Then David prayed to ¹  God for the child and fasted. ²  He would even ³  go and spend the night lying on the ground.

I have told the great assembly ¹  about your justice. ²  Look! I spare no words! ³  O Lord, you know this is true.

Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! ¹  Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! ² 

If ¹  you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ ²  you would not have condemned the innocent.

The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ¹  will rage ²  against that man; all the curses ³  written in this scroll will fall upon him ⁴  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ⁵ 

Due to the greatness that he bestowed on him, all peoples, nations, and language groups were trembling with fear ¹  before him. He killed whom he wished, he spared ²  whom he wished, he exalted whom he wished, and he brought low whom he wished.

But if you are going to deal ¹  with me like this, then kill me immediately. ²  If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.” ³ 

The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹  The whole community criticized ²  the leaders,

They invaded the land ¹  and devoured ²  its crops ³  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ⁴  and they took away ⁵  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Indeed, ¹  fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. ²  So now, please have respect for my life.”

Queen Esther replied, “If I have met with your approval, ¹  O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

You assist ¹  those who delight in doing what is right, ²  who observe your commandments. ³  Look, you were angry because we violated them continually. How then can we be saved? ⁴ 

No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; ¹  you were thrown out into the open field ²  because you were detested on the day you were born.

Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone ¹  from the south ²  to the north.

“Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

In fact he became so ill that he nearly died. ¹  But God showed mercy to him – and not to him only, but also to me – so that I would not have grief on top of grief.

I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, ¹  whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing.

Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge ¹  of the whole earth do what is right?” ² 

Ask your own servants; they can tell you! May my servants find favor in your sight, for we have come ¹  at the time of a holiday. Please provide us – your servants ²  and your son David – with whatever you can spare.” ³ 

The king ¹  sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell ²  on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours.