תְּחִלָּה

From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,

When they had devoured them, however, no one could tell that they had done so; their appearance was as ugly as it had been before. Then I awoke.

But the brothers were frightened that they had been taken to Joseph’s house. “We have been brought here because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time,” they said. “They intend to overpower us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”

“Please, sir,” they said, “we really did come down here the first time to buy food.

After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”

The Israelites set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, “Who of us shall go up first to fight against the Benjamites?” “Judah will be first,” the LORD replied.

So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Surely by now he is hiding in a cave or some other location. If some of your troops fall first, whoever hears of it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

Now when the settlers first lived there, they did not worship the LORD, so He sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, an accusation was lodged against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who led in thanksgiving and prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his associates; and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

The beginning of his talk is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness.

I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one that had appeared to me earlier.

…while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.

At the beginning of your petitions, an answer went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly precious. So consider the message and understand the vision:

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.