Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats ¹  to murder ²  the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest

He sent hail along with the rain; ¹  there was lightning in their land. ² 

So he saves ¹  from the sword that comes from their mouth, ²  even ³  the poor from the hand of the powerful.

Protect me from ¹  the wicked men who attack ²  me, my enemies who crowd around me for the kill. ³ 

The words of the wicked lie in wait ¹  to shed innocent blood, ²  but the words ³  of the upright will deliver them.

Cut sharply on the right! Swing to ¹  the left, wherever your edge ²  is appointed to strike.

I will punish you as an adulteress and murderer deserves. ¹  I will avenge your bloody deeds with furious rage. ² 

All of them are blazing like an oven; they devour their rulers. All of their kings fall – and none of them call on me!

“Because ¹  you violently slaughtered ²  your relatives, ³  the people of Jacob, ⁴  shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed ⁵  forever.

Furthermore, ¹  they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, ²  of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.

The king told him, “Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father’s family ¹  the guilt of Joab’s murderous, bloody deeds. ² 

Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ¹  They are always telling lies. ²  Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ³ 

So hearts melt with fear and many stumble. At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter. Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!

Then say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), ¹  and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity),

But Jews came from Antioch ¹  and Iconium, ²  and after winning ³  the crowds over, they stoned ⁴  Paul and dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead.

He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother ¹  who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them. ² 

But you, Lord, know all their plots to kill me. Do not pardon their crimes! Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! ¹  Let them be brought down in defeat before you! Deal with them while you are still angry! ² 

I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies, who are seeking to kill them. I will vent my fierce anger and bring disaster upon them,” ¹  says the Lord. ²  “I will send armies chasing after them ³  until I have completely destroyed them.

So Jehoshabeath, ¹  the daughter of King Jehoram, ²  took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked him away ³  from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him.