For Demas deserted me, since he loved ¹  the present age, and he went to Thessalonica. ²  Crescens went to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia.

By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, ¹  who loved the wages of unrighteousness, ² 

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be rewarded by the Lord because he ¹  has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead!” ²  Then Naomi said to her, “This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian.” ³ 

Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. ¹  Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful ²  it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, ³  to show no respect for me,” ⁴  says the Lord God who rules over all. ⁵ 

Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, ¹  but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster ²  overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ³  ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.”

he lived in ruined towns ¹  and in houses where ²  no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps. ³ 

Rage takes hold of me because of the wicked, those who reject your law.

At the fords of the Arnon ¹  the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. ² 

Your plunder ¹  disappears as if locusts were eating it; ²  they swarm over it like locusts! ³ 

But I have this against you: You have departed ¹  from your first love!

Others will then answer, ¹  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors ²  out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ³  That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

He was despised and rejected by people, ¹  one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; ²  he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. ³ 

They seek me day after day; they want to know my requirements, ¹  like a nation that does what is right and does not reject the law of their God. They ask me for just decrees; they want to be near God.

I will pray ¹  to God, my high ridge: ²  “Why do you ignore ³  me? Why must I walk around mourning ⁴  because my enemies oppress me?”

Though at this time your ropes are slack, ¹  the mast is not secured, ²  and the sail ³  is not unfurled, at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot; ⁴  even the lame will drag off plunder. ⁵ 

But as for you who abandon the Lord and forget about worshiping at ¹  my holy mountain, who prepare a feast for the god called ‘Fortune,’ ²  and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny’ ³  –

The Lord is like a lion who has left his lair. ¹  So their lands will certainly ²  be laid waste by the warfare of the oppressive nation ³  and by the fierce anger of the Lord.”

Listen to the cattle groan! ¹  The herds of livestock wander around in confusion ²  because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

Then Peter said ¹  to him, “Look, ²  we have left everything to follow you! ³  What then will there be for us?”

Others will then answer, ¹  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors, ²  who led them out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ³  That is why he brought all this disaster down on them.’”