WITH, BEFORE, AFTER

    ‘Enoch walked with God,’–GENESIS v. 22.
    ‘Walk before Me.’–GENESIS xvii. 1.
    ‘Ye shall walk after the Lord your God.’–DEUTERONOMY xiii. 4.
You will have anticipated, I suppose, my purpose in doing what I very
seldom do–cutting little snippets out of different verses and putting
them together. You see that these three fragments, in their
resemblances and in their differences, are equally significant and
instructive. They concur in regarding life as a walk–a metaphor which
expresses continuity, so that every man’s life is a whole, which
expresses progress, which expresses change, and which implies a goal.
They agree in saying that God must be brought into a life somehow, and
in some aspect, if that life is to be anything else but an aimless
wandering, if it is to tend to the point to which every human life
should attain. But then they diverge, and, if we put them together,
they say to us that there are three different ways in which we ought to
bring God into our life. We should ‘walk _with_ Him,’ like Enoch; we
should ‘walk _before_’ Him, as Abraham was bade to do; and we should
‘walk _after_’ Him, as the command to do was given to all Israel. And
these three prepositions, _with_, _before_, _after_, attached to the
general idea of life as a walk, give us a triple aspect–which yet is,
of course, fundamentally, one–of the way in which life may be
ennobled, dignified, calmed, hallowed, focussed, and concentrated by
the various relations into which we enter with Him. So I take the three
of them.
1. ‘Enoch walked _with_ God.’
That is a sweet, simple, easily intelligible, and yet lofty way of
putting the notion which we bring into a more abstract and less
impressive shape when we talk about communion with God. Two men
travelling along a road keep each other company. ‘How can two walk
together except they be agreed?’ The companion is at our side all the
same, though the mists may have come down and we cannot see Him. We can
hear His voice, we can grasp His hand, we can catch the echoes of His
steps. We know He is there, and that is enough. Enoch and God walked
together, by the simple exercise of the faith that fills the Invisible
with one great, loving Face. By a continuous, definite effort, as we
are going through the bustle of daily life, and amid all the pettiness
and perplexities and monotonies that make up our often weary and always
heavy days, we can realise to ourselves that He is of a truth at our
sides, and by purity of life and heart we can bring Him nearer, and can
make ourselves more conscious of His nearness. For, brethren, the one
thing that parts a man from God, and makes it impossible for a heart to
expatiate in the thought of His presence, is the contrariety to His
will in our conduct. The slightest invisible film of mist that comes
across the blue abyss of the mighty sky will blot out the brightest of
the stars, and we may sometimes not be able to see the mist, and only
know that it is there because we do not see the planet. So unconscious
sin may steal in between us and God, and we shall no longer be able to
say, ‘I walk with Him.’
The Roman Catholics talk, in their mechanical way, of bringing down all
the spiritual into the material and formal, about the ‘practice of the
presence of God.’ It is an ugly phrase, but it means a great thing,
that Christian people ought, very much more than they do, to aim, day
by day, and amidst their daily duties, at realising that most
elementary thought which, like a great many other elementary thoughts,
is impotent because we believe it so utterly, that wherever we are, we
may have Him with us. It is the secret of blessedness, of tranquillity,
of power, of everything good and noble.
‘I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were,’
said the Psalmist of old. If he had left out these two little words,
‘with Thee,’ he would have been uttering a tragic complaint; but when
they come in, all that is painful, all that is solitary, all that is
transient, bitterly transient, in the long succession of the
generations that have passed across earth’s scene, and have not been
kindred to it, is cleared away and changed into gladness. Never mind,
though you are a stranger, if you have that companion. Never mind,
though you are only a sojourner; if you have Him with you, whatever
passes He will not pass; and though we dwell here in a system to which
we do not belong, and its transiency and our transiency bring with them
many sorrows, when we can say, ‘Lord! Thou hast been our dwelling-place
in all generations,’ we are at home, and that eternal home will never
pass.
Enoch ‘walked with God,’ and, of course, ‘God took him,’ There was
nothing else for it, and there could be no other end, for a life of
communion with God here has in it the prophecy and the pledge of a life
of eternal union hereafter. So, then, ‘practise the presence of God.’
An old mystic says: ‘If I can tell how many times to-day I have thought
about God, I have not thought about Him often enough.’ Walk with Him by
faith, by effort, by purity.
2. And now take the other aspect suggested by the other word God spoke
to Abraham: ‘I am the Almighty God, walk _before_ Me and be thou
perfect.’
That suggests, as I suppose I do not need to point out, the idea not
only of communion, which the former phrase brought to our minds, but
that of the inspection of our conduct. ‘As ever in the great
Taskmaster’s eye,’ says the stern Puritan poet, and although one may
object to that word ‘Taskmaster,’ yet the idea conveyed is the correct
expansion of the commandment given to Abraham. Observe how ‘walk before
Me’ is dovetailed, as it were, between the revelation ‘I am the
Almighty God’ and the injunction ‘Be thou perfect.’ The realisation of
that presence of the Almighty which is implied in the expression ‘Walk
before Me,’ the assurance that we are in His sight, will lead straight
to the fulfilment of the injunction that bears upon the moral conduct.
The same connection of thought underlies Peter’s injunction, ‘Like as
He … is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,’ followed
immediately as it is by, ‘If ye call on Him as Father, who without
respect of persons judgeth’–as a present estimate–‘according to every
mail’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear’–that
reverential awe which will lead you to be ‘holy even as I am holy.’
This thought that we are in that divine presence, and that there is
silently, but most really, a divine opinion being formed of us,
consolidated, as it were, moment by moment through our lives, is only
tolerable if we have been walking with God. If we are sure, by the
power of our communion with Him, of His loving heart as well as of His
righteous judgment, then we can spread ourselves out before Him, as a
woman will lay out her webs of cloth on the green grass for the sun to
blaze down upon them, and bleach the ingrained filth out of them. We
must first walk ‘with God’ before the consciousness that we are walking
‘before’ Him becomes one that we can entertain and not go mad. When we
are sure of the ‘with’ we can bear the ‘before.’
Did you ever see how on a review day, as each successive battalion and
company nears the saluting-point where the General inspecting sits,
they straighten themselves up and dress their ranks, and pull
themselves together as they pass beneath his critical eye. A master’s
eye makes diligent servants. If we, in the strength of God, would only
realise, day by day and act by act of our lives, that we are before
Him, what a revolution could be effected on our characters and what a
transformation on all our conduct!
‘Walk before Me’ and you will be perfect. For the Hebrew words on which
I am now commenting may be read, in accordance with the usage of the
language, as being not only a commandment but a promise, or, rather,
not as two commandments, but a commandment with an appended promise,
and so as equivalent to ‘If you will walk before Me you will be
perfect.’ And if we realise that we are under ‘the pure eyes and
perfect judgment of’ God, we shall thereby be strongly urged and
mightily helped to be perfect as He is perfect.
3. Lastly, take the other relation, which is suggested by the third of
my texts, where Israel as a whole is commanded to ‘walk _after_ the
Lord’ their God.
In harmony with the very frequent expression of the Old Testament about
‘going after idols’ so Israel here is to ‘go after God.’ What does that
mean? Communion, the consciousness of being judged by God, will lead on
to aspiration and loving, longing effort to get nearer and nearer to
Him. ‘My soul followeth hard after Thee,’ said the Psalmist, ‘Thy right
hand upholdeth me.’ That element of yearning aspiration, of eager
desire to be closer and closer, and liker and liker, to God must be in
all true religion. And unless we have it in some measure, it is useless
to talk about being Christian people. To press onwards, not as though
we had already attained, but following after, if that we may apprehend
that for which also we are apprehended, is the attitude of every true
follower of Christ. The very crown of the excellence of the Christian
life is that it never can reach its goal, and therefore an immortal
youth of aspiration and growth is guaranteed to it. Christian people,
are you following after God? Are you any nearer to Him than you were
ten years ago? ‘Walk with Me, walk before Me, walk after Me.’
I need not do more than remind you of another meaning involved in this
same expression. If I walk after God, then I let Him go before me and
show me my road. Do you remember how, when the ark was to cross Jordan,
the commandment was given to the Israelites to let it go well on in
front, so that there should be no mistake about the course, ‘for ye
have not passed this way heretofore.’ Do not be in too great a hurry to
press upon the heels of God, if I may so say. Do not let your decisions
outrun His providence. Keep back the impatience that would hurry on,
and wait for His ripening purposes to ripen and His counsels to develop
themselves. Walk after God, and be sure you do not go in front of your
Guide, or you will lose both your way and your Guide.
I need not say more than a word about the highest aspect which this
third of our commandments takes, ‘His sheep follow Him’–‘leaving us an
example that we should follow in His steps,’ that is the culmination of
the walking ‘with,’ and ‘before,’ and ‘after’ God which these Old
Testament saints were partially practising. All is gathered into the
one great word, ‘He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so
to walk even as He walked.’

