For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe,

some evil people ¹  have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, ²  saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). ³ 

You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort ¹  the words of the righteous. ² 

The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger ¹  to die.

Do not blame ¹  your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” ²  Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed.

Fathers must not be put to death for what their children ¹  do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.

He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, ¹  the seventy legitimate ²  sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, ³  because he hid.

But some wicked men ¹  said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. ² 

There were also male cultic prostitutes ¹  in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations ²  that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

Also seat two villains opposite him and have them testify, ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

He said, “Capture them alive!” So they captured them alive and then executed all forty-two of them in the cistern at Beth Eked. He left no survivors.

Messengers ¹  came and told David what had happened to the men, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ²  until your beards grow again; then you may come back.”

Respect the Lord and make careful decisions, for the Lord our God disapproves of injustice, partiality, and bribery.” ¹ 

The Jews who were in Susa then assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they killed three hundred men in Susa. But they did not confiscate their property.

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

The look on their faces ¹  testifies to their guilt; ²  like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. ³  Too bad for them! ⁴  For they bring disaster on themselves.

To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; ¹  he then seeks a skilled craftsman to make ²  an idol that will not fall over.

Even your clothes are stained with the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong; you did not catch them breaking into your homes. ¹  Yet, in spite of all these things you have done, ² 

As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose appearance I had seen at the Kebar River. Each one moved straight ahead.

Woe ¹  to those who live in ease in Zion, ²  to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria. They think of themselves as ³  the elite class of the best nation. The family ⁴  of Israel looks to them for leadership. ⁵