Their insults are painful ¹  and make me lose heart; ²  I look ³  for sympathy, but receive none, ⁴  for comforters, but find none.

At that time we laughed loudly and shouted for joy. ¹  At that time the nations said, ²  “The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”

If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. Even if I finished counting them, I would still have to contend with you. ¹ 

He sees there is no advocate; ¹  he is shocked ²  that no one intervenes. So he takes matters into his own hands; ³  his desire for justice drives him on. ⁴ 

I looked, but there was no one to help; I was shocked because there was no one offering support. ¹  So my right arm accomplished deliverance; my raging anger drove me on. ² 

You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ¹  They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²  They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you. ³ 

When all the people that Ishmael had taken captive saw ¹  Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, they were glad.

ל (Lamed) Neither the kings of the earth nor the people of the lands ¹  ever thought ²  that enemy or foe would enter the gates ³  of Jerusalem. ⁴ 

צ (Tsade) Our enemies ¹  hunted us down at every step ²  so that we could not walk about in our streets. Our end drew near, our days were numbered, ³  for our end had come!

So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, ¹  and I threw myself face down.

So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure ¹  of creeping thing and beast – detestable images ²  – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. ³ 

I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

“I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ¹ 

But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.’

Now the wise men and ¹  astrologers were brought before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation. But they were unable to disclose the interpretation of the message.

I, Daniel, was exhausted ¹  and sick for days. Then I got up and again carried out the king’s business. But I was astonished at the vision, and there was no one to explain it.

Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; because a spirit of idolatry ¹  controls their heart, ²  and they do not acknowledge the Lord.

Very soon they will say, “We have no king since we did not fear the Lord. But what can a king do for us anyway?”

Instead, they tried to row ¹  back to land, ²  but they were not able to do so ³  because the storm kept growing worse and worse. ⁴ 

Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month, ¹  for I ran out of patience with them and, indeed, they detested me as well.