Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave ¹  my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?”

Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time?

The Ephraimites assembled ¹  and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go and fight ²  with the Ammonites without asking ³  us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!” ⁴ 

When I saw that you were not going to help, ¹  I risked my life ²  and advanced against ³  the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why have you come up ⁴  to fight with me today?”

The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking ¹  us?” The Philistines ²  said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.”

So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. ¹  Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Why not stay another night and have a good time!” ² 

I left here full, ¹  but the Lord has caused me to return empty-handed. ²  Why do you call me ‘Naomi,’ seeing that ³  the Lord has opposed me, ⁴  and the Sovereign One ⁵  has caused me to suffer?” ⁶ 

Ruth ¹  knelt before him with her forehead to the ground ²  and said to him, “Why are you so kind ³  and so attentive to me, ⁴  even though ⁵  I am a foreigner?” ⁶ 

Saul replied, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of Israel’s tribes, and is not my family clan the smallest of all the tribes of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me in this way?”

Now Saul was walking behind the ¹  oxen as he came from the field. Saul asked, “What has happened to the people? Why are they weeping?” So they told him about ²  the men of Jabesh.

Then someone from the army informed him, “Your father put the army under a strict oath ¹  saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today!’ That is why the army is tired.”

Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped!” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away or else I will kill you!’” ¹ 

Jonathan ¹  said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing ²  large or small without making me aware of it. ³  Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

You must be loyal ¹  to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. ²  If I am guilty, ³  you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

But the next morning, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has Jesse’s son not come to the meal yesterday or today?”

(21:2) David went to Ahimelech the priest in Nob. Ahimelech was shaking with fear when he met ¹  David, and said to him, “Why are you by yourself with no one accompanying you?”

David said to Abner, “Aren’t you a man? After all, who is like you in Israel? Why then haven’t you protected your lord the king? One of the soldiers came to kill your lord the king.

David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?”

But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed ¹  the mediums and magicians ²  from the land! Why are you trapping me ³  so you can put me to death?”

So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner ¹  has come to you! Why would you send him away? Now he’s gone on his way! ²