¹ Then David asked, “Is anyone still left from the family ²  of Saul, so that I may extend kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?”

While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!”

and said ¹  this: ‘The Lord God of Israel is worthy of praise because ²  today he has placed a successor on my throne and allowed me to see it.’” ³ 

He went to Samaria and exterminated all the members of Ahab’s family who were still alive in Samaria, ¹  just as the Lord had announced to Elijah. ² 

They seized the Hagrites’ ¹  animals, including 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys. They also took captive 100,000 people.

O Lord God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, maintain the motives of your people and keep them devoted to you. ¹ 

he ¹  said to take back this answer to Esther:

and the Sabeans ¹  swooped down ²  and carried them all away, and they killed ³  the servants with the sword! ⁴  And I – only I alone ⁵  – escaped to tell you!”

and suddenly ¹  a great wind ²  swept across ³  the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they died! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

“As surely as God lives, ¹  who has denied me justice, ²  the Almighty, who has made my life bitter ³  –

You burn them up like a fiery furnace ¹  when you appear; ²  the Lord angrily devours them; ³  the fire consumes them.

When evil men attack me ¹  to devour my flesh, ²  when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ³  they stumble and fall. ⁴ 

Do not let them say to themselves, ¹  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ²  Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

He pronounces this blessing on himself while he is alive: “May men praise you, for you have done well!”

I desperately want to be ¹  in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ²  My heart and my entire being ³  shout for joy to the living God.

Even when I must walk in the midst of danger, ¹  you revive me. You oppose my angry enemies, ²  and your right hand delivers me.

May he rain down ¹  fiery coals upon them! May he throw them into the fire! From bottomless pits they will not escape. ² 

for on account ¹  of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man ²  preys on your precious life. ³ 

Those remaining in Zion, ¹  those left in Jerusalem, ²  will be called “holy,” ³  all in Jerusalem who are destined to live. ⁴ 

They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. ¹  For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea. ²