God, you made life harder and harder on me, day and night.\par I became like a dry, dry land in the hot summertime.\par \i (SELAH {\cf2\super [199]})\i0 \par
You will see the things that you truly enjoy.\par You will be free and grow like grass.\par The Lord’s servants will see his power,\par but the Lord’s enemies will see his anger.\par
When the people of Israel went out to fight, they always lost. They lost because the Lord was not on their side. The Lord had already warned the people of Israel that they would lose if they served the gods of the people living around them. The people of Israel suffered very much.
The people of Ekron called all the Philistine rulers together. The people of Ekron said to the rulers, “Send the Box of the God of Israel back to its place before it kills us and our people!”
The Lord made life hard for the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. The Lord gave them many troubles. He caused them to get tumors. [60] The Lord also sent mice to them. The mice ran all over their ships and then onto their land. The people in the city were very afraid. [61]
But after the Philistines had moved God’s Holy Box [66] to Gath, the Lord punished that city. The people became very scared. God caused many troubles for all the people—young and old. God caused the people in Gath to have tumors. [67]