King James Bible

Bible Verses About love – John 3:19
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Bible Verses About love – Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Bible Scriptures – John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Bible Favorites

Bible Verses About love – Hosea 10:11
And Ephraim [is as] an heifer [that is] taught, [and] loveth to tread out [the corn]; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, [and] Jacob shall break his clods.

Bible Verses About love – Romans 9:25
As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

Bible Verses About certain – Hebrews 2:6
But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Bible Verses About asia – Corinthians-1 16:19
The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

Bible Verses About egyptians – Isaiah 31:3
Now the Egyptians [are] men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

Bible Verses About royal – Daniel 6:7
All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

Bible Verses About arms – Isaiah 44:12
The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.

Bible Verses About ahasuerus – Daniel 9:1
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;

Bible Verses About curtains – Exodus 26:13
And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it.

Bible Verses About serve – Deuteronomy 15:12
[And] if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.

Bible Verses About large – Isaiah 57:8
Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered [thyself to another] than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee [a covenant] with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest [it].

Bible Verses About counsellor – Romans 11:34
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

Bible Verses About call – Matthew 1:21
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Bible Verses About notwithstanding – Leviticus 27:28
Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, [both] of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing [is] most holy unto the LORD.

Bible Verses About breadth – Genesis 13:17
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Bible Verses About fulfil – Samuel-2 7:12
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

Bible Verses About fed – Genesis 36:24
And these [are] the children of Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this [was that] Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.

Bible Verses About keilah – Samuel-1 23:6
And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, [that] he came down [with] an ephod in his hand.

Bible Verses About walking – Matthew 4:18
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Bible Verses About zidon – Joshua 19:28
And Hebron, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, [even] unto great Zidon;

Bible Verses About speaketh – Ezekiel 10:5
And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard [even] to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.

Bible Verses About lots – Luke 23:34
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Bible Verses About salvation – Ephesians 6:17
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Bible Verses About bless – Proverbs 11:11
By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Bible Verses About baptism – Colossians 2:12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Bible Verses About worship – Deuteronomy 11:16
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

Bible Verses About poor – Leviticus 23:22
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I [am] the LORD your God.

Bible Verses About goodness – Romans 11:22
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [his] goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Bible Verses About prayer – Psalms 42:8
[Yet] the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song [shall be] with me, [and] my prayer unto the God of my life.

Bible Verses About hope – Hosea 2:15
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

Bible Verses About joy – Matthew 28:8
And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

Bible Verses About heaven – Daniel 12:7
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which [was] upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that [it shall be] for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [things] shall be finished.

Bible Verses About lying – John 13:25
He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?

Bible Verses About courage – Psalms 27:14
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Bible Verses About women – Revelations 9:8
And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions.

Bible Verses About clean – Numbers 9:10
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or [be] in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.

Bible Verses About kindness – Corinthians-2 6:6
By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

Bible Verses About fathers – Chronicles-2 15:12
And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

Bible Verses About wife – Ezekiel 33:26
Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?

Bible Verses About peace – Ezekiel 46:12
Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, [one] shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth [one] shall shut the gate.

Bible Verses About tongue – Proverbs 12:18
There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise [is] health.

Bible Verses About fasting – Matthew 15:32
Then Jesus called his disciples [unto him], and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.

Bible Scriptures About possess – Numbers 33:53
And ye shall dispossess [the inhabitants] of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.

Bible Scriptures About smite – Mark 14:27
And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.

Bible Scriptures About wind – Job 8:2
How long wilt thou speak these [things]? and [how long shall] the words of thy mouth [be like] a strong wind?

Bible Scriptures About incense – Chronicles-2 28:25
And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.

Bible Scriptures About declare – Isaiah 21:10
O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

Bible Scriptures About fools – Ecclesiastes 7:4
The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools [is] in the house of mirth.

Bible Scriptures About camp – Kings-2 7:8
And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid [it]; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence [also], and went and hid [it].

Bible Scriptures About sabbath – John 19:31
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.

Bible Scriptures About possession – Genesis 50:13
For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

Bible Scriptures About david – Psalms 144:1
[A Psalm] of David. Blessed [be] the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, [and] my fingers to fight:

Bible in Basic English

Bible Verses About life – 1-Samuel 7:15
And Samuel was judge of Israel all the days of his life.

