I will break your pride in your power, and I will make your sky like iron [giving no rain and blocking all prayers] and your ground like bronze [hard to plow and yielding no produce].

For He knows our [mortal] frame;
He remembers that we are [merely] dust.

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him.

But his concubine was unfaithful to him, and left him and went to her father’s house in Bethlehem of Judah, and stayed there for a period of four months.

“You shall not wear a fabric made of wool and linen blended together [a fabric pagans believed to be magical].

“When you build a new house, you shall make a railing (parapet) around your [flat] roof, so that you do not bring the guilt of [innocent] blood on your house if someone falls from it.

“When the Lord your God cuts off (destroys) the nations whose land He is giving you, and you dispossess them and live in their cities and in their houses,

Azariah slept with his fathers [in death], and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. His son Jotham became king in his place.

For what will a man give in exchange for his soul and eternal life [in God’s kingdom]?

Then the next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

But the other disciples came in the small boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.

Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song will be with me,
A prayer to the God of my life.

He who receives and welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous (honorable) man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.

So he consented, and began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus to them [at a time when He was] separated from the crowd [because the people might riot or stop them from seizing Him].

David stayed in the wilderness in strongholds, in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul searched for him every day, but God did not hand David over to him.

“Oh, that you were like a brother to me,
Who nursed at the breasts of my mother.
If I found you out of doors, I would kiss you;
No one would blame me or despise me, either.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled and burned against Israel, and He handed them over time and again to Hazael the king of Aram (Syria), and of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.

“You shall not plow with an ox [a clean animal] and a donkey [an unclean animal] together.

“Command the children of Israel to bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light [of the golden lampstand], to make a lamp burn continually.

but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and traveled a day’s journey; and [then] they began searching [anxiously] for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.

And Judas, the betrayer, said, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself.”

To the sons of Gershon, one of the families of the Levites, they gave from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, [the city of] Golan in Bashan, the city of refuge for anyone who committed manslaughter, with its pasture lands, and Be-eshterah with its pasture lands; two cities.

A scoffer [unlike a wise man] resents one who rebukes him and tries to teach him;
Nor will he go to the wise [for counsel and instruction].

How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who [reverently] fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of man!

You shall hang it on four pillars (support poles) of acacia wood overlaid with gold, with gold hooks, on four silver sockets.

“He is torn from his tent which he trusted [for safety],
And he is marched and brought to the king of terrors (death).

Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his [palace] officials. So the king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his [own] reign.

“Through the abundance of your commerce
You were internally filled with lawlessness and violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you out as a profane and unholy thing
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.

“Is not God in the height of heaven?
And behold the distant stars, how high they are!

Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your people, and I will make you prosper,’

And if you have not been faithful in the use of that [earthly wealth] which belongs to another [whether God or man, and of which you are a trustee], who will give you that which is your own?

“You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high.

“They will come and sing aloud and shout for joy on the height of Zion,
And will be radiant [with joy] over the goodness of the Lord—
For the grain, for the new wine, for the oil,
And for the young of the flock and the herd.
And their life will be like a watered garden,
And they shall never sorrow or languish again.

Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.

And at that time they were holding a notorious prisoner [guilty of insurrection and murder], called Barabbas.

“Declare among the nations.
Lift up a signal [to spread the news]—publish and proclaim it,
Do not conceal it; say,
‘Babylon has been taken,
Bel [the patron god] has been shamed, Marduk (Bel) has been shattered.
Babylon’s images have been shamed, her [worthless] idols have been thrown down.’

I said, “I will guard my ways
That I may not sin with my tongue;
I will muzzle my mouth
While the wicked are in my presence.”

Again in the ninth year [of King Jehoiachin’s captivity by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon], in the tenth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Arabia:

In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night,
Caravans of Dedanites.

“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Let him who disputes with God answer it.”

But Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah and struck and killed him in the presence of the people and reigned in his place.

“Now on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and a yearling ewe lamb without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with [olive] oil as a grain offering, and one log (about a pint) of oil;

For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And the drowsiness [of overindulgence] will clothe one with rags.

Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road [as before a king], while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.

Now the men of Israel had sworn [an oath] at Mizpah, “None of us shall give his daughter in marriage to [a man of] Benjamin.”

And Balaam raised his eyes and he saw Israel living in their tents tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came on him.

So the lot was also made for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families—for the sons of Abiezer and for the sons of Helek and for the sons of Asriel and for the sons of Shechem and for the sons of Hepher and for the sons of Shemida; these were the male descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families (clans).

O Lord, the hope of Israel,
All who abandon You will be shamed.
Those who turn away on earth will be written down,
Because they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

Finally the woman also died.

I will pour out My indignation on you [sons of Ammon]; I will blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and I will place you in the hand of brutal men, skilled in destruction.

He makes the barren woman live in the house
As a joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The lovingkindness of God endures all day long.

“I will make a covenant of peace with them and will eliminate the predatory animals from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep [safely] in the woods.

So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

You shall crush some of it [into a] very fine [powder], and put some of it before the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you.

“You are a fountain in a garden,
A well of fresh and living water,
And streams flowing from Lebanon.”

How blessed and graciously favored is he whose help is the God of Jacob (Israel),
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

“But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of My sanctuary when the children (descendants) of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood,” declares the Lord God.

For you will put a knife to your throat
If you are a man of great appetite.

So David strongly rebuked his men with these words and did not let them rise up against Saul. Saul got up, left the cave and went on his way.

‘Then on the Sabbath day two male lambs one year old without blemish, and two-tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and its drink offering.

Hear my cry, O God;
Listen to my prayer.

“He rode on a cherub and flew;
He appeared upon the wings of the wind.

and a spirit seizes him, and suddenly he cries out, and it throws him into a convulsion so that he foams at the mouth; and only with [great] difficulty does it leave him, mauling and bruising him as it leaves.

“There is none like the God of Jeshurun (Israel),
Who rides the heavens to your help,
And through the skies in His majestic glory.

Then the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven, for it was an error and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their error.

He charged them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

I will strike while he is weary and exhausted, and terrify him; and all the people with him will flee [in terror]. Then I will attack the king alone,

Moses spoke the Lord’s words to all the Israelites, and the people mourned greatly.

instead they had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about one Jesus, a man who had died, but whom Paul kept asserting and insisting [over and over] to be alive.

In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He (the Messiah) shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth.

Listen carefully, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent [the Assyrian];
Like a tempest of hail, a disastrous storm,
Like a tempest of mighty overflowing waters,
He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.

Jehoshaphat had [large cargo] ships of Tarshish constructed to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.

So he was afraid and said, “How fearful and awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gateway to heaven.”

When the camels had finished drinking, Eliezer took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her hands weighing ten shekels in gold,

Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.”

Sanctify My Sabbaths and keep them holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord your God.’

“The peoples have heard [about You], they tremble;
Anguish and fear has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia.

“Will you keep to the ancient path
That wicked men walked [in the time of Noah],

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the Lord. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

saying, “Men, I sense [after careful thought and observation] that this voyage will certainly be a disaster and with great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”

from the Shihor [waterway] which is east of Egypt [at the southern end of Canaan], northward to the border of Ekron (all of it regarded as Canaanite); the five rulers of the Philistines: the Gazite, Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, the Ekronite; and the Avvite

When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as he had done each time before [superstitiously] to seek omens and signs [in the natural world], but he set his face toward the wilderness (desert).

Judgments are prepared for scoffers,
And beatings for the backs of [thickheaded] fools.

I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my heart (mind) instructs me in the night.

“For whoever finds me (Wisdom) finds life
And obtains favor and grace from the Lord.

Blessed and greatly favored is the man whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the highways to Zion.

The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.

Then the lookout saw another man running, and he called to the gatekeeper and said, “Look, another man running alone.” The king said, “He also is bringing good news.”

But he began to invoke a curse [on himself] and to swear [an oath], “I do not know this man you are talking about!”

