“The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust ¹  invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, ²  or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

He told them, ¹  “The Lord your God is with you! ²  He has made you secure on every side, ³  for he handed over to me the inhabitants of the region ⁴  and the region ⁵  is subdued before the Lord and his people.

“If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy ¹  because they sinned against you, then if they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, ²  and pray for your help ³  before you in this temple,

He built fortified cities throughout Judah, for the land was at rest and there was no war during those years; the Lord gave him peace.

All Judah was happy about the oath, because they made the vow with their whole heart. They willingly sought the Lord and he responded to them. ¹  He made them secure on every side. ² 

From the time Amaziah turned from following the Lord, conspirators plotted against him in Jerusalem, ¹  so he fled to Lachish. But they sent assassins after him ²  and they killed him there.

And during the reign ¹  of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, ²  Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues ³  wrote to King Artaxerxes ⁴  of Persia. This letter ⁵  was first written in Aramaic but then translated. [Aramaic:] ⁶ 

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

You split the sea before them, and they crossed through ¹  the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers ²  into the depths, like a stone into surging ³  waters.

But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and rested on the fifteenth, making it a day for banqueting and happiness.

For ¹  they do not speak the truth; ²  their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ³  their throats like an open grave, ⁴  their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ⁵ 

They are absolutely terrified, ¹  even by things that do not normally cause fear. ²  For God annihilates ³  those who attack you. ⁴  You are able to humiliate them because God has rejected them. ⁵ 

Indeed, ¹  it is not an enemy who insults me, or else I could bear it; it is not one who hates me who arrogantly taunts me, ²  or else I could hide from him.

God, the one who has reigned as king from long ago, will hear and humiliate them. ¹  (Selah) They refuse to change, and do not fear God. ² 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ²  a prayer ³  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ⁴  Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ⁵  All day long hostile enemies ⁶  are tormenting me. ⁷ 

May he send help from heaven and deliver me ¹  from my enemies who hurl insults! ²  (Selah) May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

They have prepared a net to trap me; ¹  I am discouraged. ²  They have dug a pit for me. ³  They will fall ⁴  into it! (Selah)

Show me evidence of your favor! ¹  Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, ²  for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me. ³ 

They ¹  will go into caves in the rocky cliffs and into holes in the ground, ²  trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ³  and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. ⁴ 

Now I will inform you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, ¹  I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. ²