Now ¹  people were bringing little children to him for him to touch, ²  but the disciples scolded those who brought them. ³ 

As ¹  they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ²  “Why are you untying that colt?”

When he knocked at the door of the outer gate, a slave girl named Rhoda answered. ¹ 

Along with the loaves of bread, ¹  you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, ²  one young bull, ³  and two rams. ⁴  They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with their grain offering ⁵  and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁶ 

you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated ¹  his neighbor’s fiancée; ²  in this way you will purge ³  evil from among you.

They ¹  will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, ²  or lambs of your flocks ³  until they have destroyed you.

But after it had been moved the Lord attacked ¹  that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city ²  with sores. ³ 

One of his attendants replied, ¹  “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem ²  who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior ³  and is articulate ⁴  and handsome, ⁵  for the Lord is with him.”

David replied to Ahimelech the priest, “The king instructed me to do something, but he said to me, ‘Don’t let anyone know the reason I am sending you or the instructions I have given you.’ ¹  I have told my soldiers ²  to wait at a certain place. ³ 

Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he can see.” The Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw that ¹  the hill was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

This is a message ¹  about the animals in the Negev: Through a land of distress and danger, inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ²  by snakes and darting adders, ³  they transport ⁴  their wealth on the backs of donkeys, their riches on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot help them. ⁵ 

Indeed, I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not take heed to the sheep headed to slaughter, will not seek the scattered, and will not heal the injured. ¹  Moreover, he will not nourish the one that is healthy but instead will eat the meat of the fat sheep ²  and tear off their hooves.

He will love and bless you, and make you numerous. He will bless you with many children, ¹  with the produce of your soil, your grain, your new wine, your oil, the offspring of your oxen, and the young of your flocks in the land which he promised your ancestors to give you.

They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation ¹  ruined the reputation ²  of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.

Now he was acting as the guardian ¹  of Hadassah ²  (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, for neither her father nor her mother was alive. ³  This young woman was very attractive and had a beautiful figure. ⁴  When her father and mother died, Mordecai had raised her ⁵  as if she were his own daughter.

At the end of the twelve months that were required for the women, ¹  when the turn of each young woman arrived to go to King Ahasuerus – for in this way they had to fulfill their time of cosmetic treatment: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfume and various ointments used by women –

“How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to ¹  the gods called Baal.’ Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! ²  Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. ³ 

But he ¹  responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided ²  your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? ³  If that happened, ⁴  you would endanger my life ⁵  with the king!”

Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. ¹  She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up.

Then the one presenting the offering ¹  must slaughter the bull ²  before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, must present the blood and splash ³  the blood against the sides of the altar which is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.