Bible Verses About friend – Judges 14:20
But Samson's wife was given to the friend who had been his best man.

Bible Verses About tongue – Romans 3:13
Their throat is like an open place of death; with their tongues they have said what is not true: the poison of snakes is under their lips:

Bible Verses About worship – Deuteronomy 13:2
And the sign or the wonder takes place, and he says to you, Let us go after other gods, which are strange to you, and give them worship;

Bible Verses About giving – Luke 5:28
And giving up his business, he got up and went after him.

Bible Verses About water – Leviticus 14:50
And put one of the birds to death in a vessel of earth over flowing water;

Bible Verses About prayer – Job 21:15
What is the Ruler of all, that we may give him worship? and what profit is it to us to make prayer to him?

Bible Verses About purpose – Philippians 1:17
But those are preaching Christ in a spirit of competition, not from their hearts, but with the purpose of giving me pain in my prison.

Bible Verses About mothers – Mark 13:12
And brother will give up brother to death, and the father his child; and children will go against their fathers and mothers, and put them to death.

Bible Verses About fathers – Jeremiah 16:3
For this is what the Lord has said about the sons and daughters who come to birth in this place, and about their mothers who have given them birth, and about their fathers who have given life to them in this land:

Bible Verses About salvation – Isaiah 63:1
Who is this who comes from Edom, with blood-red robes from Bozrah? he whose clothing is fair, stepping with pride in his great strength? I whose glory is in the right, strong for salvation.

Bible Verses About hope – Hebrews 12:5
And you have not kept in mind the word which says to you as to sons, My son, do not make little of the Lord's punishment, and do not give up hope when you are judged by him;

Bible Verses About caring – Deuteronomy 12:19
See that you do not give up caring for the Levite as long as you are living in your land.

Bible Verses About birth – Genesis 38:28
And while she was in the act of giving birth, one of them put out his hand; and the woman who was with her put a red thread round his hand, saying, This one came out first.

Bible Verses About baptism – John 4:2
(Though, in fact, it was his disciples who gave baptism, not Jesus himself),

Bible Verses About strength – 1-Samuel 2:4
The bows of the men of war are broken, and the feeble are clothed with strength.

Bible Verses About dreams – Zechariah 10:2
For the images have said what is not true, and the readers of signs have seen deceit; they have given accounts of false dreams, they give comfort to no purpose: so they go out of the way like sheep, they are troubled because they have no keeper.

Bible Verses About love – Psalms 119:167
My soul has kept your unchanging word; great is my love for it.

Bible Verses About fear – Isaiah 8:9
Have knowledge, O peoples, and be in fear; give ear, all you far-off parts of the earth:

Bible Verses About women – Isaiah 3:12
As for my people, their ruler is acting like a child, and those who have authority over them are women. O my people, your guides are the cause of your wandering, turning your footsteps out of the right way.

World English Bible

Bible Verses About wages – Genesis 31:8
If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstreaked.

Bible Verses About yield – Romans 6:13
Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.

Bible Verses About sorry – Matthew 17:23
And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.

Bible Verses About othniel – Judges 3:9
And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, [even] Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

Bible Verses About souls – Genesis 46:18
These [are] the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, [even] sixteen souls.

Bible Verses About sackcloth – Joel 1:13
Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

Bible Verses About consumed – Ezekiel 34:29
And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.

Bible Verses About goliath – Samuel-1 17:4
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height [was] six cubits and a span.

Bible Verses About overshadow – Mark 9:7
And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

Bible Verses About few – Deuteronomy 4:27
And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.

Bible Verses About fatherless – Deuteronomy 24:21
When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean [it] afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

Bible Verses About multiply – Genesis 22:17
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Bible Verses About smoke – Joshua 8:21
And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.

Bible Verses About hedge – Ezekiel 22:30
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Bible Verses About jasper – Revelations 21:19
And the foundations of the wall of the city [were] garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation [was] jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

Bible Verses About hair – Luke 7:44
And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped [them] with the hairs of her head.

Bible Verses About bondservant – Leviticus 25:39
And if thy brother [that dwelleth] by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:

Bible Verses About aunt – Judges 7:2
And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that [are] with thee [are] too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

Bible Verses About suddenly – Isaiah 48:3
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did [them] suddenly, and they came to pass.

Bible Verses About dowry – Genesis 34:12
Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.