In fact this is why ¹  we work hard and struggle, ²  because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, ³  especially of believers.

The sins of some people are obvious, going before them into judgment, but for others, they show up later. ¹ 

For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us. ¹ 

For they deliberately suppress this fact, ¹  that by the word of God ²  heavens existed long ago and an earth ³  was formed out of water and by means of water.

He ¹  performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven in front of people ² 

I will be standing ¹  before you there on ²  the rock in Horeb, and you will strike ³  the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” ⁴  And Moses did so in plain view ⁵  of the elders of Israel.

According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days – one day for a year – you will suffer for ¹  your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me. ² 

Just then ¹  one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers ²  a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of ³  the whole community of the Israelites, while they ⁴  were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

You must by all means ¹  return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just ²  deed by the Lord your God.

So David set out and went to the place where Saul was camped. David saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general in command of his army, were sleeping. Now Saul was lying in the entrenchment, and the army was camped all around him.

When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, ¹  who were standing at a distance, ²  saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah ³  rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him up as a burnt sacrifice on the wall. There was an outburst of divine anger against Israel, ¹  so they broke off the attack ²  and returned to their homeland.

Jehoiada ¹  led out the king’s son and placed on him the crown and the royal insignia. ²  They proclaimed him king and poured olive oil on his head. ³  They clapped their hands and cried out, “Long live the king!”

The Ammonites and Moabites attacked the men from Mount Seir ¹  and annihilated them. ²  When they had finished off the men ³  of Seir, they attacked and destroyed one another. ⁴ 

Jehoiada and his sons led out the king’s son and placed on him the crown and the royal insignia. ¹  They proclaimed him king and poured olive oil on his head. ²  They declared, “Long live the king!”

For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised plans against the Jews to destroy them. He had cast pur (that is, the lot) in order to afflict and destroy them.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you were ¹  my little brother, ²  nursing at my mother’s breasts; if I saw ³  you outside, I could kiss you – surely ⁴  no one would despise me! ⁵ 

Look, the name ¹  of the Lord comes from a distant place in raging anger and awesome splendor. ²  He speaks angrily and his word is like destructive fire. ³ 

“They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ¹  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ²  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ³ 

I said, ¹  “Lord, you know how I suffer. ²  Take thought of me and care for me. Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me. Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me. Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.