¹ So Moses went back ²  to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return ³  to my relatives ⁴  in Egypt and see ⁵  if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you.

When a leader died, the next generation ¹  would again ²  act more wickedly than the previous one. ³  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them ⁴  and bowing down to them. They did not give up ⁵  their practices or their stubborn ways.

Solomon then woke up and realized it was a dream. ¹  He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, offered up burnt sacrifices, presented peace offerings, ²  and held a feast for all his servants.

‘The Lord says this: “Do not attack and make war with your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you go home, for I have caused this to happen.”’” ¹  They obeyed the Lord and went home as the Lord had ordered them to do. ² 

So the exiles proceeded accordingly. Ezra the priest separated out ¹  by name men who were leaders in their family groups. ²  They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month,

“Then, when they were at rest again, they went back to doing evil before you. Then you abandoned them to ¹  their enemies, and they gained dominion over them. When they again cried out to you, in your compassion you heard from heaven and rescued them time and again.

So ¹  I again considered ²  all the oppression ³  that continually occurs ⁴  on earth. ⁵  This is what I saw: ⁶  The oppressed ⁷  were in tears, ⁸  but no one was comforting them; no one delivers ⁹  them from the power of their oppressors.

Again, ¹  I observed this on the earth: ²  the race is not always ³  won by the swiftest, the battle is not always won by the strongest; prosperity ⁴  does not always belong to those who are the wisest, wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning, nor does success ⁵  always come to those with the most knowledge – for time and chance may overcome ⁶  them all.

The waters kept receding steadily ¹  from the earth, so that they ²  had gone down ³  by the end of the 150 days.

He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, ¹  but it did not return to him this time. ² 

They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left.

It happened just as he had said ¹  to us – Pharaoh ²  restored me to my office, but he impaled the baker.” ³ 

They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying,

The first disappeared ¹  and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” I have not seen him since.

So Moses came and summoned the elders of Israel. He set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him,

Then the Israelites dispersed from there to their respective tribal and clan territories. Each went from there to his own property. ¹ 

The servant in charge of the harvesters replied, “She’s the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the region of Moab.

Then he would return to Ramah, because his home was there. He also judged ¹  Israel there and built an altar to the Lord there.

When they came down from the high place to the town, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof.