Both night and day they were a protective wall for us the entire time we were with them, while we were tending our flocks.

We conducted a raid on the Negev of the Kerethites, on the area of Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb. We burned Ziklag.” ¹ 

We also inquired of their names in order to inform you, so that we might write the names of the men who were their leaders.

There were those who said, “With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain ¹  grain in order to eat and stay alive.”

“So today we are slaves! In the very land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and to enjoy ¹  its good things – we are slaves!

“We will not give our daughters in marriage to the neighboring peoples, and we will not take their daughters in marriage for our sons.

Then we will shout for joy over your ¹  victory; we will rejoice ²  in the name of our God! May the Lord grant all your requests!

Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will continually thank you. ¹  We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts. ² 

Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us and we belong to him; ¹  we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

If they say, “Come with us! We will ¹  lie in wait ²  to shed blood; ³  we will ambush ⁴  an innocent person ⁵  capriciously. ⁶ 

If she is a wall, ¹  we will build on her a battlement ²  of silver; but if she is a door, we will barricade ³  her with boards ⁴  of cedar. ⁵ 

If the Lord who commands armies ¹  had not left us a few survivors, we would have quickly become like Sodom, ²  we would have become like Gomorrah.

“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with chiseled stone; the sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.” ¹ 

You say, ‘No, we will flee on horses,’ so you will indeed flee. You say, ‘We will ride on fast horses,’ so your pursuers will be fast.

Predict how future events will turn out, ¹  so we might know you are gods. Yes, do something good or bad, so we might be frightened and in awe. ² 

Yet, ¹  Lord, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the product of your labor. ² 

Come back to me, you wayward people. I want to cure your waywardness. ¹  Say, ²  ‘Here we are. We come to you because you are the Lord our God.

We and our wives and our sons and daughters have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. We have never drunk wine. ¹ 

‘We ¹  are ashamed because we have been insulted. ²  Our faces show our disgrace. ³  For foreigners have invaded the holy rooms ⁴  in the Lord’s temple.’

ע (Ayin) Our eyes continually failed us as we looked in vain for help. ¹  From our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not rescue us.