I would go out after it, strike it down, and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose up against me, I would grab it by its jaw, strike it, and kill it.

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying in En Rogel. A female servant would go and inform them, and they would then go and inform King David. It was not advisable for them to be seen going into the city.

She said, “I would like to ask you for just one small favor. ¹  Please don’t refuse me.” ²  He said, ³  “Go ahead and ask, my mother, for I would not refuse you.”

They would spend the night in their posts all around God’s sanctuary, ¹  for they were assigned to guard it and would open it with the key every morning.

Shall we once again break your commandments and intermarry with these abominable peoples? Would you not be so angered by us that you would wipe us out, with no survivor or remnant?

Everyone who did not come within three days would thereby forfeit all his property, in keeping with the counsel of the officials and the elders. Furthermore, he himself would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

Then the king, with his consort ¹  sitting beside him, replied, “How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was amenable to dispatching me, ²  I gave him a time.

the woman would go to the king in the following way: Whatever she asked for would be provided for her to take with her from the harem to the royal palace.

I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house, the one who taught me. ¹  I would give you ²  spiced wine ³  to drink, ⁴  the nectar of my pomegranates. ⁵ 

For this is what the master, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: “If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered; ¹  if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength, ²  but you are unwilling.

Now and then ¹  there would be something wrong ²  with the pot he was molding from the clay ³  with his hands. So he would rework ⁴  the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit. ⁵ 

But if they had stood in my inner circle, ¹  they would have proclaimed my message to my people. They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

But the people of Jerusalem and Judah ¹  would not listen or pay any attention. They would not stop the wickedness they were doing nor quit sacrificing to other gods. ² 

If grape pickers came to pick your grapes, would they not leave a few grapes behind? ¹  If robbers came at night, would they not pillage only what they needed? ² 

Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, they could not save their own sons or daughters; they would save only their own lives, and the land would become desolate.

“I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ¹ 

Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, ¹  my hand would pull them up from there. Even if they could climb up to heaven, I would drag them down from there.

“If thieves came to rob you ¹  during the night, ²  they would steal only as much as they wanted! ³  If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards, ⁴  they would leave some behind for the poor! ⁵  But you will be totally destroyed! ⁶ 

What good ¹  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ²  What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ³  Why would its creator place his trust in it ⁴  and make ⁵  such mute, worthless things?

Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, ¹  would you really slaughter an innocent nation? ²