The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, ¹  when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What burdensome message ²  do you have from the Lord?’ Tell them, ‘You are the burden, ³  and I will cast you away. ⁴  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁵ 

In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, ¹  some of the elders ²  of Israel came to seek ³  the Lord, and they sat down in front of me.

I will stand at my watch post; I will remain stationed on the city wall. ¹  I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me and can know ²  how I should answer when he counters my argument. ³ 

Before he could reply I asked again, “What are these two extensions ¹  of the olive trees, which are emptying out the golden oil through the two golden pipes?”

Then they too will answer, ¹  ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’

Jesus replied, ¹  “A man was going down ²  from Jerusalem ³  to Jericho, ⁴  and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat ⁵  him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. ⁶ 

Then ¹  he will reply ²  from inside, ‘Do not bother me. The door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. ³  I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁴ 

Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ The second man ¹  replied, ‘A hundred measures ²  of wheat.’ The manager ³  said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁴ 

So he replied, ¹  “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather ²  Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

But just as Paul was about to speak, ¹  Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of some crime or serious piece of villainy, ²  I would have been justified in accepting the complaint ³  of you Jews, ⁴ 

But who indeed are you – a mere human being ¹  – to talk back to God? ²  Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ³ 

We are not trying to commend ¹  ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, ²  so that you may be able to answer those who take pride ³  in outward appearance ⁴  and not in what is in the heart.

I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ ¹  In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.” ² 

Judah replied, “What can we say ¹  to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? ²  God has exposed the sin of your servants! ³  We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”

then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice ¹  of the Lord’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck ²  Egypt and delivered our households.’” The people bowed down low ³  to the ground,

The Philistines asked, ¹  “Who did this?” They were told, ²  “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite ³  took Samson’s ⁴  bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. ⁵ 

If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ¹  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

But David replied to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom you have defied!

Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul replied, “I am terribly troubled! The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me. He does not answer me – not by the prophets nor by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what I should do.”

When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the Lord, he said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But he replied, “No, I will die here!” So Benaiah sent word to the king and reported Joab’s reply. ¹