1 Kings 21 Cross References - LEB

¹ It happened after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. ² Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard that it may be mine for a garden of vegetable plants, because it is near, beside my house, and I will give to you a better vineyard in place of it. If it is better in your eyes, I will give you the money of its price." ³ Naboth said to Ahab, "Far be it from me from Yahweh that I should give the inheritance of my ancestors* to you." ⁴ Then Ahab went to his house, sullen and angry because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him when he had said, "I will not give to you the inheritance of my ancestors."* So he lay on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat any food. ⁵ Then Jezebel his wife came to him, and she said to him, "What is this, that your spirit is sullen and you are not eating food?" ⁶ Then he said to her, "When I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and asked him, 'Give me your vineyard for money, or it you prefer, I will give you a vineyard in place of it,' he said, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'" ⁷ Jezebel his wife said to him, "Now, you _⌊rule_⌋* over Israel. Get up, eat food, and let your heart be _⌊cheerful_⌋.* I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." ⁸ So she wrote letters in the name of Ahab and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling with Naboth in his city. ⁹ She had written in the letters, saying, "Call a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. ¹⁰ Seat two men, _⌊scoundrels_⌋,* opposite him. Let them witness against him saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then you shall bring him out and stone him so that he dies." ¹¹ The men of his city and the elders and nobles who were living in his city did according to what Jezebel had sent to them, as was written in the letters which she had sent to them. ¹² They called a fast, and they seated Naboth at the head of the people. ¹³ Then the two men, _⌊scoundrels_⌋,* came, sat opposite him, and the _⌊scoundrels_⌋* witnessed against Naboth before the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king," so they brought him outside of the city and stoned him with stones, and he died. ¹⁴ They sent to Jezebel saying, "Naboth has been stoned, and he is dead." ¹⁵ It happened at the moment Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and died, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he had refused to give to you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead." ¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. ¹⁷ The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸ "Arise, go down to meet Ahab the king of Israel who is in Samaria. Look in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession of it. ¹⁹ You shall say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Have you committed murder and also taken possession?" ' You shall also say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood." '" ²⁰ Then Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" He said, "I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh. ²¹ 'Look, I am bringing disaster on you, and I will sweep away after you. I will cut off for Ahab _⌊every male_⌋* in Israel, bond or free. ²² I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, _⌊because you made me angry_⌋* and have caused Israel to sin.' ²³ Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.' ²⁴ The one who dies for Ahab in the city, the dogs will eat; the one who dies in the open country, the birds of heaven will eat." ²⁵ Truly, there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whose wife Jezebel urged him on. ²⁶ Also, he acted very abominably by going after idols like all the Amorites had done whom Yahweh had driven out from before the _⌊Israelites_⌋."* ²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his flesh, fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. ²⁸ Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster in his days. I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son."

¹⁸ Their border went to Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem,

³³ Then all the Midianites,* Amalekites,* and the people of the east gathered together and crossed the Jordan; and they camped in the valley of Jezreel.

¹ Now the Philistines assembled all their forces at Aphek, and Israel was encamped at the spring that is in Jezreel.

⁴⁵ _⌊In no time_⌋* the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was heavy rain. Ahab rode and he went to Jezreel, ⁴⁶ but the hand of Yahweh was on Elijah; he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab as one comes to Jezreel.

³⁵ A certain man from the sons of the prophets said to his fellow countryman, "By the word of Yahweh, please strike me." But the man refused to strike him. ³⁶ He said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, look, as you now are going from me, a lion will kill you." When he went from beside him, the lion found him and killed him. ³⁷ Then he found another man and said, "Strike me, please," so the man struck him sharply and wounded him. ³⁸ Then the prophet went and _⌊waited_⌋* for the king along the road and disguised himself with a* headband over his eyes. ³⁹ As the king was passing by, he called to the king and said, "Your servant went out in the thick of the battle, and suddenly a man turned and brought a man to me and said, 'Guard this man. If by any means he should be missed, it will be your life in his place, or you shall pay a talent of silver.' ⁴⁰ It happened that your servant _⌊was busy here and there_⌋,* and he _⌊disappeared_⌋."* Then the king said to him, "Your own judgment has been determined." ⁴¹ He quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was from the prophets. ⁴² He said to him, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because you have let the man I devoted for destruction go from your hand, your life shall be in place of his life and your people in place of his people.'" ⁴³ Then the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and angry, and he came to Samaria.

²² And in the time of his distress, King Ahaz continued to act unfaithfully against Yahweh.

¹³ After all that has come upon us for our evil practices and for our great guilt—you, our God, have held back less than our guilt deserved and you have given us a remainder such as this. ¹⁴ Shall we again break your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who practice these detestable things? Would you not be angry with us until you destroy us with no remnant or remainder?

