He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer.

“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.

You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.

Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband's authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse.

while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,

Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.

but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God.

And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.

Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

David said to him, “How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?”

When you were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it,

I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.

You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

Revive Us Again

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Longing for Her Beloved

Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother's breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.

The Lord Is My Strength and My Song

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

Israel's Remnant Taunts Babylon

When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,

The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’

And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling,

You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel.

Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience

Thus says the Lord: “Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

The Lord's Comfort for Zion

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.

For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”

You were wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say, “It is hopeless”; you found new life for your strength, and so you were not faint.

You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

How much you go about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.

I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die.

I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found and caught, because you opposed the Lord.

And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.

No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.

“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.

Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.

And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied.

You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.

Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.

Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.

On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, you shall not be cleansed anymore till I have satisfied my fury upon you.

The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas.

“Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared.

You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.

You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.

In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

And the man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”

and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.”

“I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.

On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.

Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

Lament over Jerusalem

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

You Are of Your Father the Devil

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,

They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,

that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.

You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

Paul's Concern for the Galatians

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

By Grace Through Faith

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

God's Provision

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—

In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,

Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,