You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness ¹  you have ruled over them.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month – on that day all the fountains of the great deep ¹  burst open and the floodgates of the heavens ²  were opened.

But then he drew back his hand, and his brother came out before him. ¹  She said, “How you have broken out of the womb!” ²  So he was named Perez. ³ 

The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. ¹  The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. ² 

Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ¹  you will reestablish the ancient foundations. You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls, the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ² 

I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks. I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen. I used you to smash governors and leaders.” ¹ 

ב (Bet) The Lord ¹  destroyed ²  mercilessly ³  all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁴  In his anger he tore down the fortified cities ⁵  of Daughter Judah. He knocked to the ground and humiliated the kingdom and its rulers. ⁶ 

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ¹  for despising my oath and breaking my covenant!

The roar of battle will rise against your people; all your fortresses will be devastated, just as Shalman devastated ¹  Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.

“In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut ¹  of David. I will seal its ²  gaps, repair its ³  ruins, and restore it to what it was like in days gone by. ⁴ 

Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, ¹  to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. ² 

When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof ¹  above Jesus. ²  Then, ³  after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on.

So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was ¹  full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, ²  but although there were so many, the net was not torn.

¹ Moses told this ²  to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him ³  because of their discouragement ⁴  and hard labor.

Another third of you will be stationed at the Foundation ¹  Gate. Still another third of you will be stationed at the gate behind the royal guard. ²  You will take turns guarding the palace. ³ 

I was in peace, and he has shattered me. ¹  He has seized me by the neck and crushed me. ²  He has made me his target;

How long will you threaten ¹  a man? All of you are murderers, ²  as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence. ³ 

A psalm of Asaph. O God, foreigners ²  have invaded your chosen land; ³  they have polluted your holy temple and turned Jerusalem ⁴  into a heap of ruins.

As when one plows and breaks up the soil, ¹  so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ¹  But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ²  you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ³