While they are still beginning to flower ¹  and not ripe for cutting, ²  they can wither away ³  faster ⁴  than any grass! ⁵ 

He locks the waters in his clouds, and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.

to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land, ¹  a desert where there are no human beings, ² 

It makes the deep boil like a cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment, ¹ 

He shrouded himself in darkness, ¹  in thick rain clouds. ² 

Therefore they have more than enough food to eat, and even suck up the water of the sea. ¹ 

to the one who spread out the earth over the water, for his loyal love endures,

May he rain down ¹  fiery coals upon them! May he throw them into the fire! From bottomless pits they will not escape. ² 

I spread my hands out to you in prayer; ¹  my soul thirsts for you in a parched ²  land. ³ 

He then orders it all to melt; ¹  he breathes on it, ²  and the water flows.

When they saw him walking on the water ¹  they thought he was a ghost. They ²  cried out,

Take note of ¹  the field where the men ²  are harvesting and follow behind with the female workers. ³  I will tell the men ⁴  to leave you alone. ⁵  When you are thirsty, you may go to ⁶  the water jars ⁷  and drink some of the water ⁸  the servants draw.” ⁹ 

When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman replied to them, “They crossed over the stream.” Absalom’s men ¹  searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem. ² 

Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we might seek the Lord’s direction?” ¹  One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shapat is here; he used to be Elijah’s servant.” ² 

They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water. It has nothing to fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought. It does not stop bearing fruit.

They will come back shedding tears of contrition. I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. ¹  I will lead them besides streams of water, along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ²  I will do this because I am Israel’s father; Ephraim ³  is my firstborn son.’”

Every living creature which swarms where the river ¹  flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh ²  and everything will live where the river flows.

On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” ¹ 

The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered ¹  the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah ²  in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, ³  and brought it back into the ark. ⁴ 

For ¹  in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you ²  rebelled against my command ³  to show me as holy ⁴  before their eyes over the water – the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.”