one small stone found there.” ¹⁴ Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.

⁷ Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners, ⁸ whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

¹⁵ In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

¹⁴ May Yahweh increase you more and more, you and your children. ¹⁵ Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.

⁴ As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. ⁵ Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They won’t be disappointed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

³ Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table.

¹⁰ Who can find a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies. ¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her. He shall have no lack of gain. ¹² She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. ¹³ She seeks wool and flax, and works eagerly with her hands. ¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships. She brings her bread from afar. ¹⁵ She rises also while it is yet night, gives food to her household, and portions for her servant girls. ¹⁶ She considers a field, and buys it. With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard. ¹⁷ She arms her waist with strength, and makes her arms strong. ¹⁸ She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp doesn’t go out by night. ¹⁹ She lays her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. ²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor; yes, she extends her hands to the needy. ²¹ She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet. ²² She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. ²³ Her husband is respected in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land. ²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers sashes to the merchant. ²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come. ²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom. Kind instruction is on her tongue. ²⁷ She looks well to the ways of her household, and doesn’t eat the bread of idleness.

⁸ We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for? ⁹ If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

¹⁶ Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are arrogant, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking to trip as they go, jingling ornaments on their feet; ¹⁷ therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and Yahweh will make their scalps bald.” ¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces, ¹⁹ the earrings, the bracelets, the veils, ²⁰ the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume containers, the charms, ²¹ the signet rings, the nose rings, ²² the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses, ²³ the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls. ²⁴ It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.

³ For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring: ⁴ and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. ⁵ One will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s;’ and another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand ‘to Yahweh,’ and honor the name of Israel.”

² The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

³ Let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing; ⁴ but in the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. ⁵ For this is how in the past, the holy women who hoped in God also adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands. ⁶ So Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you now are, if you do well, and are not put in fear by any terror.

²⁹ Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. ³⁰ For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?” ³¹ Laban said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.

⁵ Your threshing shall continue until the vintage, and the vintage shall continue until the sowing time. You shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

¹⁰ You shall eat old supplies long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new.

¹³ He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock.

³ He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.

⁴ You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.

⁸ Yahweh will command the blessing on you in your barns, and in all that you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

³⁷ sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase. ³⁸ He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease.

¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.

¹⁶ He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷ He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”’ ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’

⁷ Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck before you. They will come out against you one way, and will flee before you seven ways.

²⁵ Yahweh will cause you to be struck before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and will flee seven ways before them. You will be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁸ They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

³ So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.

⁶ Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried to Yahweh.

¹⁷ The raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company turned to the way that leads to Ophrah, to the land of Shual; ¹⁸ another company turned the way to Beth Horon; and another company turned the way of the border that looks down on the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. ¹⁹ Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears”; ²⁰ but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, each man to sharpen his own plowshare, mattock, ax, and sickle. ²¹ The price was one payim each to sharpen mattocks, plowshares, pitchforks, axes, and goads. ²² So it came to pass in the day of battle, that neither sword nor spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and Jonathan his son had them. ²³ The garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

⁷ When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.

¹¹ There is a crying in the streets because of the wine. All joy is darkened. The mirth of the land is gone.

¹⁷ But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive. ¹⁸ Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your crowns have come down, even the crown of your glory. ¹⁹ The cities of the South are shut up, and there is no one to open them. Judah is carried away captive: all of them. They are wholly carried away captive.

² “Judah mourns, and its gates languish. They sit in black on the ground. The cry of Jerusalem goes up.

¹⁸ If I go out into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.’”

⁴ The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh. Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness. ⁵ Her adversaries have become the head. Her enemies prosper; for Yahweh has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her young children have gone into captivity before the adversary. ⁶ All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture. They have gone without strength before the pursuer.

³ Yahweh says: “I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the middle of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called ‘The City of Truth;’ and the mountain of Yahweh of Armies, ‘The Holy Mountain.’” ⁴ Yahweh of Armies says: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. ⁵ The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”

²⁹ You are happy, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency? Your enemies will submit themselves to you. You will tread on their high places.”

¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.

⁴ Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.

¹⁵ Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.

⁵ Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,