You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you nor bounteous fields! For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more.
“And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart, for the Lord searches every mind and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever.
You will be in the right, O Lord, when I lay charges against you, but let me put my case to you. Why does the way of the guilty prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
The Lord has scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; a clamor was raised in the house of the Lord as on a day of festival.
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.