So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air.

As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, ¹  make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, ²  and the officer throw you into prison.

Her rival wife used to upset her and make her worry, ¹  for the Lord had not enabled her to have children.

Samuel said, “Why are you asking me, now that the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy?

But prior to this time, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been appointed over the storerooms ¹  of the temple of our God.

Again the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also arrived among them to present himself before the Lord. ¹ 

They are saying, ¹  ‘Announce to the surrounding nations, ²  “The enemy is coming!” ³  Proclaim this message ⁴  to Jerusalem: “Those who besiege cities ⁵  are coming from a distant land. They are ready to raise the battle cry against ⁶  the towns in Judah.”’

Whatever ¹  you plot ²  against the Lord, he will completely destroy! ³  Distress ⁴  will not arise ⁵  a second time.

ז (Zayin) Jerusalem ¹  remembers, ²  when ³  she became a poor homeless person, ⁴  all her treasures that she owned in days of old. ⁵  When her people fell into an enemy’s grip, ⁶  none of her allies came to her rescue. ⁷  Her enemies ⁸  gloated over ⁹  her; they sneered at her downfall.

But I fear the reaction ¹  of their enemies, for ²  their adversaries would misunderstand and say, “Our power is great, ³  and the Lord has not done all this!”’

and I returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God.

On that same day King Ahasuerus gave the estate ¹  of Haman, that adversary of the Jews, to Queen Esther. Now Mordecai had come before the king, for Esther had revealed how he was related to her.

For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised plans against the Jews to destroy them. He had cast pur (that is, the lot) in order to afflict and destroy them.

So the Lord said to Satan, “All right then, ¹  everything he has is ²  in your power. ³  Only do not extend your hand against the man himself!” ⁴  So Satan went out ⁵  from the presence of the Lord. ⁶ 

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 

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.

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 

Indeed,” says the Lord, “captives will be taken from a warrior; spoils will be rescued from a conqueror. I will oppose your adversary and I will rescue your children.

ה (He) Her foes subjugated her; ¹  her enemies are at ease. ²  For the Lord afflicted her because of her many acts of rebellion. ³  Her children went away captive ⁴  before the enemy.

Before that time there was no compensation for man or animal, nor was there any relief from adversity for those who came and went, because I had pitted everybody – each one – against everyone else.