¹³ And the people did not turn to the one who struck it,* and they did not seek Yahweh of hosts.

³ O Yahweh, do not your eyes look for honesty? You have struck them, but they felt no pain, you have destroyed them, they refused to take discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, they have refused to turn back.

⁴ And Yahweh said to him, "_⌊Name him_⌋* Jezreel;* because in a little while _⌊I will punish_⌋* the house of Jehu* for the blood* of Jezreel,* and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.* ⁵ _⌊On that day_⌋* I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."

⁶ When* the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, then* she took from its fruit and she ate. And she gave it also to her husband with her, and he ate.

⁶ And Abram said to Sarai, "Look, your servant is _⌊under your authority_⌋.* Do to her that which is good in your eyes." And Sarai mistreated her, and she* fled from her presence.

¹⁷ "You shall not covet the house of your neighbor; you will not covet the wife of your neighbor or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's."

²¹ 'And you shall not covet the wife of your neighbor, and you shall not crave the house of your neighbor, his field or his slave or his slave woman or his ox and his donkey or anything _⌊that belongs to your neighbor_⌋.'*

¹⁰ For the fact is that the land _⌊that you are about to go into_⌋* to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have _⌊come out of_⌋,* where you sow your seed and you give water by your foot, _⌊as in a vegetable garden_⌋.*

⁶ But the matter _⌊was displeasing to Samuel_⌋* when they said, "Give us a king to judge* us," so Samuel prayed to Yahweh.

¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive trees and will give them to his servants.

⁶ So Achish called David and said to him, "_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋,* certainly you were honest, and _⌊I am pleased to have you marching with me_⌋* in the campaign.* For I have not found any wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day, but in the eyes of the rulers, you are not good.

²⁷ When Ahaziah king of Judah saw, he fled the way of Beth-Haggen. Jehu pursued after him and said, "Shoot him also, in the chariot." They shot him at the ascent of Gur which is in Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo, but he died there.

⁵ I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted all sorts of fruit trees in them.

¹⁵ A garden fountain, a well of living water, flowing (streams) from Lebanon.

¹⁷ "But there is nothing in your eyes and your heart _⌊except_⌋* your unlawful gain, and on shedding the blood of the innocent, and on committing oppression and extortion."

⁹ Woe to him who obtains profit from evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be saved from the hand of misfortune! ¹⁰ You have plotted shame for your house, cutting off many peoples and sinning against your life. ¹¹ For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the plaster from the wood will answer it.

¹⁵ And he said to them, "Watch out and guard yourselves from all greediness, because not even when someone has an abundance _⌊does_⌋* his life consist of his possessions."

⁹ But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge those people into ruin and destruction.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he* is dragged away and enticed by his own desires. ¹⁵ Then desire, after it* has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it* is brought to completion, gives birth to death.

⁷ And they said to him, "Why has my lord spoken according to these words? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!

¹⁷ But he said, "Far be it from me to do this! The man in whose hand the cup was found, he will become my slave. But as for you, go up in peace to your father."

²³ " 'But* the land must not be sold in* perpetuity, because the land is mine, because you* are aliens and temporary residents with me.

⁷ Thus an inheritance of the _⌊Israelites_⌋* will not go around from tribe to tribe. Rather, the inheritance of each tribe of his father will remain with the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

²⁹ Far be it from us to rebel against Yahweh, to turn today from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt offerings,* grain offerings,* or sacrifices,* instead of the altar of Yahweh our God that is before his tabernacle."

¹⁶ And the people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we would forsake Yahweh to serve other gods,

²³ Also, as for me, far be it from me _⌊that I should sin_⌋* against Yahweh by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the good and righteous way.

⁶ He said to his men, "Far be it from me in* Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he is the anointed one of Yahweh."

⁹ But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy* him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?" ¹⁰ And David said, "_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋,* _⌊certainly_⌋* Yahweh will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down in the battle and _⌊perish_⌋.* ¹¹ _⌊Yahweh forbid me_⌋* from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that is near his head and the jar of water, and let us go."

¹⁹ And he said, "Far be it from me that I would do this before my God. Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? For _⌊at the risk of their lives_⌋* they brought it." And he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

⁵ Far be it from me that _⌊I would say that you* are right_⌋;* until I pass away, I will not put away from me my blamelessness.

¹⁸ But the prince shall not take from the inheritance of the people to rob* them, separating them from their property; from his own property he shall bestow an inheritance on his sons, so that my people will not be driven away, any one, from his property."

⁴ May it never be! But let God be true but every human being a liar, just as it is written,
"In order that you may be justified in your words, and may prevail when you are* judged."*

⁶ May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?

³¹ Therefore, do we nullify the law through faith? May it never be! But we uphold the law.

