May my accusers be humiliated and defeated! May those who want to harm me ¹  be covered with scorn and disgrace!

May sinners disappear ¹  from the earth, and the wicked vanish! Praise the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!

The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely. But there is too much dross to be removed. ¹  The process of refining them has proved useless. ²  The wicked have not been purged.

I will prepare for them a healthy ¹  planting. They will no longer be victims ²  of famine in the land and will no longer bear the insults of the nations.

ח (Khet) The Lord’s loyal kindness ¹  never ceases; ²  his compassions ³  never end.

The Lord sent you on a campaign ¹  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ²  have destroyed them.’

I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors ¹  have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords ²  until I have destroyed them.’” ³ 

Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you. ¹  Vent it on the peoples ²  who do not worship you. ³  For they have destroyed the people of Jacob. ⁴  They have completely destroyed them ⁵  and left their homeland in utter ruin.

So I have poured my anger on them, and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done, ¹  declares the sovereign Lord.”

So he caused them to die unsatisfied ¹  and filled with terror. ² 

They have almost destroyed me here on the earth, but I do not reject your precepts.

The one who touches them must use an iron instrument or the wooden shaft of a spear. They are completely burned up right where they lie!” ¹ 

whom I will see for myself, ¹  and whom my own eyes will behold, and not another. ²  My heart ³  grows faint within me. ⁴ 

Certainly ¹  zeal for ²  your house ³  consumes me; I endure the insults of those who insult you. ⁴ 

For my days go up in smoke, ¹  and my bones are charred like a fireplace. ² 

Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame. ¹ 

Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ¹  But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ²  Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected. They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ³  They refuse to change their ways. ⁴ 

As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns ¹  of the scroll, the king ²  would cut them off with a penknife ³  and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. ⁴ 

I will make the people of Elam terrified of their enemies, who are seeking to kill them. I will vent my fierce anger and bring disaster upon them,” ¹  says the Lord. ²  “I will send armies chasing after them ³  until I have completely destroyed them.

A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. ¹  A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, ²  and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.