Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, “May the Lord raise up for you descendants ¹  from this woman to replace the one that she ²  dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go to their ³  home.

She said, “I would like to ask you for just one small favor. ¹  Please don’t refuse me.” ²  He said, ³  “Go ahead and ask, my mother, for I would not refuse you.”

Then the Lord said, ¹  “As for you, Jeremiah, ²  do not pray for these people! Do not cry out to me or petition me on their behalf! Do not plead with me to save them, ³  because I will not listen to you.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, ¹  and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you ²  will name him John. ³ 

Look, ambassadors ¹  cry out in the streets; messengers sent to make peace ²  weep bitterly.

So they approached the king and said to him, ¹  “Did you not issue an edict to the effect that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human other than to you, O king, would be thrown into a den of lions?” The king replied, “That is correct, ²  according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.”

Then the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to release a prisoner for them, as was his custom. ¹ 

They said to him, “Please grant our request ¹  and pray to the Lord your God for all those of us who are still left alive here. ²  For, as you yourself can see, there are only a few of us left out of the many there were before. ³ 

A psalm of David, written to get God’s attention. ²  O Lord, do not continue to rebuke me in your anger! Do not continue to punish me in your raging fury! ³ 

For the music director; by David; written to get God’s attention. ²  O God, please be willing to rescue me! ³  O Lord, hurry and help me! ⁴ 

“Ask for a confirming sign from the Lord your God. You can even ask for something miraculous.” ¹ 

If they do this, tell ¹  them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to die in the dungeon of Jonathan’s house.’” ² 

So I turned my attention ¹  to the Lord God ²  to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ³ 

But his citizens ¹  hated ²  him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man ³  to be king ⁴  over us!’

So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

They said to him, “Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward.” ¹ 

He appointed some of the Levites to serve before the ark of the Lord, to offer prayers, songs of thanks, and hymns to the Lord God of Israel.

Perhaps then they will ask the Lord for mercy and will all stop doing the evil things they have been doing. ¹  For the Lord has threatened to bring great anger and wrath against these people.” ² 

Then ¹  they said to him, “John’s ²  disciples frequently fast ³  and pray, ⁴  and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, ⁵  but yours continue to eat and drink.” ⁶ 

¹ Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, ²  the son Joseph came forward. Now these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.