For the sake of my reputation ¹  I hold back my anger; for the sake of my prestige ²  I restrain myself from destroying you. ³ 

For my sake alone ¹  I will act, for how can I allow my name to be defiled? ²  I will not share my glory with anyone else! ³ 

In light of all this, ¹  how can you still hold back, Lord? How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?

does not engage in usury or charge interest, ¹  but refrains ²  from wrongdoing, promotes true justice ³  between men,

But I refrained from doing so, ¹  and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

So in this case I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking originates with people, ¹  it will come to nothing, ² 

They ¹  cried out with a loud voice, ²  “How long, ³  Sovereign Master, ⁴  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

Necho ¹  sent messengers to him, saying, “Why are you opposing me, O king of Judah? ²  I am not attacking you today, but the kingdom with which I am at war. ³  God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, or else he will destroy you.” ⁴ 

Joseph was no longer able to control himself before all his attendants, ¹  so he cried out, “Make everyone go out from my presence!” No one remained ²  with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

“This is to be a perpetual statute for you. ¹  In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves ²  and do no work of any kind, ³  both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides ⁴  in your midst,

But ¹  the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails ²  to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. ³  Because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin. ⁴ 

This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, ¹  “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?”

Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?”

“I have been inactive ¹  for a long time; I kept quiet and held back. Like a woman in labor I groan; I pant and gasp. ² 

Then the Lord spoke about these people. ¹  “They truly ²  love to go astray. They cannot keep from running away from me. ³  So I am not pleased with them. I will now call to mind ⁴  the wrongs they have done ⁵  and punish them for their sins.”

“‘I the Lord have spoken; judgment ¹  is coming and I will act! I will not relent, or show pity, or be sorry! ²  I will judge you ³  according to your conduct ⁴  and your deeds, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Then I ¹  said to them, “If it seems good to you, pay me my wages, but if not, forget it.” So they weighed out my payment – thirty pieces of silver. ² 

But ¹  he said to me, “Do not do this! ²  I am a fellow servant ³  with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey ⁴  the words of this book. Worship God!”

“When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, ¹  he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed ²  the traveler who had come to visit him. ³  Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked ⁴  it for the man who had come to visit him.”

refrains from wrongdoing, ¹  does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity; ²  he will surely live.