The wicked become ¹  a ransom ²  for the righteous, and the faithless ³  are taken ⁴  in the place of the upright.

lest you learn ¹  his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. ² 

Do not envy evil people, ¹  do not desire ²  to be with them;

The one who plans to do evil will be called a scheming person. ¹ 

If ¹  someone pampers his servant from youth, he will be a weakling ²  in the end.

The produce of the land is seized ¹  by all of them, even the king is served ²  by the fields. ³ 

Everyone shares the same fate ¹  – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, ²  the ceremonially clean and unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; ³  what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

For messengers are coming, heralding disaster, from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim. ¹ 

¹  it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” ² 

Since many ¹  are boasting according to human standards, ²  I too will boast.

and so incur judgment for breaking their former pledge. ¹ 

And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of ¹  the ungodly and sinners? ² 

When they had eaten them, ¹  no one would have known ²  that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up.

When the fish ¹  that were in the Nile died, the Nile began ²  to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood ³  everywhere in the land of Egypt!

how our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time, ¹  and the Egyptians treated us and our ancestors badly. ² 

So give your servant a discerning mind ¹  so he can make judicial decisions for ²  your people and distinguish right from wrong. ³  Otherwise ⁴  no one is able ⁵  to make judicial decisions for ⁶  this great nation of yours.” ⁷ 

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?”

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord, but not to the same degree as his father and mother. He did remove the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made.

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?”

I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked; for there is an appropriate time for every activity, and there is a time of judgment ¹  for every deed.