Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! ¹  Remember how fools insult you all day long! ² 

You have made our neighbors dislike us, ¹  and our enemies insult us.

Arrogant people do nothing but scoff at me. ¹  Yet I do not turn aside from your law.

Therefore, listen to the Lord’s word, you who mock, you rulers of these people who reside in Jerusalem! ¹ 

For he will be handed over ¹  to the Gentiles; he will be mocked, ²  mistreated, ³  and spat on. ⁴ 

Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ¹  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ²  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ³ 

When you make a vow ¹  to God, do not delay in paying it. ²  For God ³  takes no pleasure in fools: Pay what you vow!

So Moab wails over its demise ¹  – they all wail! Completely devastated, they moan about what has happened to the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. ² 

Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

and saying, ¹  “Where is his promised return? ²  For ever since ³  our ancestors ⁴  died, ⁵  all things have continued as they were ⁶  from the beginning of creation.”

But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. ¹ 

Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it.

Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? ¹  When God ²  treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way? ³ 

for there our captors ask us to compose songs; ¹  those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: ²  “Sing for us a song about Zion!” ³ 

They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, ¹  so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel ²  take shape ³  and come to pass, then we will know it!”

So now, do not mock, or your chains will become heavier! For I have heard a message about decreed destruction, from the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, against the entire land. ¹ 

Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Don’t be afraid because of the things you have heard – these insults the king of Assyria’s servants have hurled against me. ¹ 

I offered my back to those who attacked, ¹  my jaws to those who tore out my beard; I did not hide my face from insults and spitting.

And now, what do we have here?” ¹  says the Lord. “Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing, those who rule over them taunt,” ²  says the Lord, “and my name is constantly slandered ³  all day long.

At whom are you laughing? At whom are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue? You are the children of rebels, the offspring of liars, ¹