By David. To you, O Lord, I cry out! My protector, ²  do not ignore me! ³  If you do not respond to me, ⁴  I will join ⁵  those who are descending into the grave. ⁶ 

For you ignore ¹  the God who rescues you; you pay no attention to your strong protector. ²  So this is what happens: You cultivate beautiful plants and plant exotic vines. ³ 

This is what the Lord says, your protector, ¹  the Holy One of Israel: ²  “For your sake I send to Babylon and make them all fugitives, ³  turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ⁴ 

This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹  says, the one who formed you in the womb: “I am the Lord, who made everything, who alone stretched out the sky, who fashioned the earth all by myself, ² 

This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹  says, the Holy One of Israel: ²  “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go.

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. ¹  Then all humankind ²  will recognize that I am the Lord, your deliverer, your protector, ³  the powerful ruler of Jacob.” ⁴ 

You will drink the milk of nations; you will nurse at the breasts of kings. ¹  Then you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your deliverer, your protector, ²  the powerful ruler of Jacob. ³ 

For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our father; you have been called our protector from ancient times. ¹ 

What he will honor is a god of fortresses – a god his fathers did not acknowledge he will honor with gold, silver, valuable stones, and treasured commodities.

After the city secretary ¹  quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what person ²  is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper ³  of the temple of the great Artemis ⁴  and of her image that fell from heaven? ⁵ 

This is what the Lord, the protector ¹  of Israel, their Holy One, ²  says to the one who is despised ³  and rejected ⁴  by nations, ⁵  a servant of rulers: “Kings will see and rise in respect, ⁶  princes will bow down, because of the faithful Lord, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

“At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, ¹  will arise. ²  There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning ³  up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are ⁴  found written in the book, will escape.

Lord, you have been active from ancient times; ¹  my sovereign God, ²  you are immortal. ³  Lord, you have made them ⁴  your instrument of judgment. ⁵  Protector, ⁶  you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. ⁷