² May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

⁷ What then shall we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, "Do not covet."*

¹³ Therefore, did that which is good become death to me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be recognized as sin, producing death through what is good for me, in order that sin might become sinful to an extraordinary degree through the commandment.

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Therefore, shall I take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!

¹⁴ But as for me, may it never be that I boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

⁵ but to Cain and to his offering he did not look with favor. And Cain became very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ And Yahweh said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well _⌊will I not accept you_⌋?* But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." ⁸ Then* Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out into the field."* And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

¹³ Balaam got up in the morning, and he said to the princes of Balak, "Go to your land, because Yahweh refused to allow me to go with you." ¹⁴ The princes of Moab got up and went to Balak, and they said, "Balaam refused to come with us."

² And Amnon _⌊was so frustrated that he felt ill_⌋* because of Tamar his sister, because she was a virgin, and it was too difficult in Amnon's eyes to do anything with her.

⁴ And he said to him, "Why are you so sullen _⌊every morning_⌋,* O son of the king? Will you not tell me?" And Amnon said to him, "I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom."

⁴³ Then the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and angry, and he came to Samaria.

³ Naboth said to Ahab, "Far be it from me from Yahweh that I should give the inheritance of my ancestors* to you."

² For vexation will slay the fool, and jealousy will kill the simple.

⁹ _⌊Better to be content with what your eyes see than for your soul to constantly crave more_⌋.* This also is vanity and chasing wind!

⁸ The end of a matter is better than its beginning; _⌊better to be slow to anger than hot-headed_⌋.* ⁹ Do not be quick in your spirit to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

²⁰ But* the wicked are like the churning sea, that is not able to keep quiet, and its waters toss up mire and mud. ²¹ There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

¹ And this* _⌊was greatly displeasing_⌋* to Jonah, and _⌊he became furious_⌋.*

⁹ So God said to Jonah, "_⌊Is it right for you to be angry_⌋* about the plant?" And he said, "_⌊It is right for me to be angry enough to die_⌋!"*

⁹ Woe to him who obtains profit from evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be saved from the hand of misfortune! ¹⁰ You have plotted shame for your house, cutting off many peoples and sinning against your life. ¹¹ For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the plaster from the wood will answer it. ¹² Woe to him who builds a city by bloodguilt, and who founds a city by wickedness!

²⁷ nor give place to the devil.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he* is dragged away and enticed by his own desires.

³¹ _⌊If it wasn't enough that he went_⌋* after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he also took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal the king of the Sidonians. He went and served Baal and bowed down to him.

⁴ It had happened that when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them _⌊by fifties_⌋* in the cave and sustained them with food and water.)

² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "Thus may the gods do to me, and may they add to it, surely at this time tomorrow I will make your life as the life of one of them!"

²⁵ Truly, there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whose wife Jezebel urged him on.

² So the king said to me, "Why is your face sad since you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart." And I was very much afraid.

⁵ Then Esther called Hathach from the king's eunuchs _⌊who regularly attended to her_⌋,* and she ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why.

² Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard that it may be mine for a garden of vegetable plants, because it is near, beside my house, and I will give to you a better vineyard in place of it. If it is better in your eyes, I will give you the money of its price." ³ Naboth said to Ahab, "Far be it from me from Yahweh that I should give the inheritance of my ancestors* to you." ⁴ Then Ahab went to his house, sullen and angry because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him when he had said, "I will not give to you the inheritance of my ancestors."* So he lay on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat any food.

⁹ And Haman went out on that day rejoicing and _⌊feeling good_⌋.* But when Haman saw Mordecai at the gate of the king, and he did not rise or tremble before him, Haman was filled _⌊with rage toward_⌋* Mordecai. ¹⁰ But Haman controlled himself and went to his house, and he sent for and brought his friends and Zeresh his wife. ¹¹ And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his wealth and the number of his sons and all the ways that the king had honored him and promoted him above the officials and king's servants. ¹² _⌊And Haman added_⌋,* "Esther the Queen did not let just anyone come to the banquet that she prepared with the king except me, and I am also invited tomorrow to her banquet with the king. ¹³ But all this _⌊fails to satisfy me_⌋* _⌊when_⌋* I see Mordecai the Jew setting at the gate of the king." ¹⁴ And Zeresh his wife and all of his friends said to him, "Let them make a gallows fifty cubits* high, and in the morning tell the king, "Let them hang Mordecai on it; then go with the king to the banquet happily." The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

¹² Then Mordecai returned to the gate of the king, and Haman rushed to his house mournful and with his head covered.

³⁰ A heart* of tranquility* is life to the flesh, but causes bones of passion to rot.

⁹ But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge those people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all evil, by which some, because they* desire it, have gone astray from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.

² You desire and do not have; you murder and are filled with envy, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend it on your pleasures. ⁴ Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that in vain the scripture says, "The spirit which he caused to dwell in us desires jealously"?* ⁶ But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says,
"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."* ⁷ Therefore subject yourselves to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.

¹⁵ It happened at the moment Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and died, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he had refused to give to you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead." ¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.

³¹ a strutting rooster or he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.

¹ I looked again, and I saw all the oppression that occurs under the sun.
_⌊I saw the tears of the oppressed— no one comforts them! Those who oppress them are powerful— no one can comfort them_⌋!*

⁴ Since the word of the king is supreme, no one can say to him, "What are you doing?"

¹⁹ And because of the greatness that he gave to him, all the peoples, the nations and languages trembled and feared before him; whomever he wanted he killed, and whomever he wanted he let live, and whomever he wanted he honored, and whomever he wanted he humbled. ²⁰ But _⌊when_⌋* his heart became arrogant and his spirit became hard so as to act proudly, he was deposed from the throne of his kingdom and the* glory _⌊was taken away from him_⌋.* ²¹ And he was driven away _⌊from human society_⌋* and his mind was made like the animals* and his dwelling was with the wild asses; and _⌊he was given_⌋* grass like oxen to eat, and with* the dew of heaven his body was bathed, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdom of humankind, and _⌊whoever_⌋* he wants he sets over it.

¹ Woe to those who plan wickedness and evil deeds upon their beds! In the light of the morning they did it, because they have power in their hands. ² They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and they take them away. They oppress a man and his house; a man and his inheritance.

³ Their hands are upon evil, to do it well; the official and the judge ask for the bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; and they weave it together.

¹⁶ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel whom you know are elders of the people and their* officials; take them to the tent of assembly, and they will stand there with you.

¹⁸ "You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your _⌊towns_⌋* that Yahweh your God is giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render for the people _⌊righteous judgments_⌋.* ¹⁹ You shall not subvert* justice; you shall not _⌊show partiality_⌋;* and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind the eyes of the wise and misrepresents the words of the righteous.

¹ "If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it and is lying in the field, and it is not known who _⌊killed him_⌋,* ² then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain one. ³ _⌊And then_⌋* the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with in the field, that has not pulled a yoke, ⁴ and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a _⌊wadi that flows with water all year_⌋* and that has not been plowed and has not been sown; then _⌊there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi_⌋.* ⁵ Then the priests, the descendants* of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every case of assault will be _⌊subject to their ruling_⌋.* ⁶ And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer with the broken neck in the wadi.* ⁷ And they shall declare, and they shall say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see what was done. ⁸ Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and do not _⌊allow_⌋* the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven with regard to blood.' ⁹ And so you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.

¹⁴ And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die."

⁷ Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, "Please know and realize that this man is seeking trouble, for he sent to me for my women, my sons, my silver, and my gold, and I did not withhold anything from him."

¹ It happened after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

¹ Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria, and Jehu wrote letters, and he sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab, saying, ² "Now, when this letter comes to you and your master's sons are with you, the chariots are with you, the horses, a fortified city, and weapons, ³ then you must select the best and the most suitable from the sons of your master, and you must place him on the throne of his father, and they must fight for the house of your masters." ⁴ But they were very afraid, and they said, "Look, two kings could not stand before him; how can we stand?" ⁵ So whoever was over the house, and whoever was over the city, and the elders and the guardians sent to Jehu, saying, "We are your servants; all that you say to us, we shall do. We shall not make anyone a king. Do what is good in your eyes." ⁶ Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, "If you are for me, and you are listening to my voice, take the heads of the men of the sons of your master and come to me at this time tomorrow at Jezreel." Now the sons of the king, seventy men, were with the leaders of the city who were raising them. ⁷ When the letter came to them, they took the sons of the king, and they killed seventy men. Then they put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.

¹¹ Then Jehu killed all of the remainder of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all of his leaders, his close friends, and his priests, until there was no survivor left for him.

¹⁷ And he wrote letters to treat Yahweh the God of Israel with contempt and spoke against him, saying, "As the gods of the nations of the earth who did not save their people from my hand, so likewise the God of Hezekiah will not save his people from my hand."

⁷ And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic. ⁸ Rehum the royal officer and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows

¹¹ this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him:
"To King Artaxerxes from your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River. And now,

⁵ And Sanballat sent his servant with an open letter, another word like this to me a fifth time, in his hand.

