for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.

When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf; ¹  you had quickly turned aside from the way he ²  had commanded you!

‘No doubt they are gathering and dividing the plunder ¹  – a girl or two for each man to rape! ²  Sisera is grabbing up colorful cloth, ³  he is grabbing up colorful embroidered cloth, ⁴  two pieces of colorful embroidered cloth, for the neck of the plunderer!’ ⁵ 

He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty cities. To this day these towns are called Havvoth Jair ¹  – they are in the land of Gilead. ² 

When he got home, ¹  he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. ²  Now get her for my wife.”

So the two of them sat down and had a meal together. ¹  Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Why not stay another night and have a good time!” ² 

He woke up early in the morning on the fifth day so he could leave, but the girl’s father said, “Get some energy. ¹  Wait until later in the day to leave!” ²  So they ate a meal together.

So Naomi returned, accompanied by her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who came back with her from the region of Moab. ¹  (Now they ²  arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.) ³ 

He will encourage you and provide for you when you are old, ¹  for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him birth. She ²  is better to you than seven sons!”

Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel ¹  and how they used to have sex with ²  the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

Then the Lord called Samuel a third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me!” Eli then realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy.

So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves from them back to their stalls.

The donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off, ¹  so Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go ²  look for the donkeys.” ³ 

When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come on, let’s head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!”

Then Samuel brought ¹  Saul and his servant into the room and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited. There were about thirty people present.

So the army rushed greedily on ¹  the ²  plunder, confiscating sheep, cattle, and calves. They slaughtered them right on the ground, and the army ate them blood and all.

There was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. So whenever Saul saw anyone who was a warrior or a brave individual, he would conscript him.

Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you ¹  and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

But Saul replied to David, “You aren’t able to go against this Philistine and fight him! You’re just a boy! He has been a warrior from his youth!”

is like the light of morning when the sun comes up, a morning in which there are no clouds. He is like the brightness after rain that produces grass from the earth.