Now David had been thinking, ¹  “In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

So Saul arose and went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand select men of Israel, to look for David in the desert of Ziph.

Samaria’s food supply ran out. ¹  They laid siege to it so long that ²  a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver ³  and a quarter of a kab ⁴  of dove’s droppings ⁵  for five shekels of silver. ⁶ 

A musical composition ²  by David, which he sang to the Lord concerning ³  a Benjaminite named Cush. ⁴  O Lord my God, in you I have taken shelter. ⁵  Deliver me from all who chase me! Rescue me!

I am surrounded by lions; I lie down ¹  among those who want to devour me; ²  men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are a sharp sword. ³ 

May there be ¹  an abundance ²  of grain in the earth; on the tops ³  of the mountains may it ⁴  sway! ⁵  May its ⁶  fruit trees ⁷  flourish ⁸  like the forests of Lebanon! ⁹  May its crops be as abundant as the grass of the earth!

The eye ¹  that mocks at a father and despises obeying ²  a mother – the ravens of the valley will peck it out and the young vultures will eat it. ³ 

The Beloved to Her Lover: Until the dawn arrives ¹  and the shadows flee, turn, ²  my beloved – be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountain gorges. ³ 

Oppressors treat my ¹  people cruelly; creditors rule over them. ²  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. ³ 

I will make it a wasteland; no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹  and thorns and briers will grow there. I will order the clouds not to drop any rain on it.

So look, the sovereign master ¹  is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River ²  – the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks. ³ 

“I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals ¹  and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” ²  says the Lord who commands armies.

He assigns them their allotment; ¹  he measures out their assigned place. ²  They will live there ³  permanently; they will settle in it through successive generations.

Your children faint; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a snare. They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger, by the battle cry of your God. ¹ 

The Lord says, “A sound is heard in Ramah, ¹  a sound of crying in bitter grief. It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone.” ² 

I have indeed ¹  heard the people of Israel ²  say mournfully, ‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. ³  You disciplined us and we learned from it. ⁴  Let us come back to you and we will do so, ⁵  for you are the Lord our God.

For after we turned away from you we repented. After we came to our senses ¹  we beat our breasts in sorrow. ²  We are ashamed and humiliated because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’ ³ 

The Lord spoke ¹  about Damascus. ²  “The people of Hamath and Arpad ³  will be dismayed because they have heard bad news. Their courage will melt away because of worry. Their hearts will not be able to rest. ⁴ 

You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ¹ 

When I turn the land of Egypt into desolation and the land is destitute of everything that fills it, when I strike all those who live in it, then they will know that I am the Lord.’