Now therefore reflect carefully on the recent past,<n id="1" /> before one stone was laid on another in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple.<n id="2" />

But now plead for God&#8217;s favor<n id="1" /> that he might be gracious to us.<n id="2" /> &#8220;With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?&#8221; asks the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.p>

So now, look, the <sc>Lordsc> has preserved my life, just as he promised, these past forty-five years since the <sc>Lordsc> spoke these words to Moses, during which Israel traveled through the wilderness. Now look, I am today eighty-five years old.

And the <sc>Lordsc> God said, &#8220;Now<n id="1" /> that the man has become like one of us,<n id="2" /> knowing<n id="3" /> good and evil, he must not be allowed<n id="4" /> to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.&#8221;

And the <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8220;If as one people all sharing a common language<n id="1" /> they have begun to do this, then<n id="2" /> nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.<n id="3" />

But now give back the man&#8217;s wife. Indeed<n id="1" /> he is a prophet<n id="2" /> and he will pray for you; thus you will live.<n id="3" /> But if you don&#8217;t give her back,<n id="4" /> know that you will surely die<n id="5" /> along with all who belong to you.&#8221;p>

Now swear to me right here in God&#8217;s name<n id="1" /> that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants.<n id="2" /> Show me, and the land<n id="3" /> where you are staying,<n id="4" /> the same loyalty<n id="5" /> that I have shown you.&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

Now, if you will show faithful love to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me as well, so that I may go on my way.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

I am not worthy of all the faithful love<n id="1" /> you have shown<n id="2" /> your servant. With only my walking stick<n id="3" /> I crossed the Jordan,<n id="4" /> but now I have become two camps.

Then they said to Pharaoh, &#8220;We have come to live as temporary residents<n id="1" /> in the land. There<n id="2" /> is no pasture for your servants&#8217; flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine.<n id="1" /> Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

&#8216;My father made me swear an oath. He said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I am about to die. Bury me<n id="2" /> in my tomb that I dug for myself there in the land of Canaan.&#8221; Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.&#8217;&#8221;

&#8216;Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.&#8217; Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.&#8221; When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The elders<n id="1" /> will listen<n id="2" /> to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc>, the God of the Hebrews, has met<n id="3" /> with us. So now, let us go<n id="4" /> three days&#8217; journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice<n id="5" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> our God.&#8217;

So now, send instructions<n id="1" /> to gather<n id="2" /> your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person<n id="3" /> or animal caught<n id="4" /> in the field and not brought into the house &#8211; the hail will come down on them, and they will die!&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>

For<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> had said to Moses, &#8220;Tell the Israelites, &#8216;You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment,<n id="2" /> I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments,<n id="3" /> that I may know<n id="4" /> what I should do to you.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="5" />

Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me<n id="1" /> your way, that I may know you,<n id="2" /> that I may continue to find<n id="3" /> favor in your sight. And see<n id="4" /> that this nation is your people.&#8221;p>

So<n id="1" /> now, please come and curse this nation<n id="2" /> for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them<n id="3" /> and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed,<n id="4" /> and whoever you curse is cursed.&#8221;p>

Balaam said to the angel of the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road.<n id="1" /> So now, if it is evil in your sight,<n id="2" /> I will go back home.&#8221;<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances<n id="1" /> I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of your ancestors,<n id="2" /> is giving you.