“When He gave weight and pressure to the wind
And allotted the waters by measure,

“They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children skip about.

Then Abraham breathed his last and he died at a good old age, an old man who was satisfied [with life]; and he was gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death].

The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

“Do not fear, for you will not be put to shame,
And do not feel humiliated or ashamed, for you will not be disgraced.
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.

Then the city [wall] was broken into [and conquered]; all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans (Babylonians) were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah (the plain of the Jordan).

I will bring you out from the peoples and will gather you from the countries in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out;

“Before she (Zion) was in labor, she gave birth;
Before her labor pain came, she gave birth to a boy.

“Place for yourself road signs [toward Canaan],
Make for yourself guideposts;
Turn your thought and attention to the highway,
To the way by which you went [into exile].
Retrace your steps, O virgin of Israel,
Return to these your cities.

He who [appropriately] reprimands a [wise] man will afterward find more favor
Than he who flatters with the tongue.

Like the sparrow in her wandering, like the swallow in her flying,
So the curse without cause does not come and alight [on the undeserving].

They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit [with You], one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory [Your majesty and splendor in Your kingdom].”

“Dominion and awe belong to God;
He establishes peace and order in His high places.

When all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite.

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your own hand we have given to You.

Flee out of Babylon,
Let every one of you save his life!
Do not be destroyed in her punishment,
For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
He is going to pay her what she has earned.

Then he ordered the centurion to keep Paul in custody, but to let him have some freedom, and [he told the centurion] not to stop any of his friends from providing for his needs.

So they replied to Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Better is a little with righteousness
Than great income [gained] with injustice.

Now the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, yet we are still doing nothing to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?”

“He who offers a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who orders his way rightly [who follows the way that I show him],
I shall show the salvation of God.”

Lord, You will establish peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all that we have done.

And blessed be your discretion and discernment, and blessed be you, who has kept me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself by my own hand.

“For the Lord’s portion and chosen share is His people;
Jacob (Israel) is the allotment of His inheritance.

And he said to him also, ‘And you shall take charge over five cities.’

Now the man Micah had a house of gods (shrine), and he made an ephod and teraphim and dedicated and installed one of his sons, who became his [personal] priest.

Now there was no water for the congregation, and they gathered together against Moses and Aaron.

the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite (yellow topaz); the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.

Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned safely to his house (palace) in Jerusalem.

Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes [for palace garments] and he dined regularly in the king’s presence for the remainder of his life;

If the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His Name (Presence) is a great distance from you and you are not able to carry your tithe, because the Lord your God has blessed you [with such an abundance],

‘Now if a woman has a flow of blood for many days, not during the time of her menstruation, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, as long as the impure discharge continues she shall be as she is in the days of her [normal] menstrual impurity; she is unclean.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the Israelites because he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the Israelites in My jealousy.

You shall put into the ark the Testimony (Ten Commandments) which I will give you.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

If a man injures his neighbor (fellow citizen), whatever he has done shall be done to him:

‘If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he bears [responsibility for] his guilt.

Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah has borne children to your brother Nahor:

I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”

He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God [and your husband]?”

“Then the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) shall move out with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the [other] camps; just as they camp so shall they move out, every man in his place by their standards.

By the God of your father who will help you,
And by the Almighty who blesses you
With blessings of the heavens above,
Blessings lying in the deep that couches beneath,
Blessings of the [nursing] breasts and of the [fertile] womb.

“I also could speak like you,
If you were in my place;
I could compose and join words together against you
And shake my head at you.

So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck Adonijah and he died.

And he went out and wept bitterly [deeply grieved and distressed].

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this; take some of the choicest products of the land in your sacks, and carry it as a present [of tribute] to the man [representing Pharaoh], a little balm and a little honey, aromatic spices or gum, resin, pistachio nuts, and almonds.

Then Jesus stopped and ordered that the blind man be led to Him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him,

“Do you know about the layers of thick clouds [and how they are balanced and poised in the heavens],
The wonderful works of Him who is perfect in knowledge,

Then Moses raised his hand [in anger] and with his rod he struck the rock twice [instead of speaking to the rock as the Lord had commanded]. And the water poured out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank [fresh water].

