put fire in them, and set incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!”

Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!

Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls for yourselves and go first, for you are the majority. Invoke the name of your god, but do not light a fire.” ¹ 

It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you – for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples.

When he ¹  blesses you, if the ²  place where he chooses to locate his name is distant,

So I will choose severe punishment ¹  for them; I will bring on them what they dread, because I called, and no one responded, I spoke and they did not listen. They did evil before me; ²  they chose to do what displeases me.”

Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Pick one of these:

you must select without fail ¹  a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens ²  you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. ³ 

If you have no desire ¹  to worship ²  the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, ³  whether it be the gods whom your ancestors ⁴  worshiped ⁵  beyond the Euphrates, ⁶  or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family ⁷  will worship ⁸  the Lord!”

So then, ¹  God ²  has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. ³ 

Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing ¹  everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ²  and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. ³ 

Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he ¹  chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites ²  in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. ³ 

You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he ¹  chooses, for he ²  will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; ³  so you will indeed rejoice!

Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Temporary Shelters; and they must not appear before him ¹  empty-handed.

If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹  legal claim, ²  or assault ³  – matters of controversy in your villages ⁴  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁵ 

Goliath ¹  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ²  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ³  for yourselves a man so he may come down ⁴  to me!

Let them bring us two bulls. Let them choose one of the bulls for themselves, cut it up into pieces, and place it on the wood. But they must not set it on fire. I will do the same to the other bull and place it on the wood. But I will not set it on fire.

He picked out for us a special land ¹  to be a source of pride for ²  Jacob, ³  whom he loves. ⁴  (Selah)

Take what is yours and go. I ¹  want to give to this last man ²  the same as I gave to you.

Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person ¹  to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.