“‘How sick is your heart, declares the sovereign Lord, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute.

“‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant.

But this one from Israel’s royal family ¹  rebelled against the king of Babylon ²  by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

(though the father did not do any of them). ¹  He eats pagan sacrifices on the mountains, ²  defiles his neighbor’s wife,

But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.’

Then he said to me, “These are the houses for boiling, where the ministers of the temple boil the sacrifices of the people.”

He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ¹  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

“You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.

However, I will first tell you what is written in a dependable book. ¹  (There is no one who strengthens me against these princes, ²  except Michael your ³  prince.

Who is wise? Let him discern ¹  these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the Lord are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble.

Does the family ¹  of Jacob say, ²  ‘The Lord’s patience ³  can’t be exhausted – he would never do such things’? ⁴  To be sure, my commands bring a reward for those who obey them, ⁵ 

Then Haggai asked, “If a person who is ritually unclean because of touching a dead body ¹  comes in contact with one of these items, will it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”

He replied, “Don’t you know what these are?” So I responded, “No, sir.”

The messenger replied, “These are the four spirits ¹  of heaven that have been presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth.

These are the things you must do: Speak the truth, each of you, to one another. Practice true and righteous judgment in your courts. ¹ 

When Esau ¹  looked up ²  and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob ³  replied, “The children whom God has graciously given ⁴  your servant.”

This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹  was taking care of ²  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ³  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ⁴  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ⁵  to their father.

While they were bringing her out, she sent word ¹  to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” ²  Then she said, “Identify ³  the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong.”

¹ The Lord said ²  to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display ³  these signs of mine before him, ⁴ 

All these your servants will come down to me and bow down ¹  to me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow ²  you,’ and after that I will go out.” Then Moses ³  went out from Pharaoh in great anger.