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
And the fertile field is valued as a forest.

When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these servants, to whom he had given the money, be called to him, that he might find out what business they had done.

For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel (Zion),” says the Lord God, “there the whole house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me. There I will [graciously] accept them, and there I will seek (require) your offerings and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy and sacred things.

“Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have said, “Truly our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we are rotting away because of them; how then can we live?”’

“Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such bitterness;
But You have loved back my life from the pit of nothingness (destruction),
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

You shall walk after the Lord your God and you shall fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], and you shall keep His commandments and you shall listen to His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cling to Him.

“For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it [I refrain and do not completely destroy you];
For how can My Name be defiled and profaned [as it would if My chosen people were completely destroyed]?
And I will not give My glory to another [by permitting the worshipers of idols to triumph over you].

By Your favor and grace, O Lord, you have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was horrified.

“When you take the census of the Israelites, each one shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you count them, so that no plague will come on them when you number them.

Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many large baskets you picked up?

He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the [idolatrous] sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin; he did not turn from them.

Then she said, “I am making one small request of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”

One of the lawyers [an expert in the Mosaic Law] answered Him, “Teacher, by saying this, You insult us too!”

And whoever swears [an oath] by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

and Ziklag and Madmannah and Sansannah,

and said, ‘Stop being afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has given you [the lives of] all those who are sailing with you.’

Then he bought the piece of land on which he had pitched his tents from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money.

He shall take from the congregation of the Israelites [at their expense] two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering.

And Jesus asked them, “How many loaves [of bread] do you have?” They replied, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

And the Lord will make His majestic voice heard,
And show the descending of His arm [striking] in [His] fierce anger,
And in the flame of a devouring fire,
In the crashing sound of heavy rain, cloudburst, and hailstones.

“If I have put my trust and confidence in gold,
Or have declared fine gold my hope and assurance,

Then the king stood and tore his clothes and lay on the ground [in mourning]; and all his servants were standing by with their clothes torn.

And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a gift to the king of Assyria.

Be on your guard before Him, listen to and obey His voice; do not be rebellious toward Him or provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgression, since My Name (authority) is in Him.

“Command the Israelites and say to them, ‘You shall be careful to present at its appointed time [during the year] My offering, My food for My offerings by fire as a sweet and soothing aroma to Me.’

And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke shall ascend forever and ever.”

Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and [ask your God to] bless me also.”

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon):

As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through,
So it (God’s judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.

I also discovered that the portions due the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone away, each one back to his own field.

The younger also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi (son of my people); he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.

Jesus answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the bowl with Me [as a pretense of friendship] will betray Me.

“Your heart was proud and arrogant because of your beauty;
You destroyed your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
I lay you before kings,
That they might look at you.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

So Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, and they again gave birth to children,

“I have surely heard Ephraim (Israel) moaning and grieving,
‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like a bull unaccustomed to the yoke or an untrained calf;
Bring me back that I may be restored,
For You are the Lord my God.

And the burning sand (mirage) will become a pool [of water]
And the thirsty ground springs of water;
In the haunt of jackals, where they lay resting,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, since he is the anointed of the Lord.”

Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.

They named the city Dan, after Dan their forefather who was born to Israel (Jacob); however, the original name of the city was Laish.

“Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance,
And the young men and old, together,
For I will turn their mourning into joy
And will comfort them and make them rejoice after their sorrow.

When he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah was there; and he seized and arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to join the Chaldeans [of Babylon]!”

Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you want Me, let these men go on their way.”

Then I said to them, ‘What is the high place to which you go?’ So the name of it is called Bamah (High Place) to this day.”’

The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble [with submissive wonder]!
He sits enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!

Yodh.
Your hands have made me and established me;
Give me understanding and a teachable heart, that I may learn Your commandments.

“Drought and heat consume the snow waters;
So does Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) [consume] those who have sinned.

‘Who [and what] is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And what would we gain if we plead with Him?’

“You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or everything produced by the seed which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard will become defiled [and banned for use].

Therefore you shall pay attention and be careful to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left [deviating from My commandments].

Then the Danites went on their way; and Micah saw that they were too strong for him, so he turned and went back to his house.

But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will [appear to] be a foreigner to the one who is speaking [since he knows exactly what he is saying], and the one who is speaking will [appear to] be a foreigner to me.

Then the full moon will be embarrassed and the sun ashamed,
For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory and brilliance will shine before His elders.

Many a man proclaims his own loyalty and goodness,
But who can find a faithful and trustworthy man?

and ordered his accusers to come before you.] By interrogating him yourself concerning all these matters you will be able to determine [the truth about] these things with which we charge him.”

Nebo, and Baal-meon (their names being changed) and Sibmah; and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

He who increases his wealth by interest and usury (excessive interest)
Gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor.

and 32,000 persons in all, of the [Midianite] women who were virgins.

A prudent man sees evil and hides himself and avoids it,
But the naive [who are easily misled] continue on and are punished [by suffering the consequences of sin].

For the devious are repulsive to the Lord;
But His private counsel is with the upright [those with spiritual integrity and moral courage].

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
And saved him from all his troubles.

standing a long way off, in fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, the strong city, Babylon! In a single hour your judgment has come.’

Instead he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made cast images for the Baals.

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram (Syria) and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram (Syria) has escaped out of your hand.

“With the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up,
The flowing waters stood up like a mound;
The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.

“Indeed, you are doing away with fear,
And you are diminishing meditation before God.

Then it was reported to Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude has come against you from beyond the [Dead] Sea, out of Aram (Syria); and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is, Engedi).”

Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord;
For He comes to judge and govern the earth.

So Joshua struck all the land, the hill country, the Negev (South country) and the lowland and the slopes [that descend to the Dead Sea] and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.

So with all my ability I have provided for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, silver for the things of silver, bronze for the things of bronze, iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, as well as onyx stones and stones to be inlaid, stones of antimony (a brittle, silvery-white metal) and stones of various colors, and all kinds of precious stones and alabaster in abundance.

Out of all these people were seven hundred choice left-handed men; each one could sling stones at [a target no wider than] a hair and not miss.

The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

“If I have withheld from the poor what they desired,
Or have caused the eyes of the widow to look in vain [for relief],

If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall not leave the man to deal with it [alone]; you must help him release the animal [from its burden].

Excellent speech does not benefit a fool [who is spiritually blind],
Much less do lying lips benefit a prince.

When the king heard the words which the man of God cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” And his hand which he had put out against him withered, so that he was unable to pull it back to himself.

She, being coached by her mother [Herodias], said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

“I am a brother to [howling] jackals,
And a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].

Then the border extended from the top of the mountain to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron; then the border curved to Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim).

“You profaned your sanctuaries
By the great quantity of your sins and the enormity of your guilt,
By the unrighteousness of your trade.
Therefore I have brought forth a fire from your midst;
It has consumed you,
And I have reduced you to ashes on the earth
In the sight of all who look at you.

God was with Ishmael, and he grew and developed; and he lived in the wilderness and became an [expert] archer.

Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to set free for you the King of the Jews?”

Tremble, you women who are carefree;
Tremble with fear, you complacent ones!
Strip, undress and wear sackcloth on your waist [in grief],

When Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely and in peace at the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and camped in front of the [walled] city.

The Israelites ascribed things to the Lord their God which were not true. They built for themselves high places [of worship] in all their towns, from [the lonely] lookout tower to the [populous] fortified city.

However, you are not to eat any of these [animals] among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel, the hare and the shaphan, for though they chew the cud, they do not split the hoof; they are unclean for you.

“King Solomon has made for himself a palanquin
From the [cedar] wood of Lebanon.

On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites—Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui.

“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel. From each of their fathers’ tribes you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

“And you, son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’

Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures also fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah (praise the Lord)!”

When Samlah died, Shaul of Rehoboth on the River [Euphrates] became king in his place.

