But the soldiers replied, ¹  “You should not do this! ²  For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won’t be too concerned about us. ³  Even if half of us should die, they won’t be too concerned about us. But you ⁴  are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support.”

Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, ¹  for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”

He met ¹  Asa and told him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are loyal to him. ²  If you seek him, he will respond to you, ³  but if you reject him, he will reject you.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day it ¹  went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament. ²  I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it.

The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake ¹  realized that only one small boat ²  had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded ³  it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath ¹  (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), ²  the Jewish leaders ³  asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs ⁴  broken ⁵  and the bodies taken down. ⁶ 

They set ¹  a day to meet with him, ²  and they came to him where he was staying ³  in even greater numbers. ⁴  From morning until evening he explained things ⁵  to them, ⁶  testifying ⁷  about the kingdom of God ⁸  and trying to convince ⁹  them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.

if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ¹  without shifting ²  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. The devil is about to have some of you thrown ¹  into prison so you may be tested, ²  and you will experience suffering ³  for ten days. Remain faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown that is life itself. ⁴ 

He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, ¹  but it did not return to him this time. ² 

Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain ¹  and pitched his tents next to Sodom.

They shouted to Lot, ¹  “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex ²  with them!”

“Whose daughter are you?” he asked. ¹  “Tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

Laban said to him, ¹  “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! ²  Why are you standing out here when I have prepared ³  the house and a place for the camels?”

So Isaac sent Jacob on his way, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Jacob ¹  had marital relations ²  with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban ³  for seven more years. ⁴ 

Then he separated them from Jacob by a three-day journey, ¹  while ²  Jacob was taking care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice ¹  on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat the meal. ²  They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

Only on this one condition will these men consent to live with us and become one people: They demand ¹  that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised.

Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once ¹  to Bethel ²  and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ³