“Take note, son of man, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is for distant days; he is prophesying about the far future.’

“‘What you plan ¹  will never happen. You say, “We will be ²  like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.” ³ 

Then I said, “O sovereign Lord! They are saying of me, ‘Does he not simply speak in eloquent figures of speech?’”

Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ¹  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, “You are a devourer of men, and bereave your nation of children,”

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? ¹  For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’”

“Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.’ ¹ 

נ (Nun) Your word ¹  is a lamp to walk by, and a light to illumine my path. ² 

And if it seems advisable that I should go also, they will go with me.

Laban replied, “I’d rather give her to you than to another man. ¹  Stay with me.”

Now I’d like to ask you for just one thing. Please don’t refuse me.” ¹  She said, “Go ahead and ask.” ² 

The king then said to the prophet, “Come home with me and have something to eat. I’d like to give a present.”

Look, a time ¹  is coming – and has come – when you will be scattered, each one to his own home, ²  and I will be left alone. ³  Yet ⁴  I am not alone, because my Father ⁵  is with me.

I left here full, ¹  but the Lord has caused me to return empty-handed. ²  Why do you call me ‘Naomi,’ seeing that ³  the Lord has opposed me, ⁴  and the Sovereign One ⁵  has caused me to suffer?” ⁶ 

Ruth ¹  knelt before him with her forehead to the ground ²  and said to him, “Why are you so kind ³  and so attentive to me, ⁴  even though ⁵  I am a foreigner?” ⁶ 

Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, ¹  cried out, ²  “You both know me and know where I come from! ³  And I have not come on my own initiative, ⁴  but the one who sent me ⁵  is true. You do not know him, ⁶