“Why do you try to refute me? All of you have rebelled against me,” says the Lord.

But Joash said to all those who confronted him, “Must you fight Baal’s battles? Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning! If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.”

His servants dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it Sitnah.

The people contended with Moses, saying, “If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!

These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained among them.

So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking “Why is the temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions.

If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.

I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; tell me why you are contending with me.’

Would he contend with me with great power? No, he would only pay attention to me.

Vindicate me, O God! Fight for me against an ungodly nation! Deliver me from deceitful and evil men!

Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! Remember how fools insult you all day long!

Do not accuse anyone without legitimate cause, if he has not treated you wrongly.

Do not go out hastily to litigation, or what will you do afterward when your neighbor puts you to shame?

Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow!

The one who vindicates me is close by. Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other! Who is my accuser? Let him challenge me!

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?”

the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac named the well Esek because they argued with him about it.

Jacob became angry and argued with Laban. “What did I do wrong?” he demanded of Laban. “What sin of mine prompted you to chase after me in hot pursuit?

“If men fight, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist and he does not die, but must remain in bed,

Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one, whose authority you challenged at Massah, and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah.