<p class="poetry">&#8220;Whoever is simple, let him turn in here,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">she says to those who lack understanding.<n id="1" />p>

Then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified, and I brought back the equipment<n id="1" /> of the temple of God, along with the grain offering and the incense.p>

So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking &#8220;Why is the temple of God neglected?&#8221; Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is the way<n id="1" /> of an adulterous<n id="2" /> woman:p> <p class="poetry">she eats and wipes her mouth<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and says, &#8220;I have not done wrong.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">I heard, but I did not understand. So I said, &#8220;Sir,<n id="1" /> what will happen after these things?&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When the evening shadows<n id="1" /> began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered<n id="2" /> the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned<n id="3" /> some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

Then she will reply to me, &#8220;Drink, and I&#8217;ll draw water for your camels too.&#8221; May that woman be the one whom the <sc>Lordsc> has chosen for my master&#8217;s son.&#8217;p>

and this water that causes the curse will go<n id="1" /> into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Then the woman must say, &#8220;Amen, amen.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

I said to you, &#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc> your God! Do not worship<n id="1" /> the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living!&#8221; But you have disobeyed me.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Then I said to them, &#8220;You are holy to the <sc>Lordsc>, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of your fathers.

I prayed,<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">&#8220;O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens.

<p class="bodytext">But I replied, &#8220;Should a man like me run away? Would someone like me flee to the temple in order to save his life?<n id="1" /> I will not go!&#8221;

So I registered a complaint with the nobles of Judah, saying to them, &#8220;What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?

I prayed to the <sc>LORDsc> my God, confessing in this way:p> <p class="bodytext">&#8220;O Lord,<n id="1" /> great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant<n id="2" /> with those who love him and keep his commandments,

He said to me, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid, you who are valued.<n id="1" /> Peace be to you! Be strong! Be really strong!&#8221; When he spoke to me, I was strengthened. I said, &#8220;Sir, you may speak now,<n id="2" /> for you have given me strength.&#8221;

I will say to a young woman, &#8216;Please lower your jar so I may drink.&#8217; May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, &#8216;Drink, and I&#8217;ll give your camels water too.&#8217;<n id="1" /> In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father&#8217;s household, &#8220;I will go up and tell Pharaoh,<n id="1" /> &#8216;My brothers and my father&#8217;s household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me.

But if the man does not want to marry his brother&#8217;s widow, then she<n id="1" /> must go to the elders at the town gate and say, &#8220;My husband&#8217;s brother refuses to preserve his brother&#8217;s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!&#8221;

then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face.<n id="1" /> She will then respond, &#8220;Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother&#8217;s family line!&#8221;<n id="2" />

I considered these things carefully<n id="1" /> and then registered a complaint with the wealthy<n id="2" /> and the officials. I said to them, &#8220;Each one of you is seizing the collateral<n id="3" /> from your own countrymen!&#8221;<n id="4" /> Because of them I called for<n id="5" /> a great public assembly.