I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, ¹  whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing.

If the ox ¹  gores a son or a daughter, the owner ²  will be dealt with according to this rule. ³ 

If a wise person ¹  goes to court ²  with a foolish person, there is no peace ³  whether he is angry or laughs. ⁴ 

Or when there is ¹  a person who touches anything ceremonially ²  unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, even if he did not realize it, ³  but he himself has become unclean and is guilty; ⁴ 

Remember the whole way by which he ¹  has brought you these forty years through the desert ²  so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

the gods of the surrounding people (whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth ¹  to the other).

‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of either his father or mother.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

There was nothing missing, whether small or great. He retrieved sons and daughters, the plunder, and everything else they had taken. ¹  David brought everything back.

Who really knows if the human spirit ¹  ascends upward, and the animal’s spirit descends into the earth?

The priests will not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or was torn to pieces by a wild animal. ¹ 

Stay alert, then, because you do not know when the owner of the house will return – whether during evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or at dawn –

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain ¹  bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out ²  and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. ³  Will they will walk in my law ⁴  or not?

No hand will touch him ¹  – but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; ²  he must not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast they may ³  go up on the mountain.”

Also, anything they fall on ¹  when they die will become unclean – any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water ²  and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean.

“‘Any person ¹  who eats an animal that has died of natural causes ²  or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, ³  must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean.

If you have no desire ¹  to worship ²  the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, ³  whether it be the gods whom your ancestors ⁴  worshiped ⁵  beyond the Euphrates, ⁶  or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family ⁷  will worship ⁸  the Lord!”

So I reflected on all this, ¹  attempting to clear ²  it all up. I concluded that ³  the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God; whether a person will be loved or hated ⁴  – no one knows what lies ahead. ⁵ 

“‘These you can eat from all creatures that are in the water: Any creatures in the water that have both fins and scales, ¹  whether in the seas or in the streams, ²  you may eat.

Anything their carcass may fall on will become unclean. An oven or small stove must be smashed to pieces; they are unclean, and they will stay unclean ¹  to you.

“‘If a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand. ¹