“I have fresh meat at home; today I have fulfilled my vows!

He has besieged and surrounded me with bitter hardship.

I continually think about this, and I am depressed.

ש (Sin/Shin) You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.

My assailants revile and conspire against me all day long.

May Dan be a snake beside the road, a viper by the path, that bites the heels of the horse so that its rider falls backward.

“How long must I bear with this evil congregation that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.

The leaders of Gibeah attacked me and at night surrounded the house where I was staying. They wanted to kill me; instead they abused my concubine so badly that she died.

Therefore I swore an oath to the house of Eli, ‘The sin of the house of Eli can never be forgiven by sacrifice or by grain offering.’”

Even when an army is deployed against me, I do not fear. Even when war is imminent, I remain confident.

Once the bull had been slaughtered, they brought the boy to Eli.

The sons of Eli were wicked men. They did not recognize the Lord’s authority.

Saul replied, “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me.

“Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man?

Am I the sea, or the creature of the deep, that you must put me under guard?

They glide by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.

“Refrain from talking with me so that I may speak; then let come to me what may.

For you write down bitter things against me and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth.

Because he covered his face with fat, and made his hips bulge with fat,

He breaks through against me, time and time again; he rushes against me like a warrior.