Excessive ¹  speech ²  is not becoming for a fool; ³  how much less are lies ⁴  for a ruler! ⁵ 

However, the war was prolonged between the house of Saul and the house of David. David was becoming steadily stronger, while the house of Saul was becoming increasingly weaker.

And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other ¹  sons and daughters.

While ¹  Saul spoke to the priest, the panic in the Philistines’ camp was becoming greater and greater. So Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand!”

As the war continued between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was becoming more influential ¹  in the house of Saul.

So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately ¹  to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”

So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ¹  Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ²  wise?” ³  So I lamented to myself, ⁴  “The benefits of wisdom ⁵  are ultimately ⁶  meaningless!”

Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations ¹  and the countries around her. ²  Indeed, they ³  have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.

“‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ¹  became his.

I made Jerusalem ¹  and the cities of Judah, its kings and its officials drink it. ²  I did it so Judah would become a ruin. I did it so Judah, its kings, and its officials would become an object ³  of horror and of hissing scorn, an example used in curses. ⁴  Such is already becoming the case! ⁵