They replied, “Yes, straight ahead! But hurry now, for he came to the town today, and the people are making a sacrifice at the high place.

Now if a man finds his enemy, does he send him on his way in good shape? May the Lord repay you with good this day for what you have done to me.

Riding on her donkey, she went down under cover of the mountain. David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she encountered them.

Then David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They had been living in that land for a long time, from the approach ¹  to Shur as far as the land of Egypt.)

So David was no longer willing to bring the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. David left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

While they were still on their way, the following report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one of them is left!”

Zadok and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. When they positioned the ark of God, Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving ¹  the city.

So the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom ¹  set out together. They wandered around on the road for seven days and finally ran out of water for the men and animals they had with them.

You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

How blessed ²  is the one ³  who does not follow ⁴  the advice ⁵  of the wicked, ⁶  or stand in the pathway ⁷  with sinners, or sit in the assembly ⁸  of scoffers! ⁹ 

For forty years I was continually disgusted ¹  with that generation, and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ²  they do not obey my commands.’ ³ 

May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, ¹  for I trust in you. Show me the way I should go, ²  because I long for you. ³ 

those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ¹  They will enter Zion with a happy shout. Unending joy will crown them, ²  happiness and joy will overwhelm ³  them; grief and suffering will disappear. ⁴ 

Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ¹  but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ²  You get renewed energy, ³  so you don’t collapse. ⁴ 

So, this is what the Lord says: ‘I will assuredly ¹  make these people stumble to their doom. ²  Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. ³  Friends and neighbors will die.’

He said through them, ¹  ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. ²  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession. ³ 

If you people who remain in Judah do that, then listen to what the Lord says. The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, ‘If you are so determined ²  to go to Egypt that you go and settle there,

ל (Lamed) Is it nothing to you, ¹  all you who pass by on the road? ²  Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord ³  has afflicted me, ⁴  he ⁵  has inflicted it on me when ⁶  he burned with anger. ⁷ 

ס (Samek) All who passed by on the road clapped their hands to mock you. ¹  They sneered and shook their heads at Daughter Jerusalem. “Ha! Is this the city they called ²  ‘The perfection of beauty, ³  the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” ⁴ 

At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced ¹  your beauty when you spread ²  your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity.