When he stood up, he pronounced a blessing over the entire assembly of Israel, saying in a loud voice:

From heaven you announced what their punishment would be. ¹  The earth ²  was afraid and silent

“When you tell these people about all this, ¹  they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’

Well, it just so happened that while your servant was doing this and that, he disappeared.” The king of Israel said to him, “Your punishment is already determined by your own testimony.” ¹ 

I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ¹  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ²  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ³ 

Is this blessedness ¹  then for ²  the circumcision ³  or also for ⁴  the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” ⁵ 

And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their ¹  condemnation pronounced long ago ²  is not sitting idly by; ³  their ⁴  destruction is not asleep.

Recall the miraculous deeds he performed, his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed, ¹ 

“Should not this ¹  abundance of words be answered, ²  or should this ³  talkative man ⁴  be vindicated? ⁵ 

For you defended my just cause; ¹  from your throne you pronounced a just decision. ² 

When he is judged, he will be found ¹  guilty! ²  Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.

They also had a few small fish. After giving thanks for these, he told them to serve these as well.

The voice ¹  spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not consider ²  ritually unclean!” ³ 

But the voice replied a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not consider ¹  ritually unclean!’

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Jehu ordered ¹  his officer Bidkar, “Pick him up and throw him into the part of the field that once belonged to Naboth of Jezreel. Remember, you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, when the Lord pronounced this judgment on him,

Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. ¹ 

(32:1) ¹  Early in the morning Laban kissed ²  his grandchildren ³  and his daughters goodbye and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned home. ⁴ 

“This is the law of the diseased person on the day of his purification, when ¹  he is brought to the priest. ²