Let each one examine ¹  his own work. Then he can take pride ²  in himself and not compare himself with ³  someone else.

Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, ¹  for we are members of one another.

Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority ¹  but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

“People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. ¹  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” ²  says the Lord. “For ³  I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

O Lord, according to all your justice, ¹  please turn your raging anger ²  away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For due to our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all our neighbors.

If the ox of one man injures the ox of his neighbor so that it dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its proceeds, ¹  and they will also divide the dead ox. ² 

for it is his only covering – it is his garment for his body. ¹  What else can he sleep in? ²  And ³  when he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

¹ Joshua summoned the Gibeonites ²  and said to them, “Why did you trick ³  us by saying, ‘We live far away from you,’ when you really live nearby? ⁴ 

When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah who were his friends, saying, “Here’s a gift ¹  for you from the looting of the Lord’s enemies!”

His royal court was so large because ¹  he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah ²  to Gaza; he was at peace with all his neighbors. ³ 

They established the altar on its foundations, even though they were in terror of the local peoples, ¹  and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and the evening offerings.

So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly ¹  about all the schemes ²  they were plotting ³  against us.

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

The Lover to His Beloved: If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, simply follow the tracks of my flock, and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds.

The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. ¹  Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ² 

They devoured ¹  on the right, but were still hungry, they ate on the left, but were not satisfied. People even ate ²  the flesh of their own arm! ³ 

At that time ¹  those who live on this coast ²  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says, “The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere like manure scattered on a field. They will lie scattered on the ground like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’” ¹ 

But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent ¹  and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands ²  and to their own country.

It will be the most insignificant of the kingdoms; it will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations.