I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel, and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar. Every bird will live under it; Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.

Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with ¹  a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. ²  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection ³  of my roof.” ⁴ 

You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it ¹  and yet dark with a thick cloud. ² 

Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next. ¹ 

the territory of Byblos ¹  and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath. ² 

For wisdom provides ¹  protection, ²  just as ³  money provides protection. ⁴  But the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves the life ⁵  of its owner.

For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. Though the breath of tyrants ¹  is like a winter rainstorm, ² 

You must ¹  actively help the hungry and feed the oppressed. ²  Then your light will dispel the darkness, ³  and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. ⁴ 

For this reason deliverance ¹  is far from us ²  and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, ³  but see only darkness; ⁴  we wait for ⁵  a bright light, ⁶  but live ⁷  in deep darkness. ⁸ 

Consider Assyria, ¹  a cedar in Lebanon, ²  with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds.

Jonah left the city and sat down east ¹  of it. ²  He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city. ³ 

when it is sown, it grows up, ¹  becomes the greatest of all garden plants, and grows large branches so that the wild birds ²  can nest in its shade.” ³ 

Then ¹  a cloud ²  overshadowed them, ³  and a voice came from the cloud, “This is my one dear Son. ⁴  Listen to him!” ⁵ 

Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed close to ¹  Philip constantly, and when he saw the signs and great miracles that were occurring, he was amazed. ² 

I have written these things ¹  to you who believe ²  in the name of the Son of God so that ³  you may know that you have eternal life.

To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver ¹  to your ‘brother.’ ²  This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” ³ 

from Mount Halak on up to Seir, as far as Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and executed them. ¹ 

The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to choose ¹  me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches! ²  Otherwise ³  may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

Now a prophet visited King Ahab of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Do you see this huge army? ¹  Look, I am going to hand it over to you this very day. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman ¹  came and stood before him. He said, “For sure ²  I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.”