We are experiencing trouble on every side, ¹  but are not crushed; we are perplexed, ²  but not driven to despair;

So I began to despair ¹  about all the fruit of ²  my labor ³  for which I worked so hard ⁴  on earth. ⁵ 

If a scourge brings sudden death, ¹  he mocks ²  at the despair ³  of the innocent. ⁴ 

Those who make clothes from combed flax will be embarrassed; those who weave will turn pale. ¹ 

David thought to himself, ¹  “One of these days I’m going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand.”

Their insults are painful ¹  and make me lose heart; ²  I look ³  for sympathy, but receive none, ⁴  for comforters, but find none.

Be distressed, ¹  farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

They all tore their clothes! Then each man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

“To the one in despair, kindness ¹  should come from his friend ²  even if ³  he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

He does not expect ¹  to escape from darkness; ²  he is marked for the sword; ³ 

But God ¹  drags off the mighty by his power; when God ²  rises up against him, he has no faith in his life. ³ 

The king will mourn and the prince will be clothed with shuddering; the hands of the people of the land will tremble. Based on their behavior I will deal with them, and by their standard of justice ¹  I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”

Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair.

so that now instead ¹  you should rather forgive and comfort him. ²  This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. ³ 

Strength lodges in its neck, and despair ¹  runs before it.

They repay me evil for the good I have done; ¹  I am overwhelmed with sorrow. ² 

Those who shed tears as they plant will shout for joy when they reap the harvest. ¹ 

A song of ascents. ²  From the deep water ³  I cry out to you, O Lord.

My strength leaves me; ¹  I am absolutely shocked. ² 

Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn ¹  and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.