¹² And the king's secretaries were called in the first month on the thirteenth day, and a decree was issued, according to all that Haman commanded, to the satraps of the king and to the governors who were over all the provinces, and to the officials of all the people, to each province according to its own script and to all people according to their own language; it was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and was sealed with the king's ring. ¹³ Letters were sent by couriers* to all the provinces of the king to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, _⌊both young and old_⌋,* women and children, on one day, the thirteenth day of the month, that is Adar, and to plunder their goods. ¹⁴ A copy of the edict was presented as law in every province making it known to all the people to be ready for that day. ¹⁵ The couriers went out quickly by order of the king, and the law was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; and the city of Susa was bewildered.*

⁸ Write _⌊as you see fit_⌋* concerning the Jews in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's signet ring; for a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's signet ring cannot be revoked." ⁹ And the secretaries of the king were summoned* at that time, in the third month, which is in the month of Sivan on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the governors and satraps and officials of the provinces from India to Cush*—one hundred and twenty-seven provinces*—each province according to its own script and to every people in their own _⌊language_⌋,* and to the Jews in their own script and language. ¹⁰ And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and he sealed the letters with the king's signet ring and sent them* by couriers on horses, riding on royal horses _⌊bred by_⌋* racing mares.* ¹¹ In them the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and _⌊defend their lives_⌋,* to destroy and kill and annihilate any army of any people or province attacking them, including women and children, and to plunder their spoil, ¹² in one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. ¹³ A copy of the _⌊edict_⌋* was to be given as law in each province to inform all the people, so that the Jews would be ready* on that day to avenge themselves from their enemies.

¹³ Then the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor speaking deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. ¹⁴ And they said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace for us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we give consent to you; if you will become like us—every male among you to be circumcised. ¹⁶ Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take for ourselves your daughters, and we will live with you and become one family. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our daughters and we will go."

⁴ Look! You fast to quarrel and strife, and to strike with a _⌊wicked fist_⌋.* You shall not fast as you do _⌊today_⌋,* to _⌊make your voice heard_⌋* on the height.

⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and* said, "Go, inquire carefully concerning the child, and when you have found him, report to me so that I also may come and* worship him."

¹³ "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you shut the kingdom of heaven before people! For you do not enter, nor permit those wanting to go in* to enter.*

⁴⁷ who devour the houses of widows and pray lengthy prayers for the sake of appearance. These will receive more severe condemnation!"

²⁸ Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor's residence. Now it was early, and they did not enter into the governor's residence so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.

²⁸ " 'You will not curse God,* and you will not curse a leader among your people.

¹⁵ And you shall speak to the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* saying, '_⌊Any man_⌋* when he curses his God shall bear* his sin. ¹⁶ And he who blasphemes Yahweh's name certainly shall be put to death; the whole community certainly shall stone him. As the alien, so the native shall be put to death at blaspheming his name.

¹³ _⌊worthless men_⌋* have gone out from your midst and have seduced the inhabitants of their town, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Let us go and serve other gods!' whom you have not known,

¹⁵ _⌊The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict_⌋* with respect to any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person* committed; on the _⌊evidence_⌋* of two witnesses or on the _⌊evidence_⌋* of three witnesses _⌊a charge shall be sustained_⌋.*

²² While _⌊they were enjoying themselves_⌋,* behold, the men of the city, _⌊the perverse lot_⌋,* surrounded the house, pounding on the door. And they said to the old man, the owner of the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so that _⌊we may have sex with him_⌋."*

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus in order that they could put him to death. ⁶⁰ And they did not find it,* although* many false witnesses came forward. And finally two came forward ⁶¹ and* said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it* within three days.'" ⁶² And the high priest stood up and* said to him, "Do you reply nothing? What are these people testifying against you?" ⁶³ But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, "I put you under oath by the living God, that you tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!" ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, "You have said it.* But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power* and coming on the clouds of heaven." ⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes, saying, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have just now heard the blasphemy! ⁶⁶ What do you think?" And they answered and* said, "_⌊He deserves death_⌋!"*

³³ The Jews answered him, "We are not going to stone you concerning a good deed, but concerning blasphemy, and because you, although you* are a man, make yourself to be God!"

¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!"

¹³ And they put forward false witnesses who said, "This man does not stop speaking words against the holy place* and the law!

¹⁷ But the midwives feared God, and they did not do as the king of Egypt had said to them. They let the boys live.

²¹ _⌊And so_⌋* because the midwives feared God, he gave them _⌊families_⌋.*

¹ " 'You will not _⌊spread_⌋* a false report. Do not lift your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness. ² You will not _⌊follow_⌋* a majority* for evil, and you will not testify concerning a legal dispute to turn aside after a majority* to pervert justice.

¹⁵ " 'You* shall not do injustice in judgment; _⌊you* shall not show partiality to the powerless_⌋;* you* shall not give preference _⌊to the powerful_⌋;* you* shall judge your* fellow citizen with justice.

