For the music director, according to the gittith style; ²  a psalm of David. O Lord, our Lord, ³  how magnificent ⁴  is your reputation ⁵  throughout the earth! You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! ⁶ 

when they prayed: ¹  “Have mercy on me, ²  Lord! See how I am oppressed by those who hate me, ³  O one who can snatch me away ⁴  from the gates of death!

For I hear what so many are saying, ¹  the terrifying news that comes from every direction. ²  When they plot together against me, they figure out how they can take my life.

How blessed ¹  is the one whom you choose, and allow to live in your palace courts. ²  May we be satisfied with the good things of your house – your holy palace. ³ 

We do not see any signs of God’s presence; ¹  there are no longer any prophets ²  and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. ³ 

For the music director; according to the gittith style; ²  written by the Korahites, a psalm. How lovely is the place where you live, ³  O Lord who rules over all! ⁴ 

How many living things you have made, O Lord! ¹  You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; ²  the earth is full of the living things you have made.

Just as you do not know the path ¹  of the wind, or how the bones form ²  in the womb of a pregnant woman, ³  so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

The Lover to His Beloved: (7:2) How beautiful are your sandaled ¹  feet, O nobleman’s daughter! ²  The curves ³  of your thighs ⁴  are like jewels, the work of the hands of a master craftsman.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you were ¹  my little brother, ²  nursing at my mother’s breasts; if I saw ³  you outside, I could kiss you – surely ⁴  no one would despise me! ⁵ 

Here is why this will be so: ¹  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ²  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ³ 

for before the child knows how to cry out, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria ¹  will be carried off by the king of Assyria.” ² 

The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; ¹  Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice. How dare you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the sages, one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” ² 

At that time ¹  those who live on this coast ²  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

“Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen! Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles, ¹  so we may examine them ²  and see how they were fulfilled. ³  Or decree for us some future events!

Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. ¹  Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it. ² 

This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹  says, the Holy One of Israel: ²  “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go.

The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, ¹  so that I know how to help the weary. ²  He wakes me up every morning; he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. ³ 

How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains ¹  the feet of a messenger who announces peace, a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ² 

You assist ¹  those who delight in doing what is right, ²  who observe your commandments. ³  Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? ⁴