And Jeremiah [answered King Zedekiah and] said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

“Have you given the horse his might?
Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane?

Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel, gave rule over Israel forever to David and to his sons by a covenant of salt [a permanent pact, extending to each generation of Israel]?

and in the [center shaft of the] lampstand [you shall make] four cups shaped like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and their flowers.

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the length of Jacob’s life was a hundred and forty-seven years.

So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he acted wisely and prospered; and Saul appointed him over the men of war. And it pleased all the people and also Saul’s servants.

from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea [that is, Joshua] the son of Nun;

Now after Festus had spent no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on the tribunal (the judicial bench), and ordered Paul to be brought [before him].

Have you found [pleasure sweet like] honey? Eat only as much as you need,
Otherwise, being filled excessively, you vomit it.

A righteous man hates lies,
But a wicked man is loathsome, and he acts shamefully.

Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all God’s people who are with them.

O daughter of Babylon, you devastator,
How blessed will be the one
Who repays you [with destruction] as you have repaid us.

The first one came before him and said, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.’

The chief priests and the scribes were standing there, continually accusing Him heatedly.

“For you have taken pledges of your brothers without cause,
And stripped men naked.

When some of the bystanders there heard it, they began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.”

and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven? And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, there is no one able to take a stand against You.

“I call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.

I will not die, but live,
And declare the works and recount the illustrious acts of the Lord.

By patience and a calm spirit a ruler may be persuaded,
And a soft and gentle tongue breaks the bone [of resistance].

Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,
They will raise up and restore the former desolations;
And they will renew the ruined cities,
The desolations (deserted settlements) of many generations.

Later the others also came, and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open [the door] for us.’

At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king over Judah.

A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none [for his ears are closed to wisdom],
But knowledge is easy for one who understands [because he is willing to learn].

There are four things that are small on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:

Did the word of the Lord originate from you [Corinthians], or has it come to you only [so that you know best what God requires]?

“A multitude of camels [from the eastern trading tribes] will cover you [Jerusalem],
The young camels of Midian and Ephah;
All those from Sheba [who once came to trade] will come
Bringing gold and frankincense
And proclaiming the praises of the Lord.

Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many notable acts, killed two [famous] warriors of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and honor and strength.

They began laughing [scornfully] at Him [because they knew the child was dead]. But He made them all go outside, and took along the child’s father and mother and His own [three] companions, and entered the room where the child was.

After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, intending to take them for himself.

O Lord, save now, we beseech You;
O Lord, we beseech You, send now prosperity and give us success!

He placed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which his father Asa had captured.

This is in addition to the [weekly] Sabbaths of the Lord, and in addition to your gifts and all your vowed offerings and all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.

“Listen to Me,” [says the Lord], “O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been carried by Me from your birth
And have been carried [in My arms] from the womb,

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was talking about them.

Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.

For this is a rebellious people, lying sons,
Sons who refuse to listen to
The law and instruction of the Lord;

and he said to his servant, “Go up, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” Elijah said, “Go back” seven times.

Then Saul said to David, “Behold I will give you my older daughter Merab as a wife; only be brave for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “My hand shall not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

If a man lies [intimately] with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall most certainly be put to death; they have committed incest; their blood is on them.

Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the Lord.

So David gave orders to gather the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and he assigned stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God.

And the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord (for the ark of the covenant of God was there [at Bethel] in those days,

“How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
And the Lord had given them up?

“As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered (disheveled), and he shall cover his mustache and call out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’

They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath not to taste anything [neither food nor drink] until we have killed Paul.

“You shall make tassels for yourself on the four corners of your outer garment with which you cover yourself.

If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

And it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land [of abundance] flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep and observe this rite (service) in this month.

The sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

So he asked them at what time he began to get better. They said, “Yesterday during the seventh hour the fever left him.”

There we found some believers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome.

And so the word of the Lord [regarding salvation] was being spread through the entire region.

and said, “You say this, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him while we were sleeping.’

(Now an omer is the tenth of an ephah.)

