I will bless those who bless you, ¹  but the one who treats you lightly ²  I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another ³  by your name.”

But ¹  the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident ²  – who carry their god in their hands. ³ 

Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant ¹  sins; do not allow such sins to control me. ²  Then I will be blameless, and innocent of blatant ³  rebellion.

May the arrogant be humiliated, for they have slandered me! ¹  But I meditate on your precepts.

you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: ¹  “Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility ²  has ceased!

I reported, ¹  “All of them are the most stubborn of rebels! ²  They are as hard as bronze or iron. They go about telling lies. They all deal corruptly.

They have treated father and mother with contempt ¹  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ²  within you.

Toward the end of their rule, when rebellious acts ¹  are complete, a rash ²  and deceitful ³  king will arise. ⁴ 

Her prophets are proud; ¹  they are deceitful men. Her priests defile what is holy; ²  they break God’s laws. ³ 

Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

who said by the Holy Spirit through ¹  your servant David our forefather, ²  ‘Why do the nations ³  rage, ⁴  and the peoples plot foolish ⁵  things?

¹ Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, who were Reubenites, ²  took men ³ 

“This is what Hezekiah says: ¹  ‘This is a day of distress, insults, ²  and humiliation, ³  as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through. ⁴ 

For the music director; written by the Lord’s servant, David; an oracle. ²  An evil man is rebellious to the core. ³  He does not fear God, ⁴ 

¹ I will punish the world for its evil, ²  and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants. ³ 

They turn to Baal; ¹  they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal ²  have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. ³ 

For the time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the non-Christians ¹  desire. ²  You lived then ³  in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking bouts, ⁴  and wanton idolatries. ⁵ 

In the same way, you who are younger, ¹  be subject to the elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. ² 

But if the Lord does something entirely new, ¹  and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up ²  along with all that they have, and they ³  go down alive to the grave, ⁴  then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”