You who ride on light-colored female donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, ¹  you who walk on the road, pay attention!

The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master ¹  was staying until it became light. ² 

Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat in light of these actions of theirs – also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who were trying to scare me!

to the land of utter darkness, like the deepest darkness, and the deepest shadow and disorder, ¹  where even the light ²  is like darkness.” ³ 

There are those ¹  who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths.

In the dark the robber ¹  breaks into houses, ²  but by day they shut themselves in; ³  they do not know the light. ⁴ 

If I smiled at them, they hardly believed it; ¹  and they did not cause the light of my face to darken. ² 

Reveal ¹  your light ²  and your faithfulness! They will lead me, ³  they will escort ⁴  me back to your holy hill, ⁵  and to the place where you live. ⁶ 

If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, ¹  and the light will turn to night all around me,” ² 

even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, ¹  and the night is as bright as ²  day; darkness and light are the same to you. ³ 

For the commandments ¹  are like ²  a lamp, ³  instruction is like a light, and rebukes of discipline are like ⁴  the road leading to life, ⁵ 

In the light of the king’s face ¹  there is life, and his favor is like the clouds ²  of the spring rain. ³ 

before the sun and the light ¹  of the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds disappear ²  after the rain;

I am ¹  the one who forms light and creates darkness; ²  the one who brings about peace and creates calamity. ³  I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my people! For ¹  I will issue a decree, ²  I will make my justice a light to the nations. ³ 

You must ¹  actively help the hungry and feed the oppressed. ²  Then your light will dispel the darkness, ³  and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. ⁴ 

Your sun will no longer set; your moon will not disappear; ¹  the Lord will be your permanent source of light; your time ²  of sorrow will be over.

In light of all this, ¹  how can you still hold back, Lord? How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?

“I looked at the land and saw ¹  that it was an empty wasteland. ²  I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

Then compare our appearance ¹  with that of ²  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ³  deal with us ⁴  in light of what you see.”