He is my God, my strong stone in him I will find my refuge my shield, the strength of my salvation, my high tower, my way of escape, and the one who is saving me. You will save me from violence.

I've come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I've gathered my myrrh with my spices. I've eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I've drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends! Drink and become drunk with love.

Deeply shaken, the king went up to the chamber overlooking the city gate, weeping bitterly and crying out as he went along, "My son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Absalom my son, my son!"

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my stronghold in whom I take refuge, my shield, the glory of my salvation, and my high tower."

I was asleep, but my heart was awake. There's a sound! My beloved is knocking. "Open up for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."

But you have observed my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance,

The LORD is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God and I'll praise him, the God of my father and I'll exalt him.

and if you refuse my statutes, loathe my ordinances, and fail to carry out all of my commands, thereby breaching my covenant,

Besides, she really is my sister she's my father's daughter, but not my mother's daughter so she could become my wife.

Then Hannah prayed: "My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is increased by the LORD. I will open my mouth to speak against my enemies, because I rejoice in your deliverance.

Looke, my father, look! The corner of your robe is in my hand. Indeed, by my cutting off the corner of your robe and not killing you, you may know and understand that I have no evil intent or transgression I haven't wronged you, even though you are hunting me to take my life.

Should I take my food, my water, and my meat that I've slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men who came from who knows where?"

But Laban answered Jacob, "These women are my daughters. These children are my children. The flocks are mine. In fact, everything that you see belongs to me. But what would I do today to my daughters and the children they have borne?

I cried out to the LORD in the middle of my troubles; I cried out to my God. He listened to my voice from his sanctuary, and my call for help was heard.

If you listen to everything that I command you to do, and if you live your life my way, and if you do what I consider to be right by observing my statutes and my commandments, just like my servant David did, then I will be with you, I will build an enduring dynasty for you, just like I did for David, and I'll give Israel to you.

At the time of the evening sacrifice, I arose from my discouragement. Still in my torn garment and robe, I fell to my knees with my hands outstretched to the LORD my God,

"But they rebelled against me. They didn't live according to my statutes, observe my ordinances, or practice them, by which a person will live. They also kept profaning my Sabbaths. So I said that I was going to pour out my anger on them and in my anger I'm going to bring about a complete end to them in the wilderness.

I'm going to inundate Edom with my retribution, using my people Israel to carry it out! They'll deliver my anger, acting as an agent of my fury. Edom will come to know my vengeance,' declares the Lord GOD.'"

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I received help. My heart rejoices, and I give thanks to him with my song.

My life is consumed by sorrow, my years with groaning. My strength has faltered because of my iniquity; my bones have been consumed.

When disputes arise, they are to serve as a judge, adjudicating matters according to my ordinances. They are to enforce my laws, my statutes, all of my appointed festivals, and they are to sanctify my Sabbaths.

At that moment I recovered my sanity, and my honor and majesty returned to me, for the sake of my kingdom. My advisors and officials sought me out, my throne was restored, and even more greatness than I had before was added to me.

Indeed, their mother has committed prostitution the one who has been conceiving them has acted disgracefully when she said, "I'm going after my lovers, who provide me food and water, as well as my wool, my flax, my oil, and my wine.'

he is my gracious love and my fortress, my strong tower and my deliverer, my shield and the one in whom I find refuge, who subdues nations under me.

"I have trodden the winepress alone, and from my people no one was with me, I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and I stained all my clothing.

My tent is destroyed, and all my tent cords are broken. My sons have gone away from me, they no longer live. There is no one to pitch my tent again and set up my curtains.

"The enemy said, "I'll pursue them, I'll overtake them, I'll divide the spoil. I'll satisfy my anger on them, I'll draw my sword, and my hand will bring them to ruin.'

But if the servant, in fact, says, "I love my master, my wife, and my children, and I won't go out a free man,'

Then I'll remove my hand so you may see my back, but my face must not be seen."

then I'll remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham. I'll also remember the land.

none of those men who saw my glory and watched my miracles that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness even though they've tested me these ten times and never listened to my voice

"Eleazar's son Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from Israel. Because his zealousness reflected my own zeal for them, I didn't consume Israel in my jealousy.

I'll whet my shining sword, with my hands in firm grasp of judgment. I'll show vengeance on my adversary and repay those who keep on hating me.

Spare my father, my mother, and my brothers and sisters, along with everyone who belongs with them so we won't be killed."

