You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites ¹  or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. ² 

“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.

I went down ¹  to the very bottoms ²  of the mountains; ³  the gates ⁴  of the netherworld ⁵  barred me in ⁶  forever; ⁷  but you brought me ⁸  up from the Pit, ⁹  O Lord, my God.

Now Jericho ¹  was shut tightly ²  because of the Israelites. No one was allowed to leave or enter. ³ 

He built up the city around it, from the terrace to the surrounding walls; ¹  Joab restored the rest of the city.

The traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice.

Who let the wild donkey go free? Who released the bonds of the donkey,

Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it; it had the same dimensions as the others –

“These are the exits of the city: On the north side, one and one-half miles ¹  by measure,

For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you.

You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages ¹  (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). ² 

On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you ¹  in all your villages. ²  Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex.

You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings.

Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he ¹  chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites ²  in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. ³ 

If the place he ¹  chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he ²  has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages ³  just as you wish.

So they went up to the town. As they were heading for the middle of the town, Samuel was coming in their direction ¹  to go up to the high place.

Now four men with a skin disease ¹  were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, “Why are we just sitting here waiting to die? ² 

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.

When the wall had been rebuilt and I had positioned the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed,

How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! They will not be put to shame ¹  when they confront ²  enemies at the city gate.