Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, I will soon gather them together for judgment. Then they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king.

Their heart is slipping; soon they will be punished for their guilt. The Lord will break their altars; he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.

“Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your garments!”

The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, and then you will experience confusion.

So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob: “Jacob will no longer be ashamed; their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.

so that you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed you, but have always treated you well before sending you away in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.”

So Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. Surely my husband will love me now.”

He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

He replied, “You have suggested your own punishment! The one who has it will become my slave, but the rest of you will go free.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for compelled by my strong hand he will release them, and by my strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth.

I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

Now listen to me, I will give you advice, and may God be with you: You be a representative for the people to God, and you bring their disputes to God;

And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you will see whether my word to you will come true or not!”

“Look, a nation has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Come now and put a curse on them for me; perhaps I will be able to defeat them and drive them out.”

And Balaam said to the donkey, “You have made me look stupid; I wish there were a sword in my hand, for I would kill you right now.”

The donkey saw me and turned from me these three times. If she had not turned from me, I would have killed you but saved her alive.”

for you have not yet come to the final stop and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you.

“See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, “and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist my power.

Today I am still as strong as when Moses sent me out. I can fight and go about my daily activities with the same energy I had then.