“You are to speak to the Levites, and you must tell them, ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to offer up ¹  from it as a raised offering to the Lord a tenth of the tithe.

And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, ¹  and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  They worshiped ²  the Baals and the Ashtars, ³  as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, ⁴  Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. ⁵  They abandoned the Lord and did not worship ⁶  him.

(Now it used to be in Israel that whenever someone went to inquire of God he would say, “Come on, let’s go to the seer.” For today’s prophet used to be called a seer.)

He even stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay there ¹  naked all that day and night. (For that reason it is asked, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”)

Joab replied, “I will not wait around like this for you!” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree. ¹ 

These are the final words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised up as the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, ¹  Israel’s beloved ²  singer of songs:

(Now his father had never corrected ¹  him ²  by saying, “Why do you do such things?” He was also very handsome and had been born right after Absalom. ³ )

The king told him, “Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father’s family ¹  the guilt of Joab’s murderous, bloody deeds. ² 

Then Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram.Now Joram had been in Ramoth Gilead with the whole Israelite army, ¹  guarding against an invasion by King Hazael of Syria.

“But who am I and who are my people, that we should be in a position to contribute this much? ¹  Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours. ² 

And this very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard the matter concerning the queen will respond in the same way to all the royal officials, and there will be more than enough contempt and anger!

They will disappoint you, ¹  those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ²  Each strays off in his own direction, ³  leaving no one to rescue you.”

I have indeed ¹  heard the people of Israel ²  say mournfully, ‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. ³  You disciplined us and we learned from it. ⁴  Let us come back to you and we will do so, ⁵  for you are the Lord our God.

We and our wives and our sons and daughters have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. We have never drunk wine. ¹ 

Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread ¹  be given to him every day from the baker’s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept ²  in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! Consider! ¹  Whom have you ever afflicted ²  like this? Should women eat their offspring, ³  their healthy infants? ⁴  Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s ⁵  sanctuary?

Their wings were spread out above them; each had two wings touching the wings of one of the other beings on either side and two wings covering their bodies.

As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.

I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon and he extends it against the land of Egypt.