each one is so close to the next ¹  that no air can come between them.

Then a breath of air ¹  passes ²  by my face; it makes ³  the hair of my flesh stand up.

¹ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot ²  from a furnace, and have Moses throw it ³  into the air while Pharaoh is watching. ⁴ 

Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. ¹  When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air. ² 

God blessed ¹  them and said ²  to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! ³  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” ⁴ 

So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam ¹  no companion who corresponded to him was found. ² 

So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, Moses threw it into the air, and it caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals.

But when they gazed intently ¹  from a distance but did not recognize ²  him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. ³ 

Then God said, “Let us make ¹  humankind ²  in our image, after our likeness, ³  so they may rule ⁴  over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, ⁵  and over all the creatures that move ⁶  on the earth.”

And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give ¹  every green plant for food.” It was so.

The Lord God formed ¹  out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would ²  name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, ¹  including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”

Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them, ¹  she did not allow the birds of the air to feed ²  on them by day, nor the wild animals ³  by night.

“At that time ¹  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish ²  the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare ³  – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.” ⁴