Hezekiah was very wealthy and greatly respected. He made storehouses for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, and all his other valuable possessions. ¹ 

When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official ¹  heard all this, they were very displeased that someone had come to seek benefit for the Israelites.

“So today we are slaves! In the very land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and to enjoy ¹  its good things – we are slaves!

So they hanged Haman on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. The king’s rage then abated.

Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. ¹  He was angry ²  with Job for justifying ³  himself rather than God. ⁴ 

The king says, ¹  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ²  ‘You are my son! ³  This very day I have become your father!

Remember your people ¹  whom you acquired in ancient times, whom you rescued ²  so they could be your very own nation, ³  as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!

I said, “During the night I will remember the song I once sang; I will think very carefully.” I tried to make sense of what was happening. ¹ 

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants be avenged among the nations! ¹ 

Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. ¹  They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, ²  right to its very foundation!”

His mouth is very sweet; ¹  he is totally desirable. ²  This is my beloved! This is my companion, O maidens of Jerusalem!

and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. ¹ 

This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain ¹  – at the hill of Jerusalem.

‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father ¹  will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

You did not hear, you do not know, you were not told beforehand. ¹  For I know that you are very deceitful; ²  you were labeled ³  a rebel from birth.

Listen, ¹  your watchmen shout; in unison they shout for joy, for they see with their very own eyes ²  the Lord’s return to Zion.

For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. ¹  I warned them again and again, ²  ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day.

Then I said, ¹  “Lord, from the very beginning you have been seated on your glorious throne on high. You are the place where we can find refuge.

The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ¹  Do not carry any loads ²  in through ³  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

Cursed be the man who made my father very glad when he brought him the news that a baby boy had been born to him! ¹