[In fact] the waters became fifteen cubits higher [than the highest ground], and the mountains were covered.

The Lord graciously remembered and visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised.

So he went to his father and said, “My father.” And Isaac said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

And the Angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’

There Judah saw a daughter of Shua, a Canaanite, and he took her [as his wife] and lived with her.

And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” And he said, “Here I am.”

When the Lord saw that he turned away [from the flock] to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

If her master chooses her [as a wife] for his son, he shall act toward her as if she were legally his daughter.

then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring as an offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it [the symbols of favor and joy], because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a memorial grain offering, a reminder of [the consequences of] wickedness.

Aaron the priest went up on Mount Hor at the command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month.

and you see a beautiful woman among the captives, and desire her and would take her as your wife,

But it shall be that if you have no delight and take no pleasure in her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes. You certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not deal with her as a slave or mistreat her, because you have humbled her [by forced marriage].

and charges her [without cause] with shameful behavior and publicly defames her, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she loses his favor because he has found something indecent or unacceptable about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house,

and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife,

“If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall be intimate with her after taking her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

Then [finally] he told her everything that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never been used on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any [other] man.”

Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.”

The servant replied again to Saul, “Here in my hand I have a quarter of a shekel of silver; I will give that to the man of God, and he will advise us as to [where we should go on] our journey [to find the donkeys].”

And Michal took the household idol and laid it on the bed, put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothes.

When the messengers came in, there was the household idol on the bed with a quilt of goats’ hair at its head.

For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, the sound of a great army. They had said to one another, “The king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come [and fight] against us.”

When the king asked the woman, she told him [everything]. So the king appointed for her a certain high official, saying, “Restore everything that was hers, including all the produce of the field since the day that she left the land until now.”

Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

It shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the Philistine army.”

He was the guardian of Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. The young woman was beautiful of form and face; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her in as his own daughter.

Now as for Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her in as his [own] daughter, when her turn came to go in to the king, she requested nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch [and attendant] who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the sight of all who saw her.

“Whoever is naive or inexperienced, let him turn in here!”
As for him who lacks understanding, she says,

“If she is a wall (discreet, womanly),
We will build on her a turret (dowry) of silver;
But if she is a door (bold, flirtatious),
We will enclose her with planks of cedar.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

“For He says,
‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
Here a little, there a little.’”

Therefore the word of the Lord to them will be [merely monotonous repetitions]:
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Rule upon rule, rule upon rule,
Here a little, there a little.”
That they may go and stumble backward, and be broken, ensnared, and taken captive.

Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Listen carefully, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

“Those who lavish gold from the bag
And weigh out silver on the scales
Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
They bow down, indeed they worship it.

The Lord God has given Me [His Servant] the tongue of disciples [as One who is taught],
That I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple [as One who is taught].

And give Him no rest [from your prayers] until He establishes Jerusalem
And makes her a praise on the earth.

And I saw [that even though Judah knew] that for all the acts of adultery (idolatry) of faithless Israel, I [the Lord] had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid; but she went and was a prostitute also [following after idols].

“[They shout], ‘Prepare for war against her;
Arise, let us [take her by surprise and] attack her at noon.
But alas, the daylight pales,
The evening shadows grow long.

“My inheritance has become to Me
Like a lion in the forest;
She has raised her voice and roared against Me;
So I have come to [treat her as if I] hate her.

But rather we will certainly perform every word of the vows we have made: to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven (Ishtar) and to pour out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves and our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for [then] we had plenty of food and were prosperous and saw no misfortune.

“Raise the battle cry against her on every side!
She has given her hand [in agreement] and has surrendered; her pillars have fallen,
Her walls have been torn down.
For this is the vengeance of the Lord:
Take vengeance on her;
As she has done [to others], do to her.

Flee out of Babylon,
Let every one of you save his life!
Do not be destroyed in her punishment,
For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;
He is going to pay her what she has earned.

before your [own] wickedness was uncovered. Now you have become an object of reproach and a byword for the daughters of Aram and of Edom and all who are around her, and for the daughters of the Philistines—those surrounding you who despise you.

So she flaunted her acts of prostitution and exposed her nakedness; then I became disgusted with her [and turned away], as I had become disgusted with her sister [and turned away].

But they committed adultery with her as they would with a prostitute. So they went in to Oholah (Israel) and to Oholibah (Judah), the lewd women.

“In Tehaphnehes the day will be dark
When I break the yoke bars and dominion of Egypt there.
Then the pride of her power will come to an end;
A cloud [of disasters] will cover her,
And her daughters will go into captivity.

They have made a bed for her among the slain with all her hordes. Her graves are around it; they are all uncircumcised (barbaric, boorish, crude), slain by the sword (for their terror had been spread in the land of the living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; they were laid among the slain.

Or I will strip her naked
And expose her as on the day she was born,
And make her like a wilderness
And make her like a parched land
And slay her with thirst.

“Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
And make the Valley of Achor a door of hope and expectation [anticipating the time when I will restore My favor on her].
And she will sing there and respond as in the days of her youth
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her [protecting her from enemies], and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

but he kept her a virgin until she had given birth to a Son [her firstborn child]; and he named Him Jesus (The Lord is salvation).

“It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife is to give her a certificate of divorce’;

But He did not say a word in answer to her. And His disciples came and asked Him [repeatedly], “Send her away, because she keeps shouting out after us.”

The man replied, “Well, this is astonishing! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes!

Now in Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he answered, “Here I am, Lord.”

Now send men to Joppa and have them call for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter [and invite him here];

And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, [and to progressively understand His plan with clarity and power] and to see the Righteous One [Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and to hear a message from His [own] mouth.

The husband must fulfill his [marital] duty to his wife [with good will and kindness], and likewise the wife to her husband.

Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving];