‘How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, and your dwelling places, O Israel!

You are good and you do good. Teach me your statutes!

Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, to the morally upright!

I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them firmly in the land.’

Walk just as he has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land you are going to possess.

However, if the servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,

The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me.

The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me.

Esther replied, “If the king is so inclined, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine; the fragrance of your perfume is better than any spice!

Realize that to them you are like a sensual song, a beautiful voice and skilled musician. They hear your words, but they do not obey them.

I will increase the number of people and animals on you; they will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as in ancient times, and will do more good for you than at the beginning of your history. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, for life was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at the other times to seek for omens, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

“Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, if you have properly repaid him –

Let our lord instruct his servants who are here before you to look for a man who knows how to play the lyre. Then whenever the evil spirit from God comes upon you, he can play the lyre and you will feel better.”

So whenever the spirit from God would come upon Saul, David would take his lyre and play it. This would bring relief to Saul and make him feel better. Then the evil spirit would leave him alone.

The Lord said to Jehu, “You have done well. You have accomplished my will and carried out my wishes with regard to Ahab’s dynasty. Therefore four generations of your descendants will rule over Israel.”

David said to the whole Israelite assembly, “If you so desire and the Lord our God approves, let’s spread the word to our brothers who remain in all the regions of Israel, and to the priests and Levites in their cities, so they may join us.

and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.”