He put him in charge of his palace, ¹  and made him manager of all his property,

Your enemies roar ¹  in the middle of your sanctuary; ²  they set up their battle flags. ³ 

They executed his miraculous signs among them, ¹  and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.

He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph, when he attacked the land of Egypt. ¹  I heard a voice I did not recognize. ² 

He plucked off its topmost shoot; he brought it to a land of merchants and planted it in a city of traders.

He took one of the seedlings ¹  of the land, placed it in a cultivated plot; ²  a shoot by abundant water, like a willow he planted it.

for I really was kidnapped ¹  from the land of the Hebrews and I have done nothing wrong here for which they should put me in a dungeon.”

Then the Benjaminites saw they were defeated. The Israelites retreated before ¹  Benjamin, because they had confidence in the men they had hid in ambush outside Gibeah.

For foreigners ¹  attack me; ²  ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. ³  (Selah)

A psalm of Asaph. O God, foreigners ²  have invaded your chosen land; ³  they have polluted your holy temple and turned Jerusalem ⁴  into a heap of ruins.

The Lord says, “I have rejected them because ¹  the people of Judah have done what I consider evil. ²  They have set up their disgusting idols in the temple ³  which I have claimed for my own ⁴  and have defiled it.

The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh’s slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked, ¹  “Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past – both yesterday and today?” ² 

Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment! ¹  They have taken some of the riches; ²  they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions. ³ 

He said, “You know that the kingdom ¹  was mine and all Israel considered me king. ²  But then the kingdom was given to my brother, for the Lord decided it should be his. ³ 

While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “The Chaldeans ¹  formed three bands and made a raid ²  on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! ³  And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

All the people who are determined to go and settle in Egypt will die from war, starvation, or disease. No one will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’

Indeed, they made their heart as hard as diamond, ¹  so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the Lord who rules over all had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord who rules over all had poured out great wrath.

I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go ¹  and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle ²  or perish from starvation. People of every class ³  will die in war or from starvation. They will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. ⁴ 

But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and these men ¹  have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don’t serve your gods and they don’t pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”