and he ¹  told them, “Take your master’s ²  servants with you, put my son Solomon on my mule, and lead him down to Gihon. ³ 

The king sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites, and the Pelethites and they put him on the king’s mule.

He produced manuals on botany, describing every kind of plant, ¹  from the cedars of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows on walls. He also produced manuals on biology, describing ²  animals, birds, insects, and fish.

Josiah observed a Passover festival for the Lord in Jerusalem. ¹  They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.

“Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ¹  because of the painful cries ²  of the needy, I will spring into action,” ³  says the Lord. “I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ⁴ 

They are of greater value ¹  than gold, than even a great amount of pure gold; they bring greater delight ²  than honey, than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.

You saturate ¹  its furrows, and soak ²  its plowed ground. ³  With rain showers you soften its soil, ⁴  and make its crops grow. ⁵ 

For the music director; by David, a psalm, a song. God springs into action! ²  His enemies scatter; his adversaries ³  run from him. ⁴ 

May there be ¹  an abundance ²  of grain in the earth; on the tops ³  of the mountains may it ⁴  sway! ⁵  May its ⁶  fruit trees ⁷  flourish ⁸  like the forests of Lebanon! ⁹  May its crops be as abundant as the grass of the earth!

Your people willingly follow you ¹  when you go into battle. ²  On the holy hills ³  at sunrise ⁴  the dew of your youth ⁵  belongs to you. ⁶ 

The words of a person’s mouth are like ¹  deep waters, ²  and ³  the fountain of wisdom ⁴  is like ⁵  a flowing brook. ⁶ 

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

His eyes are like doves by streams of water, washed in milk, mounted like jewels.

Come near, you nations, and listen! Pay attention, you people! The earth and everything it contains must listen, the world and everything that lives in it. ¹ 

The wild animals of the desert honor me, the jackals and ostriches, because I put water in the desert and streams in the wilderness, to quench the thirst of my chosen people,

You must change ¹  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ² 

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you must take an unblemished young bull and purify the sanctuary.

I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily, he will send down his roots like a cedar of ¹  Lebanon.

Even the wild animals ¹  cry out to you; ²  for the river beds ³  have dried up; fire has destroyed ⁴  the grassy pastures. ⁵ 

Your creditors will suddenly attack; ¹  those who terrify you will spring into action, ²  and they will rob you. ³