The next morning ¹  Jesus ²  departed and went to a deserted place. Yet ³  the crowds were seeking him, and they came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them.

From this point on, Pilate tried ¹  to release him. But the Jewish leaders ²  shouted out, ³  “If you release this man, ⁴  you are no friend of Caesar! ⁵  Everyone who claims to be a king ⁶  opposes Caesar!”

But some itinerant ¹  Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name ²  of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by ³  evil spirits, saying, “I sternly warn ⁴  you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

Paul replied, ¹  “I am standing before Caesar’s ²  judgment seat, ³  where I should be tried. ⁴  I have done nothing wrong ⁵  to the Jews, as you also know very well. ⁶ 

Because I was at a loss ¹  how I could investigate these matters, ²  I asked if he were willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried ³  there on these charges. ⁴ 

I punished ¹  them often in all the synagogues ²  and tried to force ³  them to blaspheme. Because I was so furiously enraged ⁴  at them, I went to persecute ⁵  them even in foreign cities.

Then when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and were lowering the ship’s boat into the sea, pretending ¹  that they were going to put out anchors from the bow,

Or has God ¹  ever before tried to deliver ²  a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, ³  signs, wonders, war, strength, power, ⁴  and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

As for that prophet or dreamer, ¹  he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. ² 

David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them. ¹  David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them.

So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to ¹  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

“Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, ¹  who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim. ²  He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised ³  him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down ⁴  with the sword.’

Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man ¹  at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate. ²  This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him. ³ 

The enemy broke through the city walls, ¹  and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. ²  They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ³  (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ⁴ 

When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his soldiers saw them, they tried to escape. They departed from the city during the night. They took a path through the king’s garden and passed out through the gate between the two walls. ¹  Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

Foreigners living there will say, ¹  ‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed. Let’s leave Babylonia ²  and each go back to his own country. For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions. It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.’ ³ 

They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ¹  (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ¹  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ²  from your reliable moral standards. ³ 

Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I would hunt them down and take them from there. Even if they tried to hide from me ¹  at the bottom of the sea, from there ²  I would command the Sea Serpent ³  to bite them.

He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought ¹  would happen ²  when I was in my own country. ³  This is what I tried to prevent ⁴  by attempting to escape to Tarshish! ⁵  – because I knew ⁶  that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger ⁷  and abounding ⁸  in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. ⁹