then the priest will command that two live clean birds, a piece of cedar wood, a scrap of crimson fabric, ¹  and some twigs of hyssop ²  be taken up ³  for the one being cleansed. ⁴ 

“‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of ¹  their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ ²  iniquities which are with them.

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

Who is there from the entire human race ¹  who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived?

They annihilated everyone who lived there with the sword ¹  – no one who breathed remained – and burned ²  Hazor.

Do this: ¹  exterminate every male, as well as every woman who has had sexual relations with a male. ²  But spare the lives of any virgins.” So they did as instructed. ³ 

The ¹  remnant of Benjamin must be preserved. An entire Israelite tribe should not be wiped out. ² 

She said, “Just as surely as you are alive, my lord, I am the woman who previously stood here with you in order to pray to the Lord.

¹ Then David asked, “Is anyone still left from the family ²  of Saul, so that I may extend kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?”

They seized the Hagrites’ ¹  animals, including 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys. They also took captive 100,000 people.

he ¹  said to take back this answer to Esther:

You burn them up like a fiery furnace ¹  when you appear; ²  the Lord angrily devours them; ³  the fire consumes them.

When evil men attack me ¹  to devour my flesh, ²  when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ³  they stumble and fall. ⁴ 

Do not let them say to themselves, ¹  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ²  Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

I desperately want to be ¹  in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ²  My heart and my entire being ³  shout for joy to the living God.

for on account ¹  of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man ²  preys on your precious life. ³ 

Those remaining in Zion, ¹  those left in Jerusalem, ²  will be called “holy,” ³  all in Jerusalem who are destined to live. ⁴ 

Is this really your boisterous city ¹  whose origins are in the distant past, ²  and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life; may years of life be restored to me. ¹  Restore my health ²  and preserve my life.’

The Lord commanded the enemy, ¹  “March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. ²  But do not destroy them completely. Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the Lord. ³