When I saw that you wouldn't be delivering me, I took my own life in my hands, crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my control. So why have you come here today to fight me?"

that I had chosen him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up burnt offerings on my altar, burn incense, and carry the ephod in my presence? And did I not give to your ancestors' family all the Israeli fire-offerings?

Why, then, do all of you show contempt for my sacrifice and offering that I've commanded for my dwelling? And you honor your sons more than me in order to fatten yourselves from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel.'

And I'll raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and according to my desire. I'll build for him an enduring house and he will walk before my anointed one forever.

"About this time tomorrow I'll send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you are to anoint him as Commander-in-Chief over my people Israel. He'll deliver my people from the control of the Philistines, because I've seen the suffering of my people and because their cry has come up to me."

and addressed them, "If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, listen to me and make a request of Zohar's son Ephron on my behalf.

Instead, you are to go to my country and to my family and acquire a wife for my son Isaac."

"The LORD God of heaven, who brought me from my father's house and from my family's land, who spoke to me and promised me "I will give this land to your descendants,' will send his angel ahead of you, and you are to acquire a wife for my son from there.

"Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hasn't held back his gracious love and faithfulness from my master! The LORD has led me to the house of my master's relatives!"

Instead, you are to go to my father's household, to my relatives, and choose a wife for my son there.'

"Abraham told me, "The LORD, who is with me wherever I go, will send his angel with you to make your journey successful. So you are to choose a wife for my son from my family, from my father's household.

Only then will you be released from fulfilling my oath. However, when you come to my family, if they don't give her to you, you'll be released from fulfilling my oath.'

But all of you have conspired against me, and no one tells me about my son's covenant with Jesse's son. None of you feels sorry for me and tells me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait, as he's doing this day."

Look, this very day you saw with your own eyes that the LORD gave you into my control in the cave, and one of my men told me to kill you, but I had pity on you and responded, "I won't lift my hand against his majesty because he's the LORD's anointed.'

Now swear to me by the LORD that you will never eliminate my descendants after me, and that you won't erase my name from my father's family."

If the God of my father the God of Abraham, the God whom Isaac feared had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty handed. But God saw my misery and how hard I've worked with my own hands and he rebuked you last night."

Uriah replied, "The ark, along with Israel and Judah, are encamped in tents, while my commanding officer Joab and my master's staff members are camping out in the open fields. Should I go home, eat, drink, and have sex with my wife? Not on your life! I won't do something like this, will I?"

Now please pay attention closely! My whole family is attacking your humble servant! They're saying, "Turn over the one who attacked his brother and we'll put him to death in retribution for his brother, whose life he took. That way, we'll kill the heir also!' They're going to extinguish the only light left in my family, leaving my late husband neither an ongoing name nor a survivor on the face of the earth!"

Meanwhile, the king veiled his face and kept on crying loudly, "My son Absalom! Absalom my son, my son!"

The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock, and may my God be exalted, the Rock who is my salvation!

Is not my dynasty like this with God? Has he not made an eternal covenant with me, preparing every detail of it? And he has made it secure, including my complete salvation, has he not? He has been of continual help, has he not, even with respect to all of my desires?

"You have demonstrated abundant gracious love to your servant David, my father, as he lived in your presence truthfully, righteously, and uprightly in his heart. In addition, you have kept on showing this abundant gracious love by giving him a son to sit on his throne today. Now, LORD my God, you have set me as king to replace my father David, but I'm still young. I don't have any leadership skills.

If you will live life my way, keeping my statutes and my commands, just like your father David did, I'll also increase the length of your life."

My servants will transport them from Lebanon to the sea, where we'll make them into rafts and float them by sea to the port that you tell me to send them. We'll have them prepared for transport there and then you can carry them from there. You can meet my needs by providing provisions for my household."

"Concerning this Temple that you're building, if you live your life according to my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all of my commands, and live according to them, then I will do what I promised to your father David.

"From the day I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I never chose a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple where my name might reside. I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

"Now therefore, LORD God of Israel, keep your promise that you made to my father, your servant David, when you said, "You will not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants will watch their lives, to live in my presence just as you have lived in my presence.'

The LORD told him: "I've heard your prayer and your request that you made to me. I have consecrated this Temple that you have built by placing my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there continuously.

I'm doing this because they have abandoned me and worshipped that Sidonian goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom. They haven't lived my way by doing what I consider to be right and observing my statutes and my ordinances, like his father David did.

