So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, ¹  and then sent them away.

But he said, ¹  “Whatever happens, I want to go!” So Joab ²  said to him, “Then go!” So Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Jordan plain, and he passed the Cushite.

Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper room to the house, and handed him to his mother. Elijah then said, “See, your son is alive!”

So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved their beards off. ¹  He cut off the lower part of their robes so that their buttocks were exposed ²  and then sent them away.

I also have understanding ¹  as well as you; I am not inferior to you. ²  Who does not know such things as these? ³ 

The clods of the torrent valley ¹  are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng.

Far from where people live ¹  he sinks a shaft, in places travelers have long forgotten, ²  far from other people he dangles and sways. ³ 

Even the stork knows when it is time to move on. ¹  The turtledove, swallow, and crane ²  recognize ³  the normal times for their migration. But my people pay no attention to ⁴  what I, the Lord, require of them. ⁵ 

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah concerning ¹  all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, those in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the region of southern Egypt. ² 

Then you will do as I have done: You will not cover your lip or eat food brought by others. ¹ 

“Son of man, wail ¹  over the horde of Egypt. Bring it down; ²  bring ³  her ⁴  and the daughters of powerful nations down to the lower parts of the earth, along with those who descend to the pit.

Now after you another kingdom ¹  will arise, one inferior to yours. Then a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule in all the earth.

On that day,” says the Lord, “a loud cry will go up ¹  from the Fish Gate, ²  wailing from the city’s newer district, ³  and a loud crash ⁴  from the hills.

For whoever wants to save his life ¹  will lose it, ²  but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

So they slipped ¹  the anchors ²  and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage ³  that bound the steering oars ⁴  together. Then they hoisted ⁵  the foresail ⁶  to the wind and steered toward ⁷  the beach.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself ¹  so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed ²  the gospel of God to you free of charge?

because the person who sows to his own flesh ¹  will reap corruption ²  from the flesh, ³  but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul,

And God will exalt you in due time, ¹  if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand ² 

I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ ¹  In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.” ²