I will not even consider doing what is dishonest. ¹  I hate doing evil; ²  I will have no part of it. ³ 

ד (Dalet) The infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, ¹  but no one gives them even a morsel. ² 

For,’ I say, ¹  ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah ²  tightly ³  to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. ⁴  But they would not obey me.

That is why ¹  a man leaves ²  his father and mother and unites with ³  his wife, and they become a new family. ⁴ 

So he took his relatives ¹  with him and pursued Jacob ²  for seven days. ³  He caught up with ⁴  him in the hill country of Gilead.

In this way the inheritance of the Israelites will not be transferred ¹  from tribe to tribe. But every one of the Israelites must retain the ancestral heritage.

No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe. But every one of the tribes of the Israelites must retain its inheritance.”

You must follow the Lord your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him.

The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases ¹  until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess.

But if you ever turn away and make alliances with ¹  these nations that remain near you, ²  and intermarry with them and establish friendly relations with them, ³ 

After they had gone a good distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors ¹  gathered together and caught up with the Danites.

They retreated before the Israelites, taking the road to the wilderness. But the battle overtook ¹  them as men from the surrounding cities struck them down. ² 

So Ruth ¹  worked beside ²  Boaz’s female servants, gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest. ³  After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law. ⁴ 

When all the Israelites who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, they too pursued them in battle.

The Philistines stayed right on the heels ¹  of Saul and his sons. They ²  struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

The young man who was telling him this ¹  said, “I just happened to be on Mount Gilboa and came across Saul leaning on his spear for support. The chariots and leaders of the horsemen were in hot pursuit of him.

So all the men of Israel deserted ¹  David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stuck by their king all the way from the Jordan River ²  to Jerusalem. ³ 

Yet he persisted in ¹  the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin; he did not turn from them. ² 

The Philistines stayed right on the heels of ¹  Saul and his sons. They ²  struck down Saul’s ³  sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.

May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, and do not give Jerusalem priority over whatever gives me the most joy. ¹