Then Saul’s servants said to him, “Look, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you!”

One of them said, “Please come along with your servants.” He replied, “All right, I’ll come.”

The king’s servants who attended him said, “Let a search be conducted in the king’s behalf for attractive young women. ¹ 

They requested ¹  only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.

When it became the turn of Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai (who had raised her as if she were his own daughter ¹ ) to go to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who was overseer of the women, had recommended. Yet Esther met with the approval of all who saw her.

The king then said to Haman, “Go quickly! Take the clothing and the horse, just as you have described, and do as you just indicated to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Don’t neglect ¹  a single thing of all that you have said.”

She went on to say, ¹  “Who would ²  have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!”

Abner said to Joab, “Let the soldiers get up and fight ¹  before us.” Joab said, “So be it!” ² 

The Lord said, ‘Who will deceive Ahab, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die ¹  there?’ One said this and another that.

So he asked Gehazi, ¹  “What can I do for her?” Gehazi replied, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

ז (Zayin) Her consecrated ones ¹  were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies more ruddy than corals, their hair ²  like lapis lazuli. ³ 

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” ¹  While they were in the field, Cain attacked ²  his brother ³  Abel and killed him.

So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price ¹  and weighed ²  out for him ³  the price ⁴  that Ephron had quoted ⁵  in the hearing of the sons of Heth – 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time. ⁶ 

He replied, “You have suggested your own punishment! ¹  The one who has it will become my slave, ²  but the rest of ³  you will go free.” ⁴ 

Then Hushai reported to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Here is what Ahithophel has advised Absalom and the leaders ¹  of Israel to do, and here is what I have advised.

The Lord said, ‘Who will deceive King Ahab of Israel, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?’ One said this and another that.

So Ezra got up and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath to carry out this plan. ¹  And they all took a solemn oath.

So they took a bull, as he had suggested, ¹  and prepared it. They invoked the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “Baal, answer us.” But there was no sound and no answer. They jumped ²  around on the altar they had made. ³ 

Muster an army like the one you lost, with the same number of horses and chariots. ¹  Then we will fight them in the plains; we will certainly overpower them.” He approved their plan and did as they advised. ² 

Haman’s ¹  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ²  high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.” ³  It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.