Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel!”

Then Hadadezer sent for Arameans from ¹  beyond the Euphrates River, ²  and they came to Helam. Shobach, the general in command of Hadadezer’s army, led them. ³ 

So Joab’s men, accompanied by the Kerethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors, left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.

For the Lord gave me strict orders, ¹  ‘Do not eat or drink ²  there; do not go back the way you came.’”

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. ¹ 

When the edict was issued, ¹  the Israelites freely contributed ²  the initial portion of their grain, wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a tenth of everything, which added up to a huge amount.

Esther was still not divulging her lineage or her people, ¹  just as Mordecai had instructed her. ²  Esther continued to do whatever Mordecai said, just as she had done when he was raising her.

But they answered, “We do not drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us not to. He told us, ‘You and your children must never drink wine.

צ (Tsade) The Lord is right to judge me! ¹  Yes, I rebelled against his commands. ²  Please listen, all you nations, ³  and look at my suffering! My young women and men have gone into exile.

They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven ¹  rules.

So the king gave the order, ¹  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ²  of lions. The king consoled ³  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”

saying, “We gave ¹  you strict orders ²  not to teach in this name. ³  Look, ⁴  you have filled Jerusalem ⁵  with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood ⁶  on us!”

But some from the religious party of the Pharisees ¹  who had believed stood up and said, “It is necessary ²  to circumcise the Gentiles ³  and to order them to observe ⁴  the law of Moses.”

To the rest I say – I, not the Lord ¹  – if a brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is happy to live with him, he should not divorce her.

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them.

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. ¹  The old commandment is the word that you have already ²  heard.

But now ¹  I ask you, lady (not as if I were ²  writing a new commandment ³  to you, but the one ⁴  we have had from the beginning), ⁵  that ⁶  we love one another.

So they placed him in custody until they were able ¹  to make a clear legal decision for themselves based on words from the mouth of the Lord. ² 

he ¹  commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant,

So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said.