You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ¹  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

You will be driven ¹  from human society, ²  and you will live ³  with the wild animals. You will be fed ⁴  grass like oxen, ⁵  and you will become damp with the dew of the sky. Seven periods of time will pass by for you, before ⁶  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.

May the sovereign God ¹  bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! ²  Then you will become ³  a large nation. ⁴ 

When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area, saw her, he grabbed her, forced himself on her, ¹  and sexually assaulted her. ² 

Jacob said to Joseph, “The sovereign God ¹  appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as ¹  God Almighty, ²  but by ³  my name ‘the Lord’ ⁴  I was not known to them. ⁵ 

the oracle of the one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, although falling flat on the ground ¹  with eyes open: ² 

The heavens – indeed the highest heavens – belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.

But she replied ¹  to them, ²  “Don’t call me ‘Naomi’! ³  Call me ‘Mara’ ⁴  because the Sovereign One ⁵  has treated me very harshly. ⁶ 

So now do as they say. ¹  But seriously warn ²  them and make them aware of the policies of the king who will rule over them.” ³ 

You rescue me from a hostile army; ¹  you preserve me as a leader of nations; people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects. ² 

He gives his chosen king magnificent victories; ¹  he is faithful to his chosen ruler, ²  to David and to his descendants forever!”

The God of Israel spoke, the protector ¹  of Israel spoke to me. The one who rules fairly among men, the one who rules in the fear of God,

He was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign and, like Hadad, caused trouble. He loathed ¹  Israel and ruled over Syria.

King Cyrus of Persia entrusted ¹  them to ²  Mithredath ³  the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar ⁴  the leader of the Judahite exiles. ⁵ 

Adjacent to them worked Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, who were men of Gibeon and Mizpah. These towns were under the jurisdiction ¹  of the governor of Trans-Euphrates.

These all served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priestly scribe. ¹ 

¹ The following events happened ²  in the days of Ahasuerus. ³  (I am referring to ⁴  that Ahasuerus who used to rule over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces ⁵  extending all the way from India to Ethiopia. ⁶ )

For the arrows ¹  of the Almighty ²  are within me; my spirit ³  drinks their poison; ⁴  God’s sudden terrors ⁵  are arrayed ⁶  against me.

For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, ¹  and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’ ²