Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

We have behaved corruptly against you, not obeying the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments that you commanded your servant Moses.

Indeed ¹  I am composed and quiet, ²  like a young child carried by its mother; ³  I am content like the young child I carry. ⁴ 

But your ancestors ¹  did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate ²  and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

Israel has rebelled ¹  like a stubborn heifer! Soon ²  the Lord will put them out to pasture like a lamb in a broad field! ³ 

The overseer ¹  then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, ²  temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher,

When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness – her abdomen will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

“How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to ¹  the gods called Baal.’ Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! ²  Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. ³ 

For our reason for confidence ¹  is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives ²  and sincerity which are from God ³  – not by human wisdom ⁴  but by the grace of God – we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more ⁵  toward you.

The man’s name was Nabal, ¹  and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was both wise ²  and beautiful, but the man was harsh and his deeds were evil. He was a Calebite.

Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you, for you treated my life with value ¹  this day. I have behaved foolishly and have made a very terrible mistake!” ² 

He did what the Lord approved ¹  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ²  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. ¹  I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!’”

And when his mind ¹  became arrogant ²  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him.

“Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power ¹  and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly.

You stood aloof ¹  while strangers took his army ²  captive, and foreigners advanced to his gates. ³  When they cast lots ⁴  over Jerusalem, ⁵  you behaved as though you were in league ⁶  with them.

Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ¹  but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time, because they have done such wicked deeds.”

When a leader died, the next generation ¹  would again ²  act more wickedly than the previous one. ³  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them ⁴  and bowing down to them. They did not give up ⁵  their practices or their stubborn ways.

And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹  will live. They boldly turned from you; ²  they rebelled ³  and did not obey.