¹⁷ So the king said to the runners who were stationed around him, "Turn and kill the priests of Yahweh, because _⌊they also support David_⌋* and because they knew that he was fleeing and _⌊did not disclose it to me_⌋."* But the servants of the king were not willing to raise their hand to attack the priests of Yahweh.

²⁰ So then, O king, _⌊whenever you want_⌋* to come down, come down, and it will be for us to deliver him into the hand of the king."

²¹ Then they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the command of the king in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh.

¹² A ruler listening to a word of falsehood, all his officials are wicked.

²⁶ Many are those who seek the _⌊favor_⌋* of a ruler, but from Yahweh _⌊one obtains justice_⌋.*

¹⁸ And if not, let it be known to you, O king, that _⌊we will not serve your gods_⌋,* and the statue of gold* that you have set up we will not worship." ¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with anger and the image of his face was changed _⌊toward_⌋* Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, so he _⌊ordered and said_⌋* to heat up the one furnace seven times what was usual to heat it up. ²⁰ And he commanded _⌊the strongest men of the guards_⌋* who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. ²¹ Then these men were bound with their garments, their trousers and their turbans and their other clothing, and they were thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. ²² _⌊Therefore_⌋* _⌊because_⌋* the word of the king was severe and the furnace was exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed these men who lifted up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. ²³ But these men, the three of them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, fell down into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire, and they were bound. ²⁴ Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and he rose up in haste and he asked, saying to his advisers, "Did we not throw three men, bound, into the midst of the fire? They answered, saying to the king, "Certainly, O king!" ²⁵ _⌊He answered_⌋,* saying, "Look, I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and there is no damage to them, and the* appearance of the fourth man resembles the son of a god."

¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth.*

¹⁶ For you have observed the regulations of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab. And you have walked in their counsels, so that I am making you a desolation and your inhabitants an object of scorn. So you will bear the scorn of my people.

¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he* saw that he had been deceived by the wise men, became very angry, and he sent soldiers* and* executed all the children in Bethlehem and in all the region around it from the age of two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined precisely from the wise men.

¹⁹ But Peter and John answered and* said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you decide!

²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered and* said, "It is necessary to obey God rather than men!

⁸ So she wrote letters in the name of Ahab and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling with Naboth in his city. ⁹ She had written in the letters, saying, "Call a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. ¹⁰ Seat two men, _⌊scoundrels_⌋,* opposite him. Let them witness against him saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then you shall bring him out and stone him so that he dies."

¹⁶ "You shall not testify against your neighbor with a false witness.

¹¹ Then* the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the name, and he cursed, so* they brought him to Moses—and the name of his mother was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. ¹² Then* they put him in custody _⌊so that_⌋* the matter might be made clear to them in accordance with the mouth of Yahweh. ¹³ Then* Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁴ "Bring the curser _⌊outside the camp_⌋,* and all the hearers shall place their hands on his head, and the whole community shall stone him.

³⁵ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Surely the man must be put to death by stoning him; all the community must stone him with stones from outside the camp." ³⁶ So the entire community brought him out to a place outside the camp, and _⌊they stoned him to death_⌋* just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

²⁰ 'And you shall not falsely bear evidence against your neighbor.

¹⁰ And you shall stone him with stones and let him die, for he tried to seduce you from Yahweh your God, the one bringing you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

¹⁶ If _⌊a malicious witness_⌋* gets up _⌊to accuse_⌋* anyone to testify against him falsely, ¹⁷ then the two men _⌊to whom the legal dispute pertains_⌋* shall stand _⌊before_⌋* Yahweh, _⌊before_⌋* the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. ¹⁸ Then judges shall make a thorough inquiry, and if it turns out* that the witness is a false witness and he testified falsely against his brother, ¹⁹ then you shall do to him as he meant* to do to his brother, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst. ²⁰ _⌊And the rest_⌋* shall hear and shall fear, and _⌊they shall not continue to do such a thing again_⌋* as this evil thing in your midst. ²¹ _⌊You must show no pity_⌋:* life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

²¹ Then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones and let him die; and so you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all of Israel will hear, and they will fear.

²¹ and then they shall bring out the young woman to the doorway of the house of her father, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, and she shall die, because she did a disgraceful thing in Israel _⌊by playing the harlot_⌋* in the house of her father, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.

²⁴ then you shall bring out _⌊both of them_⌋* to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones so that they shall die, the young woman because she did not cry out in the town, and the man because* he violated his neighbor's wife; and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.

²⁴ Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his cattle and donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything that was his, and they brought them to the valley of Achor.* ²⁵ And Joshua said, "Why did you bring us trouble? Yahweh will bring you trouble on this day." And all Israel stoned them* with stones;* and they burned them with fire after they stoned them with stones.

