Why ²  do the nations rebel? ³  Why ⁴  are the countries ⁵  devising ⁶  plots that will fail? ⁷ 

All who hate me whisper insults about me to one another; ¹  they plan ways to harm me.

The wealth ¹  of a rich person is like ²  a strong city, ³  and it is like a high wall in his imagination. ⁴ 

who said by the Holy Spirit through ¹  your servant David our forefather, ²  ‘Why do the nations ³  rage, ⁴  and the peoples plot foolish ⁵  things?

Now to him who by the power that is working within us ¹  is able to do far beyond ²  all that we ask or think,

Do you intend to criticize mere words, and treat ¹  the words of a despairing man as wind?

You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.’

And do you think, ¹  whoever you are, when you judge ²  those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, ³  that you will escape God’s judgment?

“Yes, I know what you are thinking, ¹  the schemes ²  by which you would wrong me. ³ 

then the Almighty himself will be your gold, ¹  and the choicest ²  silver for you.

when the waters become hard ¹  like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?

who plan ways to harm me. ¹  All day long they stir up conflict. ² 

Your eyes will see strange things, ¹  and your mind will speak perverse things.

The Beloved about Her Lover: His left hand caresses my head, and his right hand stimulates me. ¹ 

“Suppose a man is righteous. He practices what is just and right,

Although I trained and strengthened them, ¹  they plot evil against me!

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,

Do not plan evil in your hearts against one another. Do not favor a false oath – these are all things that I hate,’ says the Lord.”

to ¹  those who wait ²  for death that ³  does not come, and search for it ⁴  more than for hidden treasures,

It is higher ¹  than the heavens – what can you do? It is deeper than Sheol ²  – what can you know?