I'll give one tribe to his son, so my servant David will always have a light shining in my presence in Jerusalem, the city that I chose for myself and where I have placed my name.

So go tell my father about all of my splendor in Egypt. Tell him about everything that you've seen. Be quick about it, and bring my father down here!"

"Reuben, you're my firstborn, my strength, and the first fruit of my vitality. You excel in rank and excel in power.

"My father told me, "Look! I'm about to die. Bury me in my grave that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan." So please let me travel to bury my father. I'll be right back.'"

Then the king of Israel called together all of the elders of the land and told them, "Please note that this man is here looking for trouble. He sent a message to me, demanding my wives, my children, and my silver and gold, and I haven't refused him."

WhenPharaoh won't listen to you, I'll let loose my power upon Egypt. I'll bring out my tribal divisions my people the Israelis from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

Because of your rage against me, your complacency has reached my ears. I'll put my hook into your nostrils and my bit into your mouth. Then I'll turn you back on the road by which you came.'

But she rebelled against my ordinances and my statutes. She practiced more evil than all the nations and territories around her. They rejected my ordinances and didn't live by my statutes.'

As a result, Jerusalem will become an insult, an object of taunt, an example of chastisement, and a useless waste to all the nations that surround you when I carry out my sentence against you in my anger, my burning rage, and my burning rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken it.

Queen Esther answered: "If I've found favor with you, your majesty, and if it seems good to the king, let my life be given to me as my petition and my people as my request.

"But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn't live by my statutes. They despised my ordinances, which if a person observes, he'll live by them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my anger on them and bring them to an end in the wilderness.

Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But for now my kingdom is not from here."

"As certainly as I'm alive and living, my sheep have truly become victims, food for all of the wild animals because there are no shepherds. My shepherds did not go searching for my flock. Instead, the shepherds fed themselves, and my flock they would not feed!'

In my distress I cried to the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his Temple he heard my voice; my cry reached his ears.

My sin I acknowledged to you; my iniquity I did not hide. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." And you forgave the guilt of my sin! Interlude

As for my friends and my neighbors, they stand aloof from my distress; even my close relatives stand at a distance.

Hear my prayer, LORD, pay attention to my cry, and do not ignore my tears. I am an alien in your presence, a stranger just like my ancestors were.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.

Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress. My eyes have been consumed by my grief along with my soul and my body.

by their setting up their threshold too close to my threshold and their door post too close to my door post, with a wall between me and them. After all, they have defiled my holy name by the loathsome things that they did, so I devoured them in my anger.

You kept on bringing in foreigners, those who were uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to profane my sanctuary by being inside my Temple, and by doing so you've emptied my covenant, all the while offering my food the fat and the blood in addition to all of the other loathsome things you've done.

I rely on God who is my deliverance and my glory; he is my strong rock, and my refuge is in God.

What does this mean? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit, but I will also sing psalms with my mind.

"While I was still speaking in prayer, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and placing my request in the presence of the LORD my God on behalf of the holy mountain of God

"Therefore I'll return and take back my grain at harvest time and my new wine in its season. I'll take back my wool and my flax that was to have covered her nakedness.

I will plant my people in the land for myself. I will show mercy on her who has received no mercy I will say to those who are not my people, "You are my people!' and they will say, "You are my God.'"

I will gather all nations, bringing them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will set out my case against them there, on behalf of my people, my heritage Israel, whom they scattered among the nations, apportioning my land among themselves.

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with endless rivers of oil? Am I to give my firstborn to pay for my rebellion, the fruit of my body in exchange for my soul?

The LORD God is my strength he will make my feet like those of a deer, equipping me to tread on my mountain heights. For the choir director: On my stringed instruments.

You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride. You have made my heart beat faster with one glance of your eyes, with one strand of your necklace.

I will make the one who conquers to become a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and he will never go out of it again. I will write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God), and my own new name.

"Look! God yes God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid. For the LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."

I myself have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also summoned my warriors, those who rejoice in my triumph, to carry out my angry judgments.

"I said: "I've labored for nothing. I've exhausted my strength on futility and on emptiness.' Yet surely my recompense is with the LORD, and my reward is with my God.

I gave my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not turn away my face from insults and spitting.

these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will rise up to be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for everyone."

He told them, "You will indeed drink from my cup. But it's not up to me to grant you a seat at my right hand or at my left. These positions have already been prepared for others by my Father."