“You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, ¹  “and how well your livestock have fared under my care. ² 

Instead, Jonah immediately ¹  headed off to Tarshish ²  to escape ³  from the commission of the Lord. ⁴  He traveled ⁵  to Joppa ⁶  and found a merchant ship heading ⁷  to Tarshish. ⁸  So he paid the fare ⁹  and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord.

Also take these ten portions of cheese to their commanding officer. ¹  Find out how your brothers are doing ²  and bring back their pledge that they received the goods. ³ 

When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going. ¹ 

“Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Pay close attention to these things also. ¹ 

“There was a rich man who dressed in purple ¹  and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously ²  every day.

Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge ¹  of the whole earth do what is right?” ² 

The teaching ¹  of the righteous feeds ²  many, but fools die ³  for lack of wisdom. ⁴ 

And day after day Mordecai used to walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem in order to learn how Esther was doing ¹  and what might happen to her.

so that his life loathes food, and his soul rejects appetizing fare. ¹ 

This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth, ¹  and it is a great burden ²  to me:

Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus? ¹ 

Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Think carefully about what you are doing. ¹ 

So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, ¹  but is not rich toward God.”

and she returned to her mother-in-law.When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi ¹  asked, ²  “How did things turn out for you, ³  my daughter?” Ruth ⁴  told her about all the man had done for her. ⁵ 

Here is ¹  another ²  enigma ³  that occurs on earth: Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, ⁴  and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. ⁵  I said, “This also is an enigma.”

From that time ¹  when one came expecting a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures from it, there were only twenty.

Just ¹  as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of armies ²  had not left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah.” ³ 

However, if the servant ¹  says to you, “I do not want to leave ²  you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,

But if you don’t obey ¹  the Lord and rebel against what the Lord says, the hand of the Lord will be against both you and your king. ²