For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name, in having served and continuing to serve the saints.

Elijah was a human being ¹  like us, and he prayed earnestly ²  that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months!

especially those who indulge their fleshly desires ¹  and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, ²  they are not afraid to insult ³  the glorious ones, ⁴ 

They replied, “The man questioned us ¹  thoroughly ²  about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ ³  So we answered him in this way. ⁴  How could we possibly know ⁵  that he would say, ⁶  ‘Bring your brother down’?”

The Lord said ¹  to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, ²  see that you ³  do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. ⁴  But I will harden ⁵  his heart ⁶  and ⁷  he will not let the people go.

When Pharaoh stubbornly refused ¹  to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. ²  That is why I am sacrificing ³  to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.’

I will harden ¹  Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them. I will gain honor ²  because of Pharaoh and because of all his army, and the Egyptians will know ³  that I am the Lord.” So this is what they did. ⁴ 

For ¹  the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, ²  I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, ³  that I may know ⁴  what I should do to you.’” ⁵ 

and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord ¹  go among us, for we ²  are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Then he must present a gift to the Lord from the peace offering sacrifice: He must remove all the fatty tail up to the end of the spine, the fat covering the entrails, and all the fat on the entrails, ¹ 

And he sent messengers to Balaam ¹  son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River ²  in the land of Amaw, ³  to summon him, saying, “Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face ⁴  of the earth, and they are settling next to me.

So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. ¹  He did this to teach you ²  that humankind ³  cannot live by bread ⁴  alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth. ⁵ 

You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, symbolic of affliction, for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your life the day you came out of the land of Egypt.

Suppose he goes with someone else ¹  to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax ²  to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose ³  from the handle and strikes ⁴  his fellow worker ⁵  so hard that he dies. The person responsible ⁶  may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ⁷ 

“But if you ignore ¹  the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: ² 

The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. ¹  They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites ²  living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.

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.

So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder ¹  and said, “You must ²  hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men ³  a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” ⁴ 

The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes ¹  and gave them ²  to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. ³ 

She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion ¹  on the suffering of your female servant, ²  remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child ³  to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” ⁴