“Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, ¹  not just your garments!”

The commander ¹  orders ²  his officers; they stumble ³  as they advance; ⁴  they rush to the city wall ⁵  and they set up ⁶  the covered siege tower. ⁷ 

Nineveh was like a pool ¹  of water ²  throughout her days, ³  but now ⁴  her people ⁵  are running away; ⁶  she cries out: ⁷  “Stop! Stop!” – but no one turns back. ⁸ 

For the message is a witness to what is decreed; ¹  it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. ²  Even if the message ³  is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; ⁴  for it will certainly come to pass – it will not arrive late.

Ask the Lord for rain in the season of the late spring rains ¹  – the Lord who causes thunderstorms – and he will give everyone showers of rain and green growth in the field.

And after he sent the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

Now after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

Stay alert, then, because you do not know when the owner of the house will return – whether during evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or at dawn –

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief ¹  was coming, he would not have let ²  his house be broken into.

But if ¹  that ²  slave should say to himself, ³  ‘My master is delayed ⁴  in returning,’ and he begins to beat ⁵  the other ⁶  slaves, both men and women, ⁷  and to eat, drink, and get drunk,

but they urged him, ¹  “Stay with us, because it is getting toward evening and the day is almost done.” So ²  he went in to stay with them.

Jesus ¹  answered, ²  “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Now it was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ³ 

Therefore we must be wary ¹  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

‘I know your deeds: your love, faith, ¹  service, and steadfast endurance. ²  In fact, ³  your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones.

At dawn ¹  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ²  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ³ 

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons ¹  because he was a son born to him late in life, ²  and he made a special ³  tunic for him.

And the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon; just as you offered the grain offering and drink offering in the morning, ¹  you must offer it as an offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

So Ruth ¹  worked beside ²  Boaz’s female servants, gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest. ³  After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law. ⁴ 

Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them, ¹  she did not allow the birds of the air to feed ²  on them by day, nor the wild animals ³  by night.

Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were offering burnt sacrifices and fat portions until evening. The Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.