Then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified, and I brought back the equipment ¹  of the temple of God, along with the grain offering and the incense.

And day after day Mordecai used to walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem in order to learn how Esther was doing ¹  and what might happen to her.

The king then removed his signet ring (the very one he had taken back from Haman) and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther designated Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s estate.

The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” ¹  And Satan answered the Lord, ²  “From roving about ³  on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” ⁴ 

And the Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, ¹  “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” ² 

Its posts were made ¹  of silver; ²  its back ³  was made of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple wool; ⁴  its interior was inlaid ⁵  with leather ⁶  by the maidens ⁷  of Jerusalem.

For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as ¹  the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. ²  Destruction has been decreed; ³  just punishment ⁴  is about to engulf you. ⁵ 

The earth will stagger around ¹  like a drunk; it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. ²  Its sin will weigh it down, and it will fall and never get up again.

The dead do not come back to life, the spirits of the dead do not rise. ¹  That is because ²  you came in judgment ³  and destroyed them, you wiped out all memory of them.

Because you rage against me and the uproar you create has reached my ears, ¹  I will put my hook in your nose, ²  and my bridle between your lips, and I will lead you back the way you came.”

you whom I am bringing back ¹  from the earth’s extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions – I told you, “You are my servant.” I have chosen you and not rejected you.

I will say to the north, ‘Hand them over!’ and to the south, ‘Don’t hold any back!’ Bring my sons from distant lands, and my daughters from the remote regions of the earth,

I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ¹  Come back to me, for I protect ²  you.”

I will put it into the hand of your tormentors ¹  who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’ You made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walked over you.”

“Indeed, the Lord will call you back like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, ¹  like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.

I want you ¹  to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ²  When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! ³ 

We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord; we turned back from following our God. We stir up ¹  oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ² 

“Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?” asks your God. ¹ 

Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. ¹  But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. ² 

In spite of all this, ¹  Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” ²  says the Lord.