As for me, I said: “O Lord, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you!

I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument, praising your faithfulness, O my God! I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp, O Holy One of Israel!

A prayer of David. Listen O Lord! Answer me! For I am oppressed and needy.

Protect me, for I am loyal! O my God, deliver your servant, who trusts in you!

Take note of my brief lifespan! Why do you make all people so mortal?

Arrogant people smear my reputation with lies, but I observe your precepts with all my heart.

Yes, I know the Lord is great, and our Lord is superior to all gods.

As a demonstration of your loyal love, destroy my enemies! Annihilate all who threaten my life, for I am your servant.

When he established the heavens, I was there; when he marked out the horizon over the face of the deep,

so is a person who deceives his neighbor, and says, “Was I not only joking?”

I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, just as light is preferable to darkness:

So I began to despair about all the fruit of my labor for which I worked so hard on earth.

So I considered those who are dead and gone more fortunate than those who are still alive.

So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, but a poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens to his advice.

The Beloved to the Maidens: I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Qedar, lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah.

The Beloved: I was a wall, and my breasts were like fortress towers. Then I found favor in his eyes.

I have given orders to my chosen soldiers; I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger, my boasting, arrogant ones.

I, the Lord, protect it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day, so no one can harm it.

I dug wells and drank water. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.’

“I thought, ‘In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol, I am deprived of the rest of my years.’