¹ The Lord ²  said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Release my people that they may serve me!

¹ The Lord said ²  to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand ³  before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: “Release my people so that they may serve me!

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How long do you refuse ¹  to humble yourself before me? ²  Release my people so that they may serve me!

and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten ¹  his sword on his side, and go back and forth ²  from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ³ 

The donkey said to Balaam, “Am not I your donkey that you have ridden ever since I was yours until this day? Have I ever attempted ¹  to treat you this way?” ²  And he said, “No.”

Get up! Ritually consecrate the people and tell them this: ‘Ritually consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, because the Lord God of Israel says, “You are contaminated, ¹  O Israel! You will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove what is contaminating you.” ² 

The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you assigned us only one tribal allotment? After all, we have many people, for until now the Lord has enabled us to increase in number.” ¹ 

“The entire community of the Lord says, ‘Why have you disobeyed the God of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord. ¹ 

Joshua told all the people, “Here is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘In the distant past your ancestors ¹  lived beyond the Euphrates River, ²  including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. They worshiped ³  other gods,

he ¹  sent a prophet ²  to the Israelites. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I brought you up from Egypt ³  and took you out of that place of slavery. ⁴ 

So Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, ¹  my dear! ²  Do not leave to gather grain in another field. You need not ³  go beyond the limits of this field. You may go along beside ⁴  my female workers. ⁵ 

A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not plainly ¹  reveal myself to your ancestor’s ²  house when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh?

He said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt and I delivered you from the power ¹  of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.

He took a pair ¹  of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, “Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out as one army. ² 

They said to the messengers who had come, “Here’s what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.’” When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy.

Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his ¹  enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)

David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing upset you. ¹  There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. ²  Press the battle against the city and conquer ³  it.’ Encourage him with these words.” ⁴ 

Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose ¹  you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you ¹  from inside your own household! ²  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. ³  He will have sexual relations with ⁴  your wives in broad daylight! ⁵ 

(19:1) ¹  The king then became very upset. He went up to the upper room over the gate and wept. As he went he said, “My son, Absalom! My son, my son, ²  Absalom! If only I could have died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!” ³