Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ¹  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ² 

Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. ¹  In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?

You said, ‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ ¹  You did not think about these things; ²  you did not consider how it would turn out. ³ 

For I will not be hostile ¹  forever or perpetually angry, for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, ²  the life-giving breath I created.

Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that ¹  the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?

ל (Lamed) Neither the kings of the earth nor the people of the lands ¹  ever thought ²  that enemy or foe would enter the gates ³  of Jerusalem. ⁴ 

not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ¹  – surely if ²  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.” ¹ 

Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, ¹  and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the sovereign Lord.

so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand.

I also gave them my Sabbaths ¹  as a reminder of our relationship, ²  so that they would know that I, the Lord, sanctify them. ³ 

I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

I also swore ¹  to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. ² 

It seemed like a good idea to Darius ¹  to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps ²  who would be in charge of the entire kingdom.

Over them would be three supervisors, one of whom was Daniel. These satraps were accountable ¹  to them, so that the king’s interests might not incur damage.

If a lying windbag should come and say, ¹  ‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ ²  he would be just the right preacher for these people! ³ 

But Moses said, “That would not be the right thing to do, ¹  for the sacrifices we make ²  to the Lord our God would be an abomination ³  to the Egyptians. ⁴  If we make sacrifices that are an abomination to the Egyptians right before their eyes, ⁵  will they not stone us? ⁶ 

But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. ¹  He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”

Finally he told her his secret. ¹  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ²  for I have been dedicated to God ³  from the time I was conceived. ⁴  If my head ⁵  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

surely you would not want to wait until they were old enough to marry! ¹  Surely you would not remain unmarried all that time! ²  No, ³  my daughters, you must not return with me. ⁴  For my intense suffering ⁵  is too much for you to bear. ⁶  For the Lord is afflicting me!” ⁷