Now therefore reflect carefully on the recent past, ¹  before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. ² 

But now plead for God’s favor ¹  that he might be gracious to us. ²  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

So now, look, the Lord has preserved my life, just as he promised, these past forty-five years since the Lord spoke these words to Moses, during which Israel traveled through the wilderness. Now look, I am today eighty-five years old.

And the Lord God said, “Now ¹  that the man has become like one of us, ²  knowing ³  good and evil, he must not be allowed ⁴  to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ¹  they have begun to do this, then ²  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ³ 

But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed ¹  he is a prophet ²  and he will pray for you; thus you will live. ³  But if you don’t give her back, ⁴  know that you will surely die ⁵  along with all who belong to you.”

Now swear to me right here in God’s name ¹  that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. ²  Show me, and the land ³  where you are staying, ⁴  the same loyalty ⁵  that I have shown you.” ⁶ 

Now, if you will show faithful love to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me as well, so that I may go on my way.” ¹ 

I am not worthy of all the faithful love ¹  you have shown ²  your servant. With only my walking stick ³  I crossed the Jordan, ⁴  but now I have become two camps.

Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ¹  in the land. There ²  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

“Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine. ¹  Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

‘My father made me swear an oath. He said, ¹  “I am about to die. Bury me ²  in my tomb that I dug for myself there in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’”

‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept. ¹ 

“The elders ¹  will listen ²  to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met ³  with us. So now, let us go ⁴  three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice ⁵  to the Lord our God.’

So now, send instructions ¹  to gather ²  your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person ³  or animal caught ⁴  in the field and not brought into the house – the hail will come down on them, and they will die!”’”

For ¹  the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, ²  I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, ³  that I may know ⁴  what I should do to you.’” ⁵ 

Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me ¹  your way, that I may know you, ²  that I may continue to find ³  favor in your sight. And see ⁴  that this nation is your people.”

So ¹  now, please come and curse this nation ²  for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them ³  and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, ⁴  and whoever you curse is cursed.”

Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. ¹  So now, if it is evil in your sight, ²  I will go back home.” ³ 

Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ¹  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ²  is giving you.