The Lord said to him, “Go, get down, and come up, and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the Lord, lest he break through against them.”

“If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, ¹  but there is no serious injury, he will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides. ² 

“‘When a person sins ¹  in that he hears a public curse against one who fails to testify ²  and he is a witness (he either saw or knew what had happened ³ ) and he does not make it known, ⁴  then he will bear his punishment for iniquity. ⁵ 

He, ¹  the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you.

Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it.

Or who among you ¹  has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.”

When you make a vow to the Lord your God you must not delay in fulfilling it, for otherwise he ¹  will surely ²  hold you accountable as a sinner. ³ 

But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster. 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!’

Naomi then said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “It is good, my daughter, that you should go out to work with his female servants. ¹  That way you will not be harmed, which could happen in another field.” ² 

Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve), ¹  there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.” ² 

Elijah ¹  replied, “That’s a difficult request! ²  If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.”

Give sincere homage! ¹  Otherwise he ²  will be angry, ³  and you will die because of your behavior, ⁴  when his anger quickly ignites. ⁵  How blessed ⁶  are all who take shelter in him! ⁷ 

You must no longer say that the Lord’s message is burdensome. ¹  For what is ‘burdensome’ ²  really pertains to what a person himself says. ³  You are misrepresenting ⁴  the words of our God, the living God, the Lord who rules over all. ⁵ 

One of their own people will be their leader. Their ruler will come from their own number. ¹  I will invite him to approach me, and he will do so. ²  For no one would dare approach me on his own. ³  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴ 

“Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, ¹  O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent ²  and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity. ³ 

Seek the Lord so you can live! Otherwise he will break out ¹  like fire against Joseph’s ²  family; ³  the fire ⁴  will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ⁵ 

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate ¹  his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, ²  he cannot be my disciple.

“But be on your guard ¹  so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day close down upon you suddenly like a trap. ² 

Yet ¹  you do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, ²  I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey ³  his teaching. ⁴