So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed by your obscene conduct.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘I will take a sprig ¹  from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. ²  I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ²  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ³ )

For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; ¹  terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. ²  You have shed human blood and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them.

Don’t you say, ¹  ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up ²  and see that the fields are already white ³  for harvest!

Then ¹  another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use ²  your sickle and start to reap, ³  because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!”

Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) ¹  and circumcised them ²  on that very same day, just as God had told him to do.

When the seventh day comes ¹  he must shave all his hair – his head, his beard, his eyebrows, all his hair – and he must wash his clothes, bathe his body in water, and so be clean. ² 

He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands ¹  and on the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel, ²  for he loved agriculture. ³ 

Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ¹  As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

Never again will one of her infants live just a few days ¹  or an old man die before his time. ²  Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, ³  anyone who fails to reach ⁴  the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.

“Therefore, as surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare ¹  you.

I saw the sovereign One ¹  standing by the altar ²  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ³  so the thresholds shake! Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ⁴  and I will kill the survivors ⁵  with the sword. No one will be able to run away; ⁶  no one will be able to escape. ⁷ 

But Abel brought ¹  some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest ²  of them. And the Lord was pleased with ³  Abel and his offering,

They must indeed be circumcised, ¹  whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant ²  will be visible in your flesh as a permanent ³  reminder.

While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, ¹  Rachel stole the household idols ²  that belonged to her father.

On the vine there were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes.

In three more days Pharaoh will decapitate you ¹  and impale you on a pole. Then the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

For these past two years there has been famine in ¹  the land and for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.

But his bow will remain steady, and his hands ¹  will be skillful; because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of ²  the Shepherd, the Rock ³  of Israel,