Then I said, ¹  “Lord, from the very beginning you have been seated on your glorious throne on high. You are the place where we can find refuge.

Then Zedekiah told Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about the conversation we have had. ¹  If you do, you will die. ² 

Bring us back to yourself, O Lord, so that we may return ¹  to you; renew our life ²  as in days before, ³ 

They say, ¹  ‘The time is not near to build houses; ²  the city ³  is a cooking pot ⁴  and we are the meat in it.’

“‘What you plan ¹  will never happen. You say, “We will be ²  like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.” ³ 

It is sharpened for slaughter, it is polished to flash like lightning! “‘Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree! ¹ 

“‘You said, “These two nations, these two lands ¹  will be mine, and we will possess them,” ²  – although the Lord was there –

The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic ¹ ] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its ²  interpretation.”

So these men concluded, ¹  “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is ²  in connection with the law of his God.”

We have not obeyed ¹  the LORD our God by living according to ²  his laws ³  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

He will restore ¹  us in a very short time; ²  he will heal us in a little while, ³  so that we may live in his presence.

Because the storm was growing worse and worse, ¹  they said to him, “What should we do to you to make ²  the sea calm down ³  for us?”

Who knows? ¹  Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent ²  and turn from his fierce anger ³  so that we might not die.” ⁴ 

‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly. ¹  ‘These prophets should not preach of such things; we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’ ² 

(4:14) ¹  But now slash yourself, ²  daughter surrounded by soldiers! ³  We are besieged! With a scepter ⁴  they strike Israel’s ruler ⁵  on the side of his face.

Can a person rob ¹  God? You indeed are robbing me, but you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and contributions! ² 

So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ¹  In fact, those who challenge ²  God escape!’”

Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens ¹  so that ²  we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise ³  we will be scattered ⁴  across the face of the entire earth.”

“These men are at peace with us. So let them live in the land and travel freely in it, for the land is wide enough ¹  for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. ² 

They replied, “The man questioned us ¹  thoroughly ²  about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ ³  So we answered him in this way. ⁴  How could we possibly know ⁵  that he would say, ⁶  ‘Bring your brother down’?”