Then the woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

When he entered he said to them, “Why are you distressed and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”

Then ¹  shouldn’t ²  this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan ³  bound for eighteen long ⁴  years, be released from this imprisonment ⁵  on the Sabbath day?”

Then a slave girl, ¹  seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man was with him too!”

So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew ¹  – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water ²  to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common ³  with Samaritans.) ⁴ 

The woman replied, ¹  “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ²  ‘I have no husband,’ ³ 

These things may be treated as an allegory, ¹  for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar.

Then ¹  the serpent spouted water like a river out of his mouth after the woman in an attempt to ²  sweep her away by a flood,

cinnamon, spice, ¹  incense, perfumed ointment, ²  frankincense, ³  wine, olive oil and costly flour, ⁴  wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and four-wheeled carriages, ⁵  slaves and human lives. ⁶ 

(Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has pronounced judgment ¹  against her on your behalf!) ² 

So that day Laban ¹  removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs, and put them in the care ²  of his sons.

But if her husband remains completely silent ¹  about her from day to day, he thus confirms all her vows or all her obligations which she is under; he confirms them because he remained silent about when he heard them.

Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. ¹  When your father comes in to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.’”

This young woman pleased him, ¹  and she found favor with him. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her rations; he also provided her with the seven specially chosen ²  young women who were from the palace. He then transferred her and her young women to the best quarters in the harem. ³ 

He also gave him a written copy of the law that had been disseminated ¹  in Susa for their destruction so that he could show it to Esther and talk to her about it. He also gave instructions that she should go to the king to implore him and petition him on behalf of her people.

You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness. In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. ¹  No one can hold her back when she is in heat. None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her. At mating time she is easy to find. ² 

His intention ¹  will be to come with the strength of his entire kingdom, and he will form alliances. ²  He will give the king of the south ³  a daughter ⁴  in marriage in order to destroy the kingdom, but it will not turn out to his advantage.

The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to ¹  your wife ²  again, even though she loves ³  another man ⁴  and continually commits adultery. ⁵  Likewise, the Lord loves ⁶  the Israelites ⁷  although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” ⁸ 

This is what the Lord says: “Because Edom has committed three crimes ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  He chased his brother ⁴  with a sword; he wiped out his allies. ⁵  In his anger he tore them apart without stopping to rest; ⁶  in his fury he relentlessly attacked them. ⁷ 

Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners ¹  and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers. ²