<p class="poetry">Deliver me<n id="1" /> from the sword!p> <p class="poetry">Save<n id="2" /> my life<n id="3" /> from the claws<n id="4" /> of the wild dogs!p>

<p class="poetry">Turn toward me and have mercy on me,p> <p class="poetry">for I am alone<n id="1" /> and oppressed!p>

<p class="poetry">O Lord, how long are you going to just stand there and watch this?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Rescue<n id="2" /> me<n id="3" /> from their destructive attacks;p> <p class="poetry">guard my life<n id="4" /> from the young lions!p>

<p class="poetry">When I was a son to my father,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">a tender only child<n id="2" /> before my mother,p>

<p class="poetry">God settles those who have been deserted in their own homes;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But sinful rebels live in the desert.<n id="3" />p>

and said, &#8220;&#8216;I solemnly swear by my own name,&#8217;<n id="1" /> decrees the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="2" /> &#8216;that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

<p class="poetry">So I said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Oh, my dear people,<n id="2" /> put on sackclothp> <p class="poetry">and roll in ashes.p> <p class="poetry">Mourn with painful sobsp> <p class="poetry">as though you had lost your only child.p> <p class="poetry">For any moment now<n id="3" /> that destructive army<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">will come against us.&#8221;p>

God<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Take your son &#8211; your only son, whom you love, Isaac<n id="2" /> &#8211; and go to the land of Moriah!<n id="3" /> Offer him up there as a burnt offering<n id="4" /> on one of the mountains which I will indicate to<n id="5" /> you.&#8221;p>

&#8220;Do not harm the boy!&#8221;<n id="1" /> the angel said.<n id="2" /> &#8220;Do not do anything to him, for now I know<n id="3" /> that you fear<n id="4" /> God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out<n id="1" /> to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines.<n id="2" /> She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter.

<p class="poetry">I will turn your festivals into funerals,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and all your songs into funeral dirges.p> <p class="poetry">I will make everyone wear funeral clothes<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and cause every head to be shaved bald.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I will pour out on the kingship<n id="1" /> of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me,<n id="2" /> the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.<n id="3" />