“Do you hunt prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite ¹  of the lions,

צ (Tsade) For no good reason ¹  my enemies hunted me down ²  like a bird.

Therefore, take your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game ¹  for me.

Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. ¹  When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, ² 

Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left ¹  his father’s ²  presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ³ 

A slanderer ¹  will not endure on ²  the earth; calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down. ³ 

Faithful men have disappeared ¹  from the land; there are no godly men left. ²  They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ³  they hunt their own brother with a net. ⁴ 

“‘Any man from the Israelites ¹  or from the foreigners who reside ²  in their ³  midst who hunts a wild animal ⁴  or a bird that may be eaten ⁵  must pour out its blood and cover it with soil,

“‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note ¹  that I am against your wristbands with which you entrap people’s lives ²  like birds. I will tear them from your arms and will release the people’s lives, which you hunt like birds.

If I lift myself up, ¹  you hunt me as a fierce lion, ²  and again ³  you display your power ⁴  against me.

Like a frightened gazelle ¹  or a sheep with no shepherd, each will turn toward home, ²  each will run to his homeland.

Isaac began to shake violently ¹  and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. ²  He will indeed be blessed!”

Now don’t let my blood fall to the ground away from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a flea the way one looks for a partridge ¹  in the hill country.”

But for now I, the Lord, say: ¹  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ² 

“How long until you ¹  make an end of words? ²  You must consider, ³  and then ⁴  we can talk.

With bow and arrow ¹  men will hunt ²  there, for the whole land will be covered ³  with thorns and briers.

and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ¹  on all their wrists ²  and make headbands ³  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ⁴  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

Simon and his companions searched for him.

Look, my father, and see the edge of your robe in my hand! When I cut off the edge of your robe, I didn’t kill you. So realize and understand that I am not planning ¹  evil or rebellion. Even though I have not sinned against you, you are waiting in ambush to take my life.

When Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he did not mount a new search for him.