You must obey my charge to not practice any of the abominable statutes ¹  that have been done before you, so that you do not ²  defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.’”

“‘The high ¹  priest – who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained ²  to wear the priestly garments – must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. ³ 

Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their clans, ¹  made an offering. They were the leaders of the tribes; they were the ones who had been supervising ²  the numbering.

The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only spit ¹  in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again.”

When they went up through the Negev, they ¹  came ²  to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, ³  descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan ⁴  in Egypt.)

So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ¹  and has made atonement ²  for the Israelites.’”

But there was not a man among these who had been ¹  among those numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they numbered the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.

“Give these instructions ¹  to the Israelites, and tell them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that has been assigned to you as an inheritance, ²  the land of Canaan with its borders,

After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, ¹  if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind ²  and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, ³ 

After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.”

You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. ¹  Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors.

You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, ¹  which will have been defined ²  in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ³ 

Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse ¹  must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke –

for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. ¹  Indeed, even while I have been living among you to this very day, you have rebelled against the Lord; you will be even more rebellious after my death! ² 

For a fire has been kindled by my anger, and it burns to lowest Sheol; ¹  it consumes the earth and its produce, and ignites the foundations of the mountains.

If only we had been satisfied to live on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say now that Israel has retreated ¹  before its enemies?

Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed. ¹ 

Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time?

The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. ¹ 

Samson said to her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh ¹  bowstrings ²  that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man.”