²⁶ '"Since I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his children yesterday," declares Yahweh, "I will requite it for you in this tract of land," declares Yahweh.' So then lift him out and throw him on the tract of land according to the word of Yahweh."

⁵ _⌊Then when_⌋* the days of the feast had run their course, _⌊Job would send_⌋,* and he would sanctify them. Thus* he would arise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of all of them, because Job thought,* "Perhaps my children have sinned and _⌊cursed_⌋* God in their heart." This is what Job used to do _⌊all the time_⌋.*

¹¹ But,* on the other hand, stretch out* your hand and touch _⌊all that belongs to him_⌋* and see _⌊whether_⌋* he will _⌊curse_⌋* you to your face."

⁹ Then* his wife said to him, "Are you still persisting in your blamelessness? _⌊Curse_⌋* God and die."

¹² Do not give me over to the desire of my enemies, because false witnesses have arisen against me, and each breathing out violence.*

¹¹ Violent witnesses rise up; they ask me concerning what I do not know.

¹⁹ a false witness who breathes lies and sends out discord* between brothers.

⁵ A witness of falsehood will not go unpunished, and he who breathes lies will not escape.

⁹ A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes lies will perish.

¹⁸ Like a club and sword and a sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.

²⁰ Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse the rich even in your own bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry your voice; a winged messenger may repeat your words.

²¹ And it* will pass through it* distressed and hungry, and this shall happen: when it is hungry, it will be enraged, and it will curse its king and its gods,* and it will face upwar

¹⁰ Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam the king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to endure all of his words.

⁵ "Then I will approach you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear _⌊falsely_⌋,* and against the oppressors of the hired worker with his wages, the widow and the orphan, and _⌊the abusers of_⌋* the alien,* and yet do not fear me," says Yahweh of hosts.

³ And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming!"

⁵⁶ For many gave false testimony against him, and their* testimony was not consistent. ⁵⁷ And some stood up and* began to give false testimony* against him, saying, ⁵⁸ "We heard him saying, 'I will destroy this temple made by hands, and within three days I will build another not made by hands." ⁵⁹ And their testimony was not even consistent about this.

² And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us* to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying he himself is Christ, a king!"

¹² From this point on Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews shouted, saying, "If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar! Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar!"

⁵⁷ But crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and rushed at him with one purpose. ⁵⁸ And after they* had driven him* out of the city, they began to stone* him,* and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And they kept on stoning Stephen as he* was calling out and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

⁵ For we have found* this man to be a public menace and one who causes riots among all the Jews throughout the Roman Empire* and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,

¹⁴ And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die." ¹⁶ _⌊When Joab was besieging_⌋* the city, he put Uriah toward the place which he knew _⌊there were valiant warriors_⌋.* ¹⁷ The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸ Joab sent and told David all of the news of the battle. ¹⁹ He instructed the messenger, saying, "As you are finishing to speak all the news of the battle to the king, ²⁰ if the anger of the king rises and he says to you, 'Why did you go near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from atop the wall? ²¹ Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerub-bosheth,* if not a woman who threw an upper millstone on him from atop the wall and he died at Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' Then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.'" ²² Then the messenger left, and he came and told David all that Joab had sent him to say. ²³ The messenger said to David, "Because _⌊the men overpowered us_⌋,* the men came out to us in the field, but _⌊we forced them back_⌋* to the entrance of the gate. ²⁴ The archers shot at your servant from atop the wall, and some of the servants of the king died; your servant Uriah the Hittite also died."

⁸ Do not be surprised if you see the poor being oppressed with violence or do not see justice and righteousness in the province. For one official is watched by a higher official, and there are even higher officials over them!

¹⁴ There is a vanity that happens on earth: sometimes the righteous suffer what the wicked deserve, and sometimes the wicked receive what the righteous deserve. I said, "This also is vanity!"

⁷ Jezebel his wife said to him, "Now, you _⌊rule_⌋* over Israel. Get up, eat food, and let your heart be _⌊cheerful_⌋.* I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

¹⁰ My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent. ¹¹ If they say, "Come with us! We shall lie in wait for blood; we shall ambush the innocent without cause.* ¹² Like Sheol,* we will swallow them alive and whole, _⌊like those who descend to the pit_⌋.* ¹³ We shall find all precious wealth, we shall fill our houses with booty, ¹⁴ you shall throw your lot in our midst, there will be one purse for all of us." ¹⁵ My child, do not walk in their way.* Keep your foot from their paths, ¹⁶ for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood,

¹⁷ For they ate the bread of wickedness, and they drank the wine of violence.

