For we have been sold ¹  – both I and my people – to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.”

The people say, ¹  “Why are we just sitting here? Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. ²  Let us at least die there fighting, ³  since the Lord our God has condemned us to die. He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment ⁴  because we have sinned against him. ⁵ 

“Therefore, ¹  I will not refrain my mouth; ²  I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain ³  in the bitterness of my soul.

Why do you hide your face ¹  and regard me as your enemy?

Yet I have not been silent because of the darkness, because of the thick darkness that covered my face. ¹ 

I will not keep silent about its limbs, and the extent of its might, and the grace of its arrangement. ¹ 

But I am like a deaf man – I hear nothing; I am like a mute who cannot speak. ¹ 

He says, ¹  “Stop your striving and recognize ²  that I am God! I will be exalted ³  over ⁴  the nations! I will be exalted over ⁵  the earth!”

Wisdom rests in the heart of the discerning; it is known ¹  even in the heart ²  of fools.

Where there is no wood, a fire goes out, and where there is no gossip, ¹  contention ceases. ² 

My heart is crushed because my dear people ¹  are being crushed. ²  I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. ³ 

But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he did not respond.

After they stopped speaking, ¹  James replied, ²  “Brothers, listen to me.

(When they heard ¹  that he was addressing ²  them in Aramaic, ³  they became even ⁴  quieter.) ⁵  Then ⁶  Paul said,

The day the Lord delivered the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua prayed to the Lord before Israel: ¹  “O sun, stand still over Gibeon! O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon!”

But some wicked men ¹  said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. ² 

Some members of the prophetic guild ¹  in Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” ²  He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

Some members of the prophetic guild in Jericho approached Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cry for help! Do not ignore my sobbing! ¹  For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land; I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. ² 

So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, ¹  “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, ²  especially when my husband is old too?” ³