I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me; I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me.

Does the one who makes the human ear not hear? Does the one who forms the human eye not see?

and ears, but cannot hear. Indeed, they cannot breathe.

The one who shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and will not be answered.

Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to the ear of the one who listens.

Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears, so is the person passing by who becomes furious over a quarrel not his own.

He will take delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by mere appearances, or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.

Yet the children born during your time of bereavement will say within your hearing, ‘This place is too cramped for us, make room for us so we can live here.’

The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly; I have not rebelled, I have not turned back.

Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you.

But your ancestors did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah.

But the people of Jerusalem and Judah would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods.

Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!”

I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

Nations will see this and be disappointed by all their strength, they will put their hands over their mouths, and act as if they were deaf.

and you are to kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and then splash the blood all around on the altar.

For all of you have conspired against me! No one informs me when my own son makes an agreement with this son of Jesse! Not one of you feels sorry for me or informs me that my own son has commissioned my own servant to hide in ambush against me, as is the case today!”

Then Abner spoke privately with the Benjaminites. Abner also went to Hebron to inform David privately of all that Israel and the entire house of Benjamin had agreed to.

So you go there the next time all the people of Judah come in from their towns to fast in the Lord’s temple. Read out loud where all of them can hear you what I told you the Lord said, which you wrote in the scroll.