Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day.

They lamented and wept and fasted until evening because Saul, his son Jonathan, the Lord’s people, and the house of Israel had fallen by the sword.

I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. ¹ 

Messengers ¹  told David what had happened, ²  so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ³  until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

The prophet ¹  got angry at him and said, “If you had struck the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria! ²  But now, you will defeat Syria only three times.”

For I have not lived in a house from the time I brought Israel up from Egypt ¹  to the present day. I have lived in a tent that has been in various places. ² 

Messengers ¹  came and told David what had happened to the men, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ²  until your beards grow again; then you may come back.”

Angrily wipe them out! Wipe them out so they vanish! Let them know that God rules in Jacob and to the ends of the earth! (Selah)

Sound your battle cry ¹  against the wild beast of the reeds, ²  and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls! ³  They humble themselves ⁴  and offer gold and silver as tribute. ⁵  God ⁶  scatters ⁷  the nations that like to do battle.

Even when I am old and gray, ¹  O God, do not abandon me, until I tell the next generation about your strength, and those coming after me about your power. ² 

The Beloved to the Maidens: I adjure you, ¹  O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does ²  of the open fields: ³  Do not awaken or arouse ⁴  love ⁵  until it pleases! ⁶ 

The Adjuration Refrain The Beloved to the Maidens: ¹ I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields: “Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!”

“For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem ¹  I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines brightly ²  and her deliverance burns like a torch.”

I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors ¹  have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords ²  until I have destroyed them.’” ³ 

The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has fully carried out his intended purposes. In days to come you will come to understand this. ¹ 

I thought, ¹  ‘Certainly you will respect ²  me! Now you will accept correction!’ If she had done so, her home ³  would not be destroyed ⁴  by all the punishments I have threatened. ⁵  But they eagerly sinned in everything they did. ⁶ 

I tell you the truth, ¹  I will no longer drink of the fruit ²  of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

And now, ¹  because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, ²  you will be silent, unable to speak, ³  until the day these things take place.”

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins ¹  and loses ²  one of them, ³  does not light a lamp, sweep ⁴  the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it?

So Jacob moved on ¹  and came to the land of the eastern people. ²