Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. He took Gath and its surrounding towns ¹  away from the Philistines. ² 

and from Beth Gilgal and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built settlements for themselves around Jerusalem.

Now one of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. So I banished him from my sight.

You loyal followers of the Lord, ¹  praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! ² 

The Maidens to The Beloved: Why is your beloved better than others, ¹  O most beautiful of women? Why is your beloved better than others, that you would command us in this manner?

The Maidens to the Beloved: Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned? Tell us, ¹  that we may seek him with you. ² 

Cry out and shout for joy, O citizens of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel ¹  acts mightily ²  among you!”

Wild animals will rest there, the ruined ¹  houses will be full of hyenas. ²  Ostriches will live there, wild goats will skip among the ruins. ³ 

Is this really your boisterous city ¹  whose origins are in the distant past, ²  and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

In a year’s time ¹  you carefree ones will shake with fear, for the grape ²  harvest will fail, and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow ¹  in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there. ² 

The wild animals of the desert honor me, the jackals and ostriches, because I put water in the desert and streams in the wilderness, to quench the thirst of my chosen people,

Your children faint; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a snare. They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger, by the battle cry of your God. ¹ 

You who live in Aroer, ¹  stand by the road and watch. Question the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping. Ask them, ‘What has happened?’

For I solemnly swear,” ¹  says the Lord, “that Bozrah ²  will become a pile of ruins. It will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ³  All the towns around it will lie in ruins forever.”

They made your oars from oaks of Bashan; they made your deck ¹  with cypresses ²  from the Kittean isles. ³ 

And ¹  in that you saw iron mixed with wet clay, so people will be mixed ²  with one another ³  without adhering to one another, just as ⁴  iron does not mix with clay.

For this reason I ¹  will mourn and wail; I will walk around barefoot ²  and without my outer garments. ³  I will howl ⁴  like a wild dog, ⁵  and screech ⁶  like an owl. ⁷ 

Therefore you ¹  will have to say farewell ²  to Moresheth Gath. The residents ³  of Achzib ⁴  will be as disappointing as a dried up well ⁵  to the kings of Israel. ⁶ 

Return to the stronghold, you prisoners, with hope; today I declare that I will return double what was taken from you.