Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.
The foreigners shall fade away, And shall come trembling out of their close places.
Sons of a stranger fade away, And gird themselves by their close places.
Strangers have faded away, And they come trembling forth from their close places.
2 Samuel — David's reign in three movements — rise, fall, consequences — with the Davidic covenant (ch. 7) as the vertical spine down the centre. A covenant held through both rise and fall; a throne established for ever.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The verses this one reaches6
They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.
For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Isaiah 64:6Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
leads to
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
Through
James 1:11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
leads to
The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
Through
Micah 7:17They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of…
leads to
Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD;…
The whole web at once: see the Arc.
