So David did not move the ark to the City of David; ¹  he left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

Let darkness and the deepest shadow ¹  claim it; ²  let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day ³  terrify it!

“Why then did you bring me out from the womb? I should have died ¹  and no eye would have seen me!

“Are you acquainted with the way ¹  the mountain goats ²  give birth? Do you watch as the wild deer give birth to their young?

I have been dependent on you since birth; ¹  from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. ² 

All of the thriving people ¹  of the earth will join the celebration and worship; ²  all those who are descending into the grave ³  will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives. ⁴ 

This is another misfortune: ¹  Just as he came, so will he go. What did he gain from toiling for the wind?

A good reputation ¹  is better ²  than precious ³  perfume; ⁴  likewise, ⁵  the day of one’s ⁶  death ⁷  is better than the day of one’s birth. ⁸ 

I then had sexual relations with the prophetess; she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord told me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz,

As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver and strains and cries out because of her labor pains, so were we because of you, O Lord.

“This is what Hezekiah says: ¹  ‘This is a day of distress, insults, ²  and humiliation, ³  as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. ⁴ 

Danger awaits one who says ¹  to his father, “What in the world ²  are you fathering?” and to his mother, “What in the world are you bringing forth?” ³ 

“Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?” asks your God. ¹ 

For he did not kill me before I came from the womb, making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever. ¹ 

Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame. ¹ 

But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born ¹  will be disgraced. Indeed, ²  Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.

and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ¹  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ²  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ³ 

Just as lion cubs are born predators, ¹  so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.

Do not fear, wild animals! ¹  For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass. Indeed, the trees bear their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest. ²