Psalm 12:8
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8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.(A)
Psalm 55:10-11
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10 Day and night they go around it
on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
11 ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
do not depart from its marketplace.(A)
Mark 14:63-65
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63 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses?(A) 64 You have heard his blasphemy! What is your decision?” All of them condemned him as deserving death.(B) 65 Some began to spit on him, to blindfold him, and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” The guards also took him and beat him.(C)
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Micah 6:16
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16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri[a]
and all the works of the house of Ahab,
and you have followed their counsels.
Therefore I will make you a desolation and your[b] inhabitants an object of hissing,
so you shall bear the scorn of my people.(A)
Hosea 5:11
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11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
because he was determined to go after vanity.[a]
Footnotes
- 5.11 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
Proverbs 29:12
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12 If a ruler listens to falsehood,
all his officials will be wicked.
Job 30:8
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8 A senseless, disreputable brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
Esther 3:6-15
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6 But he thought it beneath him to kill[a] only Mordecai. So, having been told who Mordecai’s people were, Haman plotted to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.(A)
7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur—which means “the lot”—before Haman for the day and for the month, and the lot fell on the thirteenth day of[b] the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.(B) 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them.(C) 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued for their destruction, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, so that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.(D) 11 The king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, and the people as well, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
12 Then the king’s secretaries were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language; it was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s ring.(E) 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, giving orders to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, children and women, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.(F) 14 A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation, calling on all the peoples to be ready for that day.(G) 15 The couriers went quickly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.(H)
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Daniel 11:21
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21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person on whom royal majesty had not been conferred; he shall come in suddenly and seize the kingdom through intrigue.(A)
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Isaiah 32:4-6
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4 The minds of the rash will have good judgment,
and the tongues of stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.(A)
5 A fool will no longer be called noble
nor a villain said to be honorable.(B)
6 For fools speak folly,
and their minds plot iniquity:
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.(C)
1 Samuel 18:17-18
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David Marries Michal
17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab; I will give her to you as a wife; only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “I will not raise a hand against him; let the Philistines deal with him.”(A) 18 David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my kinsfolk, my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”(B)
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Judges 9:18-57
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18 but you have risen up against my father’s house this day and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his slave woman, king over the lords of Shechem, because he is your kinsman(A)— 19 if, I say, you have acted in good faith and honor with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you,(B) 20 but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the lords of Shechem and Beth-millo, and let fire come out from the lords of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” 21 Then Jotham ran away and fled, going to Beer, where he remained for fear of his brother Abimelech.
The Downfall of Abimelech
22 Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. 23 But God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem, and the lords of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.(C) 24 This happened so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be avenged[a] and their blood be laid on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.(D) 25 So the lords of Shechem set ambushes against him on the mountaintops. They robbed all who passed by them along that way, and it was reported to Abimelech.
26 When Gaal son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his kinsfolk, the lords of Shechem put confidence in him. 27 They went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards, trod them, and celebrated. Then they went into the temple of their god, ate and drank, and ridiculed Abimelech.(E) 28 Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Did not the son of Jerubbaal and Zebul his officer serve the men of Hamor father of Shechem? Why then should we serve him?(F) 29 If only this people were under my command! Then I would remove Abimelech; I would say[b] to him, ‘Increase your army and come out.’ ”(G)
30 When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. 31 He sent messengers to Abimelech at Arumah,[c] saying, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his kinsfolk have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up[d] the city against you. 32 Now therefore, go by night, you and the troops who are with you, and lie in wait in the fields. 33 Then early in the morning, as soon as the sun rises, get up and rush on the city, and when he and the troops who are with him come out against you, you may deal with them as best you can.”(H)
34 So Abimelech and all the troops with him got up by night and lay in wait against Shechem in four companies. 35 When Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, Abimelech and the troops with him rose from the ambush. 36 And when Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountaintops!” And Zebul said to him, “The shadows on the mountains look like people to you.” 37 Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from Tabbur-erez, and one company is coming from the direction of Elon-meonenim.”[e](I) 38 Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your boast[f] now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the troops you made light of? Go out now and fight with them.”(J) 39 So Gaal went out at the head of the lords of Shechem and fought with Abimelech.(K) 40 Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him. Many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate. 41 So Abimelech resided at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his kinsfolk, so that they could not live on at Shechem.
42 On the following day the people went out into the fields. When Abimelech was told, 43 he took his troops and divided them into three companies and lay in wait in the fields. When he looked and saw the people coming out of the city, he rose against them and killed them. 44 Abimelech and the company that was[g] with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed on all who were in the fields and killed them. 45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he took the city and killed the people who were in it, and he razed the city and sowed it with salt.(L)
46 When all the lords of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the temple of El-berith.(M) 47 Abimelech was told that all the lords of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together. 48 So Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the troops who were with him. Abimelech took an ax in his hand, cut down a bundle of brushwood, and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the troops with him, “What you have seen me do, do quickly, as I have done.”(N) 49 So every one of the troops cut down a bundle and following Abimelech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.
50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and took it.(O) 51 But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the lords of the city fled to it and shut themselves in, and they went to the roof of the tower. 52 Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and came near to the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire. 53 But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.(P) 54 Immediately he called to the young man who carried his armor and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, so people will not say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” So the young man thrust him through, and he died. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home. 56 Thus God repaid Abimelech for the crime he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers;(Q) 57 and God also made all the wickedness of the people of Shechem fall back on their heads, and on them came the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal.(R)
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