When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and my robe and ripped out some of the hair from my head and beard. Then I sat down, quite devastated.

Now when Mordecai became aware of all that had been done, he ¹  tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went out into the city, crying out in a loud ²  and bitter voice.

It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest, and his hand gleans the ear of grain. It will be like one gathering the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

I offered my back to those who attacked, ¹  my jaws to those who tore out my beard; I did not hide my face from insults and spitting.

However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ¹  and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You must confess ²  that you have given yourself to ³  foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

This is what the Lord who rules over all ¹  said to me: ²  “Those who remain in Israel will be like the grapes thoroughly gleaned ³  from a vine. So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester passing your hand over the branches one last time.” ⁴ 

“I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ¹ 

I will look after their welfare ¹  and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land ²  and will not uproot them. ³ 

ב (Bet) The Lord ¹  destroyed ²  mercilessly ³  all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁴  In his anger he tore down the fortified cities ⁵  of Daughter Judah. He knocked to the ground and humiliated the kingdom and its rulers. ⁶ 

and say to them, ¹  ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, ²  I am against you. ³  I will draw my sword ⁴  from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. ⁵ 

It grew so big it reached the army ¹  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ²  to the ground, where it trampled them.

I led them with leather ¹  cords, with leather ²  ropes; I lifted the yoke ³  from their neck, ⁴  and gently fed them. ⁵ 

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven ¹  to the other.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse.

because Herod stood in awe of ¹  John and protected him, since he knew that John ²  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ³  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ⁴  and yet ⁵  he liked to listen to John. ⁶ 

Jesus ¹  was going through the grain fields on ²  a Sabbath, ³  and his disciples picked some heads of wheat, ⁴  rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. ⁵ 

So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was ¹  full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, ²  but although there were so many, the net was not torn.

But when her owners ¹  saw their hope of profit ²  was gone, they seized ³  Paul and Silas and dragged ⁴  them into the marketplace before the authorities.

The whole city was stirred up, ¹  and the people rushed together. ²  They seized ³  Paul and dragged him out of the temple courts, ⁴  and immediately the doors were shut.

When the argument became ¹  so great the commanding officer ²  feared that they would tear Paul to pieces, ³  he ordered the detachment ⁴  to go down, take him away from them by force, ⁵  and bring him into the barracks. ⁶