David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Should I pursue this raiding band? Will I overtake them?” He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them and carry out a rescue!”

All these blessings will come to you in abundance ¹  if you obey the Lord your God:

Terrors overwhelm him like a flood; ¹  at night a whirlwind carries him off.

Pour out your judgment ¹  on them! May your raging anger ²  overtake them!

But you, brothers and sisters, ¹  are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would.

O Israel, you have sinned since the time ¹  of Gibeah, and there you have remained. Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah?

All the sinners among my people will die by the sword – the ones who say, ‘Disaster will not come near, it will not confront us.’

All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given ¹  you.

When it was time to shut the city gate for the night, the men left. ¹  I don’t know where they were heading. Chase after them quickly, for you have time to catch them!”

The enemy said, ‘I will chase, ¹  I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire ²  will be satisfied on them. I will draw ³  my sword, my hand will destroy them.’ ⁴ 

Your ¹  servant has found favor with you, ²  and you have shown me great ³  kindness ⁴  by sparing ⁵  my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because ⁶  this disaster will overtake ⁷  me and I’ll die. ⁸ 

“But if you ignore ¹  the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: ² 

the wars you fear will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt. The starvation you are worried about will follow you there to ¹  Egypt. You will die there. ² 

“Be sure of this, ¹  the time is ²  coming,” says the Lord, “when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ³  and the one who stomps the grapes ⁴  will overtake ⁵  the planter. ⁶  Juice will run down the slopes, ⁷  it will flow down all the hillsides. ⁸ 

For this reason deliverance ¹  is far from us ²  and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, ³  but see only darkness; ⁴  we wait for ⁵  a bright light, ⁶  but live ⁷  in deep darkness. ⁸ 

Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, ¹  and kill him, ²  though this is not a capital case ³  since he did not hate him at the time of the accident.

So David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, ¹  “Come on! ²  Let’s escape! ³  Otherwise no one will be delivered from Absalom! Go immediately, or else he will quickly overtake us and bring ⁴  disaster on us and kill the city’s residents with the sword.” ⁵ 

may an enemy relentlessly chase ¹  me ²  and catch me; ³  may he trample me to death ⁴  and leave me lying dishonored in the dust. ⁵  (Selah)

They had not gone very far from the city ¹  when Joseph said ²  to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once! ³  When you overtake ⁴  them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?

so ¹  I myself will laugh ²  when disaster strikes you, ³  I will mock when what you dread ⁴  comes,