For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ¹  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ²  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ³  he examines ⁴  animal livers. ⁵ 

Then ¹  he bent over again and wrote on the ground.

When he sees the boy is not with us, ¹  he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.

Now the name of the Israelite who was stabbed – the one who was stabbed with the Midianite woman – was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of a clan ¹  of the Simeonites.

You are children ¹  of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald ²  for the sake of the dead.

Then Hadadezer sent for Arameans from ¹  beyond the Euphrates River, ²  and they came to Helam. Shobach, the general in command of Hadadezer’s army, led them. ³ 

Solomon said, “If he is a loyal subject, ¹  not a hair of his head will be harmed, but if he is found to be a traitor, ²  he will die.”

When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, ¹  and refrained from eating food. ²  (If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!) ³ 

It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest, and his hand gleans the ear of grain. It will be like one gathering the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning, for shaved heads and sackcloth. ¹ 

The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning. The people of Ashkelon will be struck dumb. How long will you gash yourselves to show your sorrow, ¹  you who remain of Philistia’s power? ² 

So they slipped ¹  the anchors ²  and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage ³  that bound the steering oars ⁴  together. Then they hoisted ⁵  the foresail ⁶  to the wind and steered toward ⁷  the beach.

But Jacob ¹  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ²  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ³  in sorrow to the grave.” ⁴ 

She replied, “In that case, ¹  let the king invoke the name of ²  the Lord your God so that the avenger of blood may not kill! Then they will not destroy my son!” He replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of your son’s head ³  will fall to the ground.”

Her ¹  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ²  her priests proclaim rulings for profit, and her prophets read omens for pay. Yet they claim to trust ³  the Lord and say, “The Lord is among us. ⁴  Disaster will not overtake ⁵  us!”

Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair ¹  into the fabric on the loom ²  and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, “Do not ¹  dishevel the hair of your heads ²  and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning which the Lord has caused, ³ 

one beka per person, that is, a half shekel, ¹  according to the sanctuary shekel, for everyone who crossed over to those numbered, from twenty years old or older, ²  603,550 in all. ³ 

‘I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not close at hand. ¹  A star ²  will march forth ³  out of Jacob, and a scepter ⁴  will rise out of Israel. He will crush the skulls ⁵  of Moab, and the heads ⁶  of all the sons of Sheth. ⁷ 

So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw a company of prophets prophesying with Samuel standing there as their leader, the spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied.