“Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! ¹  Let the nations find renewed strength! Let them approach and then speak; let us come together for debate! ² 

For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with sin; your lips speak lies, your tongue utters malicious words.

I answered, “Oh, Lord God, ¹  I really ²  do not know how to speak well enough for that, ³  for I am too young.” ⁴ 

He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you ¹  – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully.

Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, ¹  and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”

The hand ¹  of the Lord rested on me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the valley, ²  and I will speak with you there.”

“Son of man, turn toward ¹  the south, ²  and speak out against the south. ³  Prophesy against the open scrub ⁴  land of the Negev,

Then I said, “O sovereign Lord! They are saying of me, ‘Does he not simply speak in eloquent figures of speech?’”

However, in the future I will allure her; ¹  I will lead ²  her back into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

These are the things you must do: Speak the truth, each of you, to one another. Practice true and righteous judgment in your courts. ¹ 

You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory ¹  and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us ²  that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living.

I have now come to speak with my lord the king about this matter, because the people have made me fearful. ¹  But your servant said, ‘I will speak to the king! Perhaps the king will do what his female servant ²  asks.

Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, ¹  for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect ²  in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

Then Abraham ¹  said, “May the Lord not be angry ²  so that I may speak! ³  What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Abraham ¹  said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

Finally Abraham ¹  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Then Judah approached him and said, “My lord, please allow your servant to speak a word with you. ¹  Please do not get angry with your servant, ²  for you are just like Pharaoh. ³ 

“So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth ¹  and with his mouth, ²  and I will teach you both ³  what you must do. ⁴ 

I will meet with you there, ¹  and ²  from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites.