That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast?

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. (That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.")

That is why its name was called Babel -- because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?

Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Here is your wife! Take her and go!"

That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. (It is located between Kadesh and Bered.)

The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child when I am old?'

Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there." (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.)

Then in the dream God replied to him, "Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. That is why I have kept you from sinning against me and why I did not allow you to touch her.

That is why he named that place Beer Sheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

Laban said to him, "Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! Why are you standing out here when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?"

So Esau said to Jacob, "Feed me some of the red stuff -- yes, this red stuff -- because I'm starving!" (That is why he was also called Edom.)

So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac replied, "Because I thought someone might kill me to get her."

Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me? You hate me and sent me away from you."

So he named it Shibah; that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba to this day.

Stay there until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I'll send someone to bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What in the world have you done to me! Didn't I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked me?"

She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, "Now this time my husband will show me affection, because I have given birth to three sons for him." That is why he was named Levi.

She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, "This time I will praise the Lord." That is why she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.

Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer and given me a son." That is why she named him Dan.

Why did you run away secretly and deceive me? Why didn't you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps?

Now I understand that you have gone away because you longed desperately for your father's house. Yet why did you steal my gods?"

Laban said, "This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement today." That is why it was called Galeed.

Then Jacob asked, "Please tell me your name." "Why do you ask my name?" the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

That is why to this day the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because he struck the socket of Jacob's hip near the attached sinew.

So Esau said, "Let me leave some of my men with you." "Why do that?" Jacob replied. "My lord has already been kind enough to me."

But Jacob traveled to Succoth where he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was called Succoth.

So he asked Pharaoh's officials, who were with him in custody in his master's house, "Why do you look so sad today?"

When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why are you looking at each other?"

They said to one other, "Surely we're being punished because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress has come on us!"

Israel said, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had one more brother?"

They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to the servant who was over his household, "Pursue the men at once! When you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil?

They answered him, "Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!

Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your master's house?

When the money from the lands of Egypt and Canaan was used up, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us food! Why should we die before your very eyes because our money has run out?"

Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become Pharaoh's slaves. Give us seed that we may live and not die. Then the land will not become desolate."

But he did not purchase the land of the priests because the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh and they ate from their allotment that Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a very sad occasion for the Egyptians." That is why its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this and let the boys live?"

When he went out the next day, there were two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong, "Why are you attacking your fellow Hebrew?"

So when they came home to their father Reuel, he asked, "Why have you come home so early today?"

He said to his daughters, "So where is he? Why in the world did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat a meal with us."

So Moses thought, "I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?"

The king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to refrain from their work? Return to your labor!"

But you must require of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. That is why they are crying, 'Let us go sacrifice to our God.'

The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh's slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked, "Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past -- both yesterday and today?"

The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, "Why are you treating your servants this way?

But Pharaoh replied, "You are slackers! Slackers! That is why you are saying, 'Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.'

Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why did you ever send me?

But Moses said before the Lord, "Since I speak with difficulty, why should Pharaoh listen to me?"

When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. That is why I am sacrificing to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.'

The Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

Then they came to Marah, but they were not able to drink the waters of Marah, because they were bitter. (That is why its name was Marah.)

See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, that is why he is giving you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day."

So the people contended with Moses, and they said, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?"

But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, "Why in the world did you bring us up out of Egypt -- to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"

When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting by yourself, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?"

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Why should the Egyptians say, 'For evil he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger, and relent of this evil against your people.

"Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sanctuary? For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord.

And those men said to him, "We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord's offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?"

And Moses said to the Lord, "Why have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

but a whole month, until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, because you have despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, "Why did we ever come out of Egypt?"'"

With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?"

But Moses said, "Why are you now transgressing the commandment of the Lord? It will not succeed!

And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?"

But I have given to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the Israelites that are offered to the Lord as a raised offering. That is why I said to them that among the Israelites they are to have no inheritance."

Why have you brought up the Lord's community into this wilderness? So that we and our cattle should die here?

Why have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!"

And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we detest this worthless food."

This is why it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord, "Waheb in Suphah and the wadis, the Arnon

That is why those who speak in proverbs say, "Come to Heshbon, let it be built. Let the city of Sihon be established!

The angel of the Lord said to him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you because what you are doing is perverse before me.

Balak said to Balaam, "Did I not send again and again to you to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?"

Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among the relatives of our father."

Why do you frustrate the intent of the Israelites to cross over into the land which the Lord has given them?

Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die!

Then all the nations will ask, "Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?"

That is why the Lord's anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses written in this scroll.

The stones will be a reminder to you. When your children ask someday, 'Why are these stones important to you?'

This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt died on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt.

Joshua prayed, "O, Master, Lord! Why did you bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us?

The Lord responded to Joshua, "Get up! Why are you lying there face down?

Joshua said, "Why have you brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you today!" All Israel stoned him to death. (They also stoned and burned the others.)

Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, "Why did you trick us by saying, 'We live far away from you,' when you really live nearby?

The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, "Why have you assigned us only one tribal allotment? After all, we have many people, for until now the Lord has enabled us to increase in number."

"The entire community of the Lord says, 'Why have you disobeyed the God of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord.

but you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You should tear down the altars where they worship.' But you have disobeyed me. Why would you do such a thing?

This is why the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; he did not hand them over to Joshua.

Why do you remain among the sheepfolds, listening to the shepherds playing their pipes for their flocks? As for the clans of Reuben -- there was intense searching of heart.

Gilead stayed put beyond the Jordan River. As for Dan -- why did he seek temporary employment in the shipyards? Asher remained on the seacoast, he stayed by his harbors.

Through the window she looked; Sisera's mother cried out through the lattice: 'Why is his chariot so slow to return? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariot-horses delayed?'

Gideon said to him, "Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, 'Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian."

The Ephraimites said to him, "Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us when you went to fight the Midianites!" They argued vehemently with him.

The officials of Succoth said, "You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your army?"

He approached the men of Succoth and said, "Look what I have! Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, 'You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?'"

"Tell all the leaders of Shechem this: 'Why would you want to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal's sons, ruling over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.'"