but afterward seven years of famine and hunger will come, and [there will be such desperate need that] all the great abundance [of the previous years] will be forgotten in the land of Egypt [as if it never happened], and famine and destitution will ravage and destroy the land.

There I will provide for you and sustain you, so that you and your household and all that are yours may not become impoverished, for there are still five years of famine to come.”’

No! Go now, you who are men, [without your families] and serve the Lord, if that is what you want.” So Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

If the one who consecrates his house should wish to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of your valuation price to it, so that it may be his.

If he does not redeem the field, but has sold it to another man, it may no longer be redeemed.

If a man wishes to redeem any part of his tithe, he shall add one-fifth to it.

But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s [widowed] wife, then she shall go up to the gate [of the city, where court is held] to the elders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to continue his brother’s name in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother.’

Then the elders of his city will summon him and speak to him. And if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to marry her,’

you will therefore serve your enemies whom the Lord sends against you, in hunger and in thirst, in nakedness and in lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke [of slavery] on your neck until He has destroyed you.

and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her legs and toward the children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in your cities.

When she came to Othniel, she persuaded him to [allow her to] ask her father [Caleb] for a field. Then she [rode up to Caleb and] dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”

When you enter, you will come to people [feeling] safe and secure with a spacious land [widely extended on all sides]; for God has given it into your hands—a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

Then the old man said, “Peace be to you. Only leave all your needs to me; and do not spend the night in the open square.”

If the man said to him, “Certainly they are to burn (offer) the fat first, and then you may take as much as you want,” then the priest’s servant would say, “No! You shall give it to me now or I will take it by force.”

Then Saul said, “This is what you shall say to David: ‘The king wants no dowry except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul’s intention was to cause David’s death at the hand of the Philistines.

Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me that now you ask to go to your own country?” He replied, “Nothing; nevertheless you must let me go.”

“If one should want to contend or dispute with Him,
He could not answer Him once in a thousand times.

“But He is unique and unchangeable, and who can turn Him?
And what His soul desires, that He does.

“They are wet from the rain of the mountains
And cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

“They are gaunt with want and famine;
They gnaw the dry and barren ground by night in [the gloom of] waste and desolation.

If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
Or any poor person without covering,

He says to himself, “I will not be moved;
For throughout all generations I will not be in adversity [for nothing bad will happen to me].”

O [reverently] fear the Lord, you His saints (believers, holy ones);
For to those who fear Him there is no want.

So your poverty will come like an approaching prowler who walks [slowly, but surely]
And your need [will come] like an armed man [making you helpless].

The lips of the righteous feed and guide many,
But fools [who reject God and His wisdom] die for lack of understanding.

The merciful and generous man benefits his soul [for his behavior returns to bless him],
But the cruel and callous man does himself harm.

There is the one who [generously] scatters [abroad], and yet increases all the more;
And there is the one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want and poverty.

The [consistently] righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,
But the stomach of the wicked is in need [of bread].

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance and advantage,
But everyone who acts in haste comes surely to poverty.

He who oppresses or exploits the poor to get more for himself
Or who gives to the rich [to gain influence and favor], will only come to poverty.

Then your poverty will come as a robber,
And your want like an armed man.

He who has an evil and envious eye hurries to be rich
And does not know that poverty will come upon him.

He who gives to the poor will never want,
But he who shuts his eyes [from their need] will have many curses.

Let him drink and forget his poverty
And no longer remember his trouble.

Seek from the book of the Lord, and read:

Not one of these [creatures] will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.

Those killed with the sword
Are more fortunate than those killed with hunger;
For the hungry pine and ebb away,
For the lack of the fruits of the field.

“I also gave you cleanness of teeth [because of the famine] in all your cities
And lack of bread in all your places,
Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the Lord.

Woe (judgment is coming) to you who desire the day of the Lord [expecting rescue from the Gentiles]!
Why would you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness (judgment) and not light [and rescue and prosperity];