1 Samuel 26:18

who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.

Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.

They conspire and lurk, watching my steps. They are eager to take my life.

Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.

Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you?’

Now therefore, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

Yahweh, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands,

He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless when he draws him in his net.

Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed. They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.

When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”

When we cried to Yahweh, he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the edge of your border.

David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn’t deliver him into his hand.

See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself, and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you. It shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights Yahweh’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days.

The proud have dug pits for me, contrary to your law.

All of your commandments are faithful. They persecute me wrongfully. Help me!

Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.

All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.

All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the local governors, the counselors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong decree, that whoever asks a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.

The keeper of the prison didn’t look after anything that was under his hand, because Yahweh was with him; and that which he did, Yahweh made it prosper.

When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good?

David said, “Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go! Yahweh will be with you.”

In my distress, I called on Yahweh. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears.

His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’ ”

Yahweh sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. When he had come into the house of his god, those who came out of his own body killed him there with the sword.

For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.

The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

But I trust in you, Yahweh. I said, “You are my God.”

Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.

They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.

Though princes sit and slander me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.

The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me.

For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

But as for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we should say, ‘From heaven;’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

But they insisted, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to this place.”

But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”

I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.

If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.

When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;

In this I also practice always having a conscience void of offense toward God and men.

For there stood by me this night an angel, belonging to the God whose I am and whom I serve,

But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and no sin is in him.

Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.”

David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”

David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”

Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it.

Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that Yahweh has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before Yahweh; for they have driven me out today that I shouldn’t cling to Yahweh’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’

David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.

For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.

For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh.

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.

I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is arrogant and conceited.

They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.

Let the proud be disappointed, for they have overthrown me wrongfully. I will meditate on your precepts.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person’s innermost parts.

A lying tongue hates those it hurts; and a flattering mouth works ruin.

If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.

My God has sent his angel, and has shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me; because as before him innocence was found in me; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’

Jesus answered them, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to seize me?

Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”

Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, testify of the evil; but if well, why do you beat me?”

Therefore don’t yield to them, for more than forty men lie in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse to neither eat nor drink until they have killed him. Now they are ready, looking for the promise from you.”