Certainly ¹  the Lord watches the whole earth carefully ²  and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him. ³  You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war.

But he replied, ¹  “You’re talking like one of the godless ²  women would do! Should we receive ³  what is good from God, and not also ⁴  receive ⁵  what is evil?” ⁶  In all this Job did not sin by what he said. ⁷ 

Oppressors treat my ¹  people cruelly; creditors rule over them. ²  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. ³ 

He feeds on ashes; ¹  his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ² 

Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. ¹  All who leave you will suffer shame. Those who turn away from you ²  will be consigned to the nether world. ³  For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life. ⁴ 

O Lord who rules over all, ¹  you test and prove the righteous. You see into people’s hearts and minds. ²  Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Do not seek Bethel! ¹  Do not visit Gilgal! Do not journey down ²  to Beer Sheba! For the people of Gilgal ³  will certainly be carried into exile; ⁴  and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” ⁵ 

Your presumptuous heart ¹  has deceived you – you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, ²  whose home is high in the mountains. ³  You think to yourself, ⁴  ‘No one can ⁵  bring me down to the ground!’ ⁶ 

For a son thinks his father is a fool, a daughter challenges ¹  her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are his own servants. ² 

What good ¹  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ²  What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ³  Why would its creator place his trust in it ⁴  and make ⁵  such mute, worthless things?

But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ¹  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ²  and let me look at it.”

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, ¹  practicing homosexuals, ² 

He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! ¹  Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, ‘You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’” ² 

She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? ¹  Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.”

When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, ¹  Michal, Saul’s daughter, came out to meet him. ²  She said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished ³  himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants’ slave girls the way a vulgar fool ⁴  might do!”

David replied to Michal, “It was before the Lord! I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family ¹  and appointed me as leader over the Lord’s people Israel.

When Jehu rejoined ¹  his master’s servants, they ²  asked him, “Is everything all right? ³  Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” ⁴ 

The terror you inspire in others ¹  and the arrogance of your heart have deceived you. You may make your home in the clefts of the rocks; you may occupy the highest places in the hills. ²  But even if you made your home where the eagles nest, I would bring you down from there,” says the Lord.

If then I am in the wrong ¹  and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, ²  but if not one of their charges against me is true, ³  no one can hand me over to them. ⁴  I appeal to Caesar!” ⁵