Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; ¹  you have covered us with darkness. ² 

He brought them out of the utter darkness, ¹  and tore off their shackles.

For ¹  I am like a wineskin ²  dried up in smoke. ³  I do not forget your statutes.

The one who says to the guilty, ¹  “You are innocent,” ²  peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce ³  him.

My heart is crushed because my dear people ¹  are being crushed. ²  I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. ³ 

Don’t you realize the Lord’s day of judgment will bring ¹  darkness, not light – gloomy blackness, not bright light?

But some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, ¹  the ruler ²  of demons, he casts out demons.”

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ¹ 

Indeed, I will also make every effort that, after my departure, you have a testimony of these things. ¹ 

The furnishings included linen and purple curtains hung by cords of the finest linen ¹  and purple wool on silver rings, alabaster columns, gold and silver couches ²  displayed on a floor made of valuable stones of alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mineral stone.

It will be ¹  a day of dreadful darkness, ²  a day of foreboding storm clouds, ³  like blackness ⁴  spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army ⁵  – there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ⁶ 

Let its morning stars ¹  be darkened; let it wait ²  for daylight but find none, ³  nor let it see the first rays ⁴  of dawn,

Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; ¹  a fire which has not been kindled ²  will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

Have mercy on me, ¹  Lord, for I am frail! Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ² 

The roof of my mouth ¹  is as dry as a piece of pottery; my tongue sticks to my gums. ²  You ³  set me in the dust of death. ⁴ 

When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, ¹  and refrained from eating food. ²  (If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!) ³ 

Don’t let the current overpower me! Don’t let the deep swallow me up! Don’t let the pit ¹  devour me! ² 

adrift ¹  among the dead, like corpses lying in the grave, whom you remember no more, and who are cut off from your power. ² 

May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, and do not give Jerusalem priority over whatever gives me the most joy. ¹ 

Certainly ¹  my enemies ²  chase me. They smash me into the ground. ³  They force me to live ⁴  in dark regions, ⁵  like those who have been dead for ages.