The Jews assembled themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out against those who were seeking their harm. No one was able to stand before them, for dread of them fell on all the peoples.

Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ¹  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

May my accusers be humiliated and defeated! May those who want to harm me ¹  be covered with scorn and disgrace!

All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice, for those who want to harm me ¹  will be embarrassed and ashamed. ² 

For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ¹  ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you ²  a future filled with hope. ³ 

My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not harmed me, because I was found to be innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.”

Then ¹  Jesus said to them, “I ask you, ²  is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?”

suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. ¹  By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, ²  they are stains and blemishes, indulging ³  in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you.

Then ¹  I saw another angel ascending from the east, ²  who had ³  the seal ⁴  of the living God. He ⁵  shouted out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given permission ⁶  to damage the earth and the sea: ⁷ 

For the power ¹  of the horses resides ²  in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes, having heads that inflict injuries.

Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.

He will deliver you ¹  from six calamities; yes, in seven ²  no evil will touch you.

Do not be angry and frustrated! ¹  Do not fret! That only leads to trouble!

All day long they cause me trouble; ¹  they make a habit of plotting my demise. ² 

A kind person ¹  benefits ²  himself, ³  but a cruel person brings himself trouble. ⁴ 

Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

But if my father intends to do you harm, may the Lord do all this and more to Jonathan, if I don’t let you know ¹  and send word to you so you can go safely on your way. ²  May the Lord be with you, as he was with my father.

On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us ¹  when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!” ² 

So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ¹  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ²  This ³  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ⁴ 

But Jacob ¹  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ²  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ³  in sorrow to the grave.” ⁴