Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ¹  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ²  but when she realized ³  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ⁴  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁵ 

Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my ¹  sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! ²  You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

As the ark of the Lord’s covenant entered the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked out the window. When she saw King David jumping and celebrating, she despised him. ¹ 

He wrote letters mocking the Lord God of Israel and insulting him with these words: ¹  “The gods of the surrounding nations could not rescue their people from my power. Neither can Hezekiah’s god rescue his people from my power.” ² 

“A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects ¹  his master. If I am your ²  father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your name?’

There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, ¹  but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis ²  will be regarded as nothing, ³  and she whom all the province of Asia ⁴  and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness.” ⁵ 

Judah said, “Let her keep the things ¹  for herself. Otherwise we will appear to be dishonest. ²  I did indeed send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

They must keep my charge so that they do not incur sin on account of it ¹  and therefore die ²  because they profane it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ¹  me, and how long will they not believe ²  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

But Jeshurun ¹  became fat and kicked, you ²  got fat, thick, and stuffed! Then he deserted the God who made him, and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.

Why are you ¹  scorning my sacrifice and my offering that I commanded for my dwelling place? ²  You have honored your sons more than you have me by having made yourselves fat from the best parts of all the offerings of my people Israel.’

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 

So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

This temple will become a heap of ruins; ¹  everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, ²  saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’

This happened because they did not obey ¹  the Lord their God and broke his agreement with them. ²  They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. ³ 

This is what the Lord says about him: ¹  “The virgin daughter Zion ²  despises you, she makes fun of you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head after you. ³ 

As for this temple, which was once majestic, ¹  everyone who passes by it will be shocked and say, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’

You have taken notice, ¹  for ²  you always see ³  one who inflicts pain and suffering. ⁴  The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; ⁵  you deliver ⁶  the fatherless. ⁷ 

Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; ¹  my neighbors are appalled by my suffering ²  – those who know me are horrified by my condition; ³  those who see me in the street run away from me.

¹ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ²  the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children ³  who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ⁴  They are alienated from him. ⁵