They surround me and say hateful things; ¹  they attack me for no reason.

Fight for me ¹  and defend me! ²  Revive me with your word!

Do not accuse ¹  anyone ²  without legitimate cause, ³  if he has not treated you wrongly.

The lips of a fool ¹  enter into strife, ²  and his mouth invites ³  a flogging. ⁴ 

It is an honor for a person ¹  to cease ²  from strife, but every fool quarrels. ³ 

Your ¹  men will fall by the sword, your strong men will die in battle. ² 

that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ¹  ‘The forces at your disposal ²  are now outside the walls fighting against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians ³  who have you under siege. I will gather those forces back inside the city. ⁴ 

Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ¹  in order to capture it. War, ²  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ³  who are attacking it. ⁴  Lord, ⁵  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ⁶ 

“Fall into ranks with your shields ready! ¹  Prepare to march into battle!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children ¹  of God.

If, for example, the trumpet makes an unclear sound, who will get ready for battle?

You have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed ¹  in your struggle against sin.

You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you. ¹ 

the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled ¹  with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac ²  named the well ³  Esek ⁴  because they argued with him about it. ⁵ 

“Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them,

I and all the troops ¹  who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them.

for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses. ¹ 

Today I am still as strong as when Moses sent me out. I can fight and go about my daily activities with the same energy I had then. ¹ 

Whenever they went out to fight, ¹  the Lord did them harm, ²  just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. ³  They suffered greatly. ⁴ 

the Israelites counterattacked. ¹  Benjamin had begun to strike down the Israelites; ²  they struck down ³  about thirty men. They said, “There’s no doubt about it! They are totally defeated as in the earlier battle.”