But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” ¹  But he refused to listen to her.

The Tekoan woman said to the king, “My lord the king, let any blame fall on me and on the house of my father. But let the king and his throne be innocent!”

Araunah told David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wishes ¹  and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges ²  and harnesses ³  for wood.

Shimei said to the king, “My master the king’s proposal is acceptable. ¹  Your servant will do as you say.” ²  So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. ³ 

She told her mistress, “If only my master were in the presence of the prophet who is in Samaria! ¹  Then he would cure him of his skin disease.”

Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: “Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs! ¹  You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky ²  and the earth.

Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own head! Reduce them to plunder in a land of exile!

Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people replied “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

And the Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, ¹  “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” ² 

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 

You visit the earth and give it rain; ¹  you make it rich and fertile ²  with overflowing streams full of water. ³  You provide grain for them, ⁴  for you prepare the earth to yield its crops. ⁵ 

But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ¹  I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter, as ²  I declare all the things you have done.

Help us, O God, our deliverer! For the sake of your glorious reputation, ¹  rescue us! Forgive our sins for the sake of your reputation! ² 

For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; ²  a psalm of Asaph. O shepherd of Israel, pay attention, you who lead Joseph like a flock of sheep! You who sit enthroned above the winged angels, ³  reveal your splendor! ⁴ 

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 

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 fig tree has budded, the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance. Arise, come away my darling; my beautiful one, come away with me!”

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!”

Come out, O maidens of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon! He is wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on his wedding day, on the most joyous day of his life! ¹ 

¹ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ²  the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children ³  who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ⁴  They are alienated from him. ⁵