“The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust ¹  invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, ²  or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

“The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight, and disease, or a locust ¹  invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, ²  or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

The Lover to His Beloved: ¹  I went down to the orchard of walnut trees, ²  to look for the blossoms of the valley, ³  to see if the vines had budded or if the pomegranates were in bloom.

From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal, has taken away ¹  all that our ancestors ²  worked for. It has taken away our flocks and our herds, and even our sons and daughters.

As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.

but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, ¹  and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, ²  performing deeds consistent with ³  repentance.

Or is he not surely speaking for our benefit? It was written for us, because the one plowing and threshing ought to work in hope of enjoying the harvest.

Put yourselves to the test to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you – unless, indeed, you fail the test! ¹ 

But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters ¹  loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning ²  for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

But to Adam ¹  he said, “Because you obeyed ²  your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground ³  thanks to you; ⁴  in painful toil you will eat ⁵  of it all the days of your life.

When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep ¹  with me because I have paid for your services ²  with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations ³  with her that night.

“‘On ¹  the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the Lord for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest.

Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing ¹  everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ²  and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. ³ 

Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved ¹  wife as firstborn and give him the double portion ²  of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power ³  – to him should go the right of the firstborn.

you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he ¹  chooses to locate his name. ² 

You will cultivate ¹  the land for him – you and your sons and your servants. You will bring its produce ²  and it will be ³  food for your master’s grandson to eat. ⁴  But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will be a regular guest at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

¹ This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: ²  This year you will eat what grows wild, ³  and next year ⁴  what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. ⁵ 

I also shook out my garment, ¹  and I said, “In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out ²  this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!” All the assembly replied, “So be it!” and they praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised. ³ 

Again, ¹  I observed this on the earth: ²  the race is not always ³  won by the swiftest, the battle is not always won by the strongest; prosperity ⁴  does not always belong to those who are the wisest, wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning, nor does success ⁵  always come to those with the most knowledge – for time and chance may overcome ⁶  them all.

I will hand over all the wealth of this city to their enemies. I will hand over to them all the fruits of the labor of the people of this city and all their prized possessions, as well as all the treasures of the kings of Judah. Their enemies will seize it all as plunder ¹  and carry it off to Babylon.