Every day one ox, six select sheep, and some birds were prepared for me, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Despite all this I did not require the food allotted to the governor, for the work was demanding on this people.

Then God met Balaam, who ¹  said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ¹  will be demanded back from ²  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ³ 

Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose ¹  is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. ² 

And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.

So he threw a big banquet ¹  for them and they ate and drank. Then he sent them back ²  to their master. After that no Syrian raiding parties again invaded the land of Israel.

Haman said, “Furthermore, Queen Esther invited ¹  only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared! And also tomorrow I am invited ²  along with the king.

About forty thousand battle-ready troops ¹  marched past the Lord to fight ²  on the plains of Jericho. ³ 

They spent three days feasting ¹  there with David, for their relatives had given them provisions.

There I will make David strong; ¹  I have determined that my chosen king’s dynasty will continue. ² 

She has prepared her meat, ¹  she has mixed her wine; she also has arranged her table. ² 

From Asher there were 40,000 warriors prepared for battle.

Jotham grew powerful because he was determined to please the Lord his God. ¹ 

But the Lord ¹  rules ²  forever; he reigns in a just manner. ³ 

So he went and got the goats ¹  and brought them to his mother. She ²  prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it.

Hezekiah and all the people were happy about what God had done ¹  for them, ²  for it had been done quickly. ³ 

Preparations were made, ¹  and the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions as prescribed by the king.

“‘Be ready and stay ready, you and all your companies assembled around you, and be a guard for them. ¹ 

But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects ¹  of wrath ²  prepared for destruction? ³ 

Now ¹  the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On ²  their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, ³  and their faces looked like men’s ⁴  faces.