For you say, “We have made a treaty with death, with Sheol ¹  we have made an agreement. ²  When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by ³  it will not reach us. For we have made a lie our refuge, we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” ⁴ 

We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ¹  We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind.

O Lord, according to all your justice, ¹  please turn your raging anger ²  away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For due to our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all our neighbors.

Therefore produce ¹  fruit ²  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ³  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁴  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁵ 

“Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures ¹  just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn ²  from these worthless ³  things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, ⁴  the sea, and everything that is in them.

Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. ¹ 

because we are about to destroy ¹  it. The outcry against this place ²  is so great before the Lord that he ³  has sent us to destroy it.”

If we do so, ¹  won’t their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours? So let’s consent to their demand, so they will live among us.”

Let us go up at once ¹  to Bethel. Then I will make ²  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress ³  and has been with me wherever I went.” ⁴ 

When Reuben heard this, he rescued Joseph ¹  from their hands, ²  saying, ³  “Let’s not take his life!” ⁴ 

Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” ¹ 

They replied, “You have saved our lives! You are showing us favor, ¹  and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ² 

No straw is given to your servants, but we are told, ¹  ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are even ²  being beaten, but the fault ³  is with your people.”

The Egyptians were urging ¹  the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, ²  for they were saying, “We are all dead!”

All the Israelites ¹  who were around them fled at their cry, ²  for they said, “What if ³  the earth swallows us too?”

If you think, “These nations are more numerous than I – how can I dispossess them?”

You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone ¹  doing what seems best to him,

She said to the men, “I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. ¹  We are absolutely terrified of you, ²  and all who live in the land are cringing before ³  you. ⁴ 

But his master said to him, “We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live. ¹  We will travel on to Gibeah.”

The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. ¹  They said, “Too bad for ²  us! We’ve never seen anything like this!