O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks with my whole heart! I will honor your name continually! ¹ 

Proud men hide a snare for me; evil men ¹  spread a net by the path; they set traps for me. (Selah)

Do not lie in wait like the wicked ¹  against the place where the righteous live; do not assault ²  his home.

The Lover to His Beloved: You are a locked garden, ¹  my sister, my bride; you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain.

The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹  “Many houses will certainly become desolate, large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. ² 

¹ They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. ²  Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” ³ 

The Egyptians will panic, ¹  and I will confuse their strategy. ²  They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead, from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians. ³ 

The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹  “Certainly this sin will not be forgiven as long as you live,” ²  says the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies.

O Lord, in distress they looked for you; they uttered incantations because of your discipline. ¹ 

Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over! ¹ 

who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers ¹  and humiliates ²  the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men ³  and makes their advice ⁴  seem foolish,

Their tongues are like deadly arrows. ¹  They are always telling lies. ²  Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them. ³ 

“Take the shorts that you bought and are wearing ¹  and go at once ²  to Perath. ³  Bury the shorts there ⁴  in a crack in the rocks.”

I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. ¹  I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

Let cries of terror be heard in their houses when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. ¹  For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for me to step into.

But if they had stood in my inner circle, ¹  they would have proclaimed my message to my people. They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

The Lord is like a lion who has left his lair. ¹  So their lands will certainly ²  be laid waste by the warfare of the oppressive nation ³  and by the fierce anger of the Lord.”

ק (Qof) Those who pursued us were swifter than eagles ¹  in the sky. ²  They chased us over the mountains; they ambushed us in the wilderness.

Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys; all of them will moan – each one for his iniquity.

They see delusion and their omens are a lie. ¹  They say, “the Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them; ²  yet they expect their word to be confirmed. ³