The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us ¹  in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way ²  to the door of the city gate.

There were a thousand men from Benjamin with him, along with Ziba the servant ¹  of Saul’s household, and with him his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They hurriedly crossed ²  the Jordan within sight of the king.

The Philistines stayed right on the heels of ¹  Saul and his sons. They ²  struck down Saul’s ³  sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

Then I ¹  said, “The thing that you are doing is wrong! ²  Should you not conduct yourselves ³  in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies?

Then I would yet have my comfort, ¹  then ²  I would rejoice, ³  in spite of pitiless pain, ⁴  for ⁵  I have not concealed the words ⁶  of the Holy One. ⁷ 

Would he contend ¹  with me with great power? No, he would only pay attention to me. ² 

But those who harvest the grain ¹  will eat it, and will praise the Lord. Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine ²  in the courts of my holy sanctuary.”

For the Lord says, “I will now throw out those who live in this land. I will bring so much trouble on them that they will actually feel it.” ¹ 

ק (Qof) Those who pursued us were swifter than eagles ¹  in the sky. ²  They chased us over the mountains; they ambushed us in the wilderness.

I will send a plague into the city ¹  and bloodshed into its streets; the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ²  from every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

For the king of the north will again muster an army, one larger than before. At the end of some years he will advance with a huge army and enormous supplies.

All of them intend ¹  to do violence; every face is determined. ²  They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. ³ 

“You who force your neighbor to drink wine ¹  are as good as dead ²  – you who make others intoxicated by forcing them to drink from the bowl of your furious anger, ³  so you can look at their genitals. ⁴ 

He then said, “This woman represents wickedness,” and he pushed her down into the basket and placed the lead cover on top.

As ¹  they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced ²  to carry his cross. ³ 

When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof ¹  above Jesus. ²  Then, ³  after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on.

Other seed fell among the thorns, ¹  and they grew up and choked it, ²  and it did not produce grain.

Jesus knew at once that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

The soldiers ¹  forced ²  a passerby to carry his cross, ³  Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country ⁴  (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus).

When he went out from there, the experts in the law ¹  and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, ²  and to ask him hostile questions ³  about many things,