As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.

(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.)

My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.

Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious.

And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.

Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand.

For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.

And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.

Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.

And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.

Aaron therefore went unto the altar, and slew the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.

Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.

And the sons of Carmi; Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the thing accursed.

He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.

Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.

O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.

The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.

That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.

Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord.

That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.

Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.

And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.

Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh–gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Beth–shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.

And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.

My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.

And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.

Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord’s people to transgress.

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.

And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.

For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:

When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him;

And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:

Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.

And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.

For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

One kid of the goats for a sin offering:

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.

And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;

And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.

And said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel?

And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Beth–lehem.

These are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

A good man obtaineth favour of the Lord: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.

Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.

I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.

Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!

And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.

Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;

This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing.

And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar:

And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel,

The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!

And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

Then said I, Ah, Lord God! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.

Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.

And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;

That the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren.

Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.

Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.

If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:

Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly.

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and gat them away through the plain all night.

In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.

And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel.

And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.

Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.

And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.

Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord’s anointed.

Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;

They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.

And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.

This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them.

And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.

Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:

Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun.

And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?

And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?

He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.

And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.

When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.

And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.

So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king’s face.

And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.

Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul’s daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.

Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.

The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.

But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.

For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.

Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.

And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:

And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:

And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned.