Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said, “Which way did the Lord’s spirit go when he went from me to speak to you?”

At that time five cities ¹  in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord who commands armies. One will be called the City of the Sun. ² 

“Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! ¹  Let the nations find renewed strength! Let them approach and then speak; let us come together for debate! ² 

I will go to the leaders ¹  and speak with them. Surely they know what the Lord demands. ²  Surely they know what their God requires of them.” ³  Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him. ⁴ 

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says to the people of Jerusalem: ²  “Do not listen to what those prophets are saying to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They are reporting visions of their own imaginations, not something the Lord has given them to say. ³ 

“Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me.

“Son of man, speak to your people, ¹  and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman.

So ¹  he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. ²  But ³  he would not permit the demons to speak, ⁴  because they knew him. ⁵ 

And now, ¹  because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, ²  you will be silent, unable to speak, ³  until the day these things take place.”

I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but ²  you people ³  do not accept our testimony. ⁴ 

For I have not spoken from my own authority, ¹  but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me ²  what I should say and what I should speak.

When the governor gestured for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know ¹  that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I confidently make my defense. ² 

It is written in the law: “By people with strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, yet not even in this way will they listen to me,” ¹  says the Lord.

but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we declare it, not to please people but God, who examines our hearts.

The Lord said, “Go stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. ¹  Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word!

When food was served, ¹  he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I want to say.” ²  “Tell us,” Laban said. ³ 

Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “This is the Lord’s doing. ¹  Our wishes are of no concern. ² 

“Tell the Israelites: ‘This is the kind of creature you may eat from among all the animals ¹  that are on the land.

Then the Lord put a message ¹  in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.” ² 

Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ¹  those who want to harm me speak destructive words; all day long they say deceitful things.