“Out of the north comes golden splendor [and people can hardly look on it];
Around God is awesome splendor and majesty [far too glorious for man’s eyes].

“For the ear puts words to the test
As the palate tastes food.

I will set up a [miraculous] sign among them, and from them I will send survivors to the nations: Tarshish, Pul (Put), Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant islands and coastlands that have not heard of My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare and proclaim My glory among the nations.

He measured its wall also—a hundred forty-four cubits (about 200 feet), according to man’s measurements, which are [also] angelic [measurements].

“Do you hear the secret counsel of God,
And do you limit [the possession of] wisdom to yourself?

This is the Bread which came down out of heaven. It is not like [the manna that] our fathers ate and they [eventually] died; the one who eats this Bread [believes in Me, accepts Me as Savior] will live forever.”

Now as for the rest of the acts of Abijam and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

A just balance and [honest] scales are the Lord’s;
All the weights of the bag are His concern [established by His eternal principles].

Solomon said, “If he [proves he] is a worthy man, not even one of his hairs shall fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.”

Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east assembled together; and they crossed over [the Jordan] and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

As I create the praise of his lips,
Peace, peace, to him who is far away [both Jew and Gentile] and to him who is near!”
Says the Lord;
“And I will heal him [making his lips blossom anew with thankful praise].”

So he told David, “Saul my father is seeking to kill you. Now then, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself.

With all my heart I have sought You, [inquiring of You and longing for You];
Do not let me wander from Your commandments [neither through ignorance nor by willful disobedience].

When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

Therefore the word of the Lord to them will be [merely monotonous repetitions]:
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
Here a little, there a little.”
That they may go and stumble backward, and be broken, ensnared, and taken captive.

The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation which you and your fathers have never known; there you will [be forced to] serve other gods, [lifeless gods of] wood and stone.

When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince (sheik) of the land, saw her, he kidnapped her and lay [intimately] with her by force [humbling and offending her].

So the redeemed of the Lord will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion;
Everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to honor and glory.

And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous and just are You, Who are and Who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things;

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, saying,

Also, Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon, and they have come up from there celebrating, so the city is in an uproar. This is the noise which you have heard.

‘On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly [to mark the end of the feast]; you shall do no laborious work.

“Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

But the man from whom the demons had gone out kept begging Him, pleading to go with Him; but Jesus sent him away, saying,

Again He asked them, “Whom do you want?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and told it in the city and out in the country.

“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor stay in its paths.

He continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God; and as long as he sought (inquired of, longing for) the Lord, God caused him to prosper.

So [Ahab] the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up against Ramoth-gilead.

So they put sackcloth around their loins and ropes on their necks, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’” And Ahab asked, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

But Absalom fled and went to [his mother’s father] Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day.

and Hazor-hadattah and Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor),

But on the next day the entire congregation of the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have caused the death of the people of the Lord.”

Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods (images cast in metal); I am the Lord your God.

This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurites;

Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

(Now the flax and the barley were battered and ruined [by the hail], because the barley was in the ear (ripe, but soft) and the flax was in bud,

for they all saw Him and were shaken and terrified. But He immediately spoke with them and said, “Take courage! It is I (I Am)! Stop being afraid.”

This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as counted according to the command of Moses, for the work of the Levites, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

From the outside to the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner courtyard, one of which was beside the north gate, with its front toward the south, and one beside the south gate facing toward the north.

Jonathan stripped himself of the outer robe that he was wearing and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword, his bow, and his belt.

Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

The Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,
O God of Israel, Savior!

“Your neck is like the tower of David,
Built with rows of [glistening] stones,
Whereon hang a thousand shields,
All of them shields of warriors.

When she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.

But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial there in my presence [before the Jewish Sanhedrin] on these charges?”

So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another there.

Some years later he went down to [visit] Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab slaughtered many sheep and oxen for him and the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.

“Who is not partial to princes,
Nor does He regard the rich above the poor,
For they all are the work of His hands.

Then they also [in their turn] will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

Then all Adonijah’s guests were terrified [of being branded as traitors] and stood up and left the feast, and each one went on his way.