For the music director; by David, a psalm, a song. God springs into action! ²  His enemies scatter; his adversaries ³  run from him. ⁴ 

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 

For the wise man, like ¹  the fool, will not be remembered for very long, ²  because ³  in the days to come, both will already have been forgotten. ⁴  Alas, ⁵  the wise man dies – just like ⁶  the fool!

The pomegranates have appeared ¹  in the land, the time for pruning and singing ²  has come; the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The Beloved to the Maidens: My beloved has gone down to his garden, ¹  to the flowerbeds of balsam spices, ²  to graze ³  in the gardens, and to gather lilies. ⁴ 

What more can I do for my vineyard beyond what I have already done? When I waited for it to produce edible grapes, why did it produce sour ones instead?

“Look, I am about to do something new. Now it begins to happen! ¹  Do you not recognize ²  it? Yes, I will make a road in the desert and paths ³  in the wilderness.

Now they come into being, ¹  not in the past; before today you did not hear about them, so you could not say, ‘Yes, ²  I know about them.’

I made Jerusalem ¹  and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. ²  I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object ³  of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. ⁴  Such is already becoming the case! ⁵ 

He has already spoken about these things that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiakim’s son King Jeconiah of Judah and the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem away as captives. ¹ 

Indeed, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  has already spoken ²  about the valuable articles that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians. ¹  The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.” ² 

‘You have said, “I feel so hopeless! ¹  For the Lord has added sorrow to my suffering. ²  I am worn out from groaning. I can’t find any rest.”’”

“‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant.

In a good field, by abundant waters, it was planted to grow branches, bear fruit, and become a beautiful vine.

For the unconverted ¹  pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ ¹  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Instructed by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” ¹ 

Then ¹  Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus ²  replied, “You have said it yourself.”