Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, ¹  I will soon gather them together for judgment. ²  Then ³  they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king. ⁴ 

Their heart is slipping; soon they will be punished for their guilt. The Lord ¹  will break their altars; he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.

“Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, ¹  not just your garments!”

The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ¹  The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²  and then you will experience confusion. ³ 

So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob: ¹  “Jacob will no longer be ashamed; their faces will no longer show their embarrassment. ² 

so that ¹  you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed ²  you, but have always treated you well ³  before sending you away ⁴  in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” ⁵ 

So Leah became pregnant ¹  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ²  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. ³  Surely my husband will love me now.”

He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant ¹  Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

He replied, “You have suggested your own punishment! ¹  The one who has it will become my slave, ²  but the rest of ³  you will go free.” ⁴ 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, ¹  for compelled by my strong hand ²  he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” ³ 

For by now I could have stretched out ¹  my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed ²  from the earth.

I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down ¹  about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred ²  in Egypt from the day it was founded ³  until now.

Now listen to me, ¹  I will give you advice, and may God be with you: You be a representative for the people to God, ²  and you bring ³  their disputes ⁴  to God;

And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? ¹  Now you will see whether my word to you will come true ²  or not!”

“Look, a nation has come out ¹  of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Come now and put a curse on them for me; perhaps I will be able to defeat them ²  and drive them out.” ³ 

And Balaam said to the donkey, “You have made me look stupid; I wish ¹  there were a sword in my hand, for I would kill you right now.”

The donkey saw me and turned from me these three times. If ¹  she had not turned from me, I would have killed you but saved her alive.”

for you have not yet come to the final stop ¹  and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you.

“See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, ¹  “and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist ²  my power.

Today I am still as strong as when Moses sent me out. I can fight and go about my daily activities with the same energy I had then. ¹