Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me ¹  your way, that I may know you, ²  that I may continue to find ³  favor in your sight. And see ⁴  that this nation is your people.”

The Lord will judge his people, and will change his plans concerning ¹  his servants; when he sees that their power has disappeared, and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.

Zadok and Abiathar the priests will be there with you. ¹  Everything you hear in the king’s palace ²  you must tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

His servant Zimri, a commander of half of his chariot force, conspired against him. While Elah was drinking heavily ¹  at the house of Arza, who supervised the palace in Tirzah,

This made the king of Syria upset. ¹  So he summoned his advisers ²  and said to them, “One of us must be helping the king of Israel.” ³ 

¹ Certainly you must have heard! ²  Long ago I worked it out, In ancient times I planned ³  it; and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins. ⁴ 

After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple and the royal palace, and accomplished all his plans for the Lord’s temple and his royal palace, ¹ 

The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers.

It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ¹  God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work.

In those days while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan ¹  and Teresh, ²  two of the king’s eunuchs who protected the entrance, ³  became angry and plotted to assassinate ⁴  King Ahasuerus.

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.

How blessed ²  is the one ³  who does not follow ⁴  the advice ⁵  of the wicked, ⁶  or stand in the pathway ⁷  with sinners, or sit in the assembly ⁸  of scoffers! ⁹ 

I am oppressed and needy! ¹  May the Lord pay attention to me! ²  You are my helper and my deliverer! O my God, do not delay!

A song of ascents, ²  by David. O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor do I have a haughty look. ³  I do not have great aspirations, or concern myself with things that are beyond me. ⁴ 

Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me ¹  are reminders and object lessons ²  in Israel, sent from the Lord who commands armies, who lives on Mount Zion.

The Lord’s spirit will rest on him ¹  – a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, ²  a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, ³  a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. ⁴ 

For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted, and the ripening fruit appears, ¹  he will cut off the unproductive shoots ²  with pruning knives; he will prune the tendrils. ³ 

The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the Lord who commands armies is planning to do to them. ¹ 

You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ¹  Let them take their stand – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions – let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ² 

The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ¹  and sinful people their plans. ²  They should return ³  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁴  and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁵