&#8220;When an ox, lamb, or goat is born, it must be under the care of<n id="1" /> its mother seven days, but from the eighth day onward it will be acceptable as an offering gift<n id="2" /> to the <sc>Lordsc>.

Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, &#8220;If no other<n id="1" /> man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband&#8217;s authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head<n id="1" /> at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire<n id="2" /> where the peace offering is burning.<n id="3" />

For they are entirely given<n id="1" /> to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of<n id="2" /> all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites.

Look, he<n id="1" /> has placed the land in front of you!<n id="2" /> Go up, take possession of it, just as the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged!&#8221;

When you look up<n id="1" /> to the sky<n id="2" /> and see the sun, moon, and stars &#8211; the whole heavenly creation<n id="3" /> &#8211; you must not be seduced to worship and serve them,<n id="4" /> for the <sc>Lordsc> your God has assigned<n id="5" /> them to all the people<n id="6" /> of the world.<n id="7" />

The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.p>

Joshua also set up twelve stones<n id="1" /> in the middle of the Jordan in the very place where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood. They remain there to this very day.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> told Joshua, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid and don&#8217;t panic!<n id="1" /> Take the whole army with you and march against Ai!<n id="2" /> See, I am handing over to you<n id="3" /> the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.

from Mount Halak on up to Seir, as far as Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and executed them.<n id="1" />

Adoni-Bezek said, &#8220;Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up<n id="1" /> food scraps<n id="2" /> under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them.&#8221;<n id="3" /> They brought him to Jerusalem,<n id="4" /> where he died.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s angelic messenger<n id="1" /> came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash&#8217;s son Gideon<n id="2" /> was threshing<n id="3" /> wheat in a winepress<n id="4" /> so he could hide it from the Midianites.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">Gideon went and prepared a young goat,<n id="1" /> along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food<n id="2" /> to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.

Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife saying, &#8220;May the <sc>Lordsc> raise up for you descendants<n id="1" /> from this woman to replace the one that she<n id="2" /> dedicated to the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221; Then they would go to their<n id="3" /> home.

<p class="bodytext">The priest replied to David, &#8220;I don&#8217;t have any ordinary bread at my disposal. Only holy bread is available, and then only if your soldiers<n id="1" /> have abstained from sexual relations with women.&#8221;<n id="2" />

David said to Ahimelech, &#8220;Is there no sword or spear here at your disposal? I don&#8217;t have my own sword or equipment in hand due to the urgency of the king&#8217;s instructions.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">But Saul found out the whereabouts of David and the men who were with him.<n id="1" /> Now Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree at an elevated location with his spear in hand and all his servants stationed around him.

Now David had been thinking,<n id="1" /> &#8220;In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn&#8217;t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

<p class="bodytext">Saul replied, &#8220;I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won&#8217;t harm you, for you treated my life with value<n id="1" /> this day. I have behaved foolishly and have made a very terrible mistake!&#8221;<n id="2" />

Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married<n id="1" /> Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab&#8217;s mother.)