For,’ I say, ¹  ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah ²  tightly ³  to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. ⁴  But they would not obey me.

At that time Baruch went into the temple of the Lord. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary. ¹  That room was in the upper court ²  near the entrance of the New Gate. ³  There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said. ⁴ 

I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. ¹  I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem, ²  and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.”’” ³ 

I listened and my stomach churned; ¹  the sound made my lips quiver. My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, ²  and I shook as I tried to walk. ³  I long ⁴  for the day of distress to come upon ⁵  the people who attack us.

Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire; I will refine them like silver is refined and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer; I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” ¹ 

And the sound of the harpists, musicians, flute players, and trumpeters will never be heard in you ¹  again. No ²  craftsman ³  who practices any trade will ever be found in you again; the noise of a mill ⁴  will never be heard in you again.

Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “You are now ¹  pregnant and are about to give birth ²  to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, ³  for the Lord has heard your painful groans. ⁴ 

But Moses replied to ¹  the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, then ²  how will Pharaoh listen to me, since ³  I speak with difficulty?” ⁴ 

“‘When a person sins ¹  in that he hears a public curse against one who fails to testify ²  and he is a witness (he either saw or knew what had happened ³ ) and he does not make it known, ⁴  then he will bear his punishment for iniquity. ⁵ 

and her father hears of her vow or the obligation to which she has pledged herself, and her father remains silent about her, ¹  then all her vows will stand, ²  and every obligation to which she has pledged herself will stand.

But the Lord was angry at me because of you and would not listen to me. Instead, he ¹  said to me, “Enough of that! ²  Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.

You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict.

The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ¹  as the eagle flies, ²  a nation whose language you will not understand,

Now Joshua had instructed the army, ¹  “Do not give a battle cry ²  or raise your voices; say nothing ³  until the day I tell you, ‘Give the battle cry.’ ⁴  Then give the battle cry!” ⁵ 

The Israelites were satisfied with their report and gave thanks to God. ¹  They said nothing more about launching an attack to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites lived. ² 

Hear ¹  the sound of those who divide the sheep ²  among the watering places; there they tell of ³  the Lord’s victorious deeds, the victorious deeds of his warriors ⁴  in Israel. Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –

Through the window she looked; Sisera’s mother cried out through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so slow to return? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariot-horses ¹  delayed?’

Then Naomi ¹  said, “Stay put, ²  my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out. For the man will not rest until he has taken care of the matter today.”

Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you! There is no God besides you! What we have heard is true! ¹ 

Then the Cushite arrived and said, ¹  “May my lord the king now receive the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today and delivered you from the hand of all who have rebelled against you!” ²