My soul ¹  pursues you; ²  your right hand upholds me.

ד (Dalet) I collapse in the dirt. ¹  Revive me with your word! ² 

‘Even the dust of your town ¹  that clings to our feet we wipe off ²  against you. ³  Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come.’ ⁴ 

My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; ¹  I have escaped ²  alive ³  with only the skin of my teeth.

For we lie in the dirt, with our bellies pressed to the ground. ¹ 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ¹  we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,

For,’ I say, ¹  ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah ²  tightly ³  to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. ⁴  But they would not obey me.

ח (Khet) Now their appearance ¹  is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up, like tree bark.

He leans against his house but it does not hold up, ¹  he takes hold ²  of it but it does not stand.

They say, ¹  ‘An awful disease ²  overwhelms him, ³  and now that he is bed-ridden he will never recover.’ ⁴ 

Whoever tries to keep ¹  his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life ²  will preserve it.

That is why ¹  a man leaves ²  his father and mother and unites with ³  his wife, and they become a new family. ⁴ 

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 

ד (Dalet) The infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, ¹  but no one gives them even a morsel. ² 

For this is the way ¹  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ²  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ³  but have eternal life. ⁴ 

The one who believes in him is not condemned. ¹  The one who does not believe has been condemned ²  already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only ³  Son of God.

The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects ¹  the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath ²  remains ³  on him.

“I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  the one who hears ²  my message ³  and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, ⁴  but has crossed over from death to life.