Get up, for this matter concerns you. We are with you, so be strong and act decisively!”p>

<p class="poetry">They will fall down,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">but we<n id="2" /> will stand firm.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">But we will praise the <sc>Lordsc>p> <p class="poetry">now and forevermore.p> <p class="poetry">Praise the <sc>Lordsc>!p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;They cry,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Harvest time has come and gone, and the summer is over,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and still we have not been delivered.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">Our forefathers<n id="1" /> sinned and are dead,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">but we<n id="3" /> suffer<n id="4" /> their punishment.<n id="5" />p>

But as for us, the <sc>Lordsc> is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron&#8217;s descendants serve as the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s priests and the Levites assist them with the work.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">So we worked on,<n id="1" /> with half<n id="2" /> holding spears, from dawn till dusk.<n id="3" />

You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully.<n id="1" /> It is we who have been in the wrong!

<p class="poetry">Some trust in chariots and others in horses,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">but we<n id="2" /> depend on<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> our God.p>

<p class="poetry">Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,p> <p class="poetry">will continually thank you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For he is our God;p> <p class="poetry">we are the people of his pasture,p> <p class="poetry">the sheep he owns.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Today, if only you would obey him!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">We escaped with our lives,<n id="1" /> like a bird from a hunter&#8217;s snare.p> <p class="poetry">The snare broke, and we escaped.p>

<p class="poetry">But he lifted up our illnesses,p> <p class="poetry">he carried our pain;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">even though we thought he was being punished,p> <p class="poetry">attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done.<n id="2" />p>

They say,<n id="1" /> &#8216;The time is not near to build houses;<n id="2" /> the city<n id="3" /> is a cooking pot<n id="4" /> and we are the meat in it.&#8217;

How can we find wives for those who are left?<n id="1" /> After all, we took an oath in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s name not to give them our daughters as wives.&#8221;

But we can&#8217;t allow our daughters to marry them,<n id="1" /> for the Israelites took an oath, saying, &#8216;Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!&#8217;<n id="2" />

Then three days after I had my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one else in the house except the two of us.<n id="1" />

The king of Israel said to his servants, &#8220;Surely you recognize that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us, though we are hesitant to reclaim it from the king of Syria.&#8221;<n id="1" />

Then those in Judah said, &#8220;The strength of the laborers<n id="1" /> has failed! The debris is so great that we are unable to rebuild the wall.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Though all the nations follow their respective gods,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">we will follow<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> our God forever.p>