¹³ Then David said to the young man who was reporting to him, "Where are you from?" And he said, "I am the son of an alien man. I am an Amalekite." ¹⁴ David said to him, "How is it that you were not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?" ¹⁵ Then David called to one of the young men and said to him, "Come near; strike him." So he struck him down and he died. ¹⁶ David said to him, "Your blood is on your head, for your mouth has testified against you by saying, 'I killed Yahweh's anointed one!'"

⁹ Then David answered Recab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, "_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋,* who redeemed my soul from all trouble, ¹⁰ when the one who told me, "Look, Saul is dead," _⌊thought that he was bringing good news_⌋,* I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was as my giving the news back to him. ¹¹ _⌊How much more_⌋* when wicked men kill a righteous man in his house, on his bed! So then, shall I not seek his lifeblood from your hand, so that I may destroy you from the earth?" ¹² Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them, and they cut off their hands and their feet, and they hung them at the pool at Hebron, but the head of Ish-Bosheth they took and buried in the grave of Abner at Hebron.

²⁵ Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, '_⌊Do not feel badly about this matter_⌋;* _⌊now one and then another_⌋* the sword will devour. Intensify your attack on the city and overthrow it.'" And he encouraged him. ²⁶ When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned over her husband. ²⁷ When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his household, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

¹⁵ David _⌊said longingly_⌋,* "_⌊Oh that someone would bring me a drink_⌋* of water from the well of Bethlehem that is at the gate." ¹⁶ So three of the mighty warriors broke into the camp of the Philistines, and they drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was at the gate, and they carried it and brought it to David. But he was not willing to drink it, but poured it out to Yahweh. ¹⁷ He said, "Far be it from me before Yahweh that I should do this. Is this not the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" So he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty warriors did.

¹⁸ When you see a thief, then you are pleased with him, and your association is with adulterers.

¹⁵ He who walks in righteousness and speaks uprightness, who rejects the gain of extortion, who _⌊refuses_⌋* a bribe, who stops up his ears* from hearing _⌊bloodshed_⌋* and shuts his eyes from seeing evil.

¹² But you should not have gloated* over your brother's day, on the day of his misfortune, and you should not have rejoiced over the _⌊people_⌋* of Judah on the day of their perishing, and you should not have opened your mouth wide on the day of distress. ¹³ You should not have entered the gate of my people on the day of their disaster. You also should not have gloated over his misery on the day of his disaster, and you should not have stretched out your hands on the day of his disaster. ¹⁴ And you should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives and you should not have handed over his survivors on the day of distress.

³² who, although they* know the requirements of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death, not only do they do the same things, but also they approve of those who do them.

¹⁵ By* leaving the straight path, they have gone astray, because they* followed the way of Balaam the son of Bosor,* who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

¹⁵ Then the angel of Yahweh spoke to Elijah, "Go down with him. Do not be afraid because of him." So he got up and went down with him to the king, ¹⁶ and he said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel from whom to inquire his word?—therefore the bed upon which you went, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die.'"

²⁶ Then he said to him, "Did not my heart go with you as the man turned from on his chariot to meet you? Is it time to take silver, clothes, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, male slaves, and female slaves?

¹² for he who _⌊avenges bloodshed_⌋* remembers them. He does not forget the distressed cry of the afflicted.

²¹ For look! Yahweh is about to come out from his place to punish the iniquity of the inhabitants* of the earth against him, and the earth will disclose her blood and will no longer cover her slain.

³² For surely, the thing which he proclaimed by the word of Yahweh against the altar which is in Bethel will happen, as it will against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria."

⁹ And he searched for Ahaziah and captured him. And he was hiding in Samaria. And they brought him to Jehu and put him to death. And they buried him, for they said, "He is the descendant* of Jehoshaphat, who sought Yahweh with his whole heart." And the house of Ahab had no one to exercise power over the kingdom.

¹¹ Then he* asked,* "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from _⌊the tree from which I forbade you to eat_⌋?"*

⁹ Then* Yahweh said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" ¹⁰ And he said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.

⁷ Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with _⌊their thumbs and big toes_⌋* cut off used to pick up scraps under my table; just as I have done, so God has repaid to me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁹ Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes?* Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the _⌊Ammonites_⌋!*

¹¹ Thus says Yahweh, 'Look, I am going to raise up evil against you from within your house, and I will take your women before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor, and he shall sleep with your wives _⌊in broad daylight_⌋.*

³⁸ They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood (now, the prostitutes washed themselves there) according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.

²⁵ He said to Bidkar his third servant, "Lift him out and throw him on the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, you and I were with the pair of chariots behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him: ²⁶ '"Since I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his children yesterday," declares Yahweh, "I will requite it for you in this tract of land," declares Yahweh.' So then lift him out and throw him on the tract of land according to the word of Yahweh."

¹⁰ And they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the anger of the king was abated.

¹⁵ He makes a pit and digs it out, then falls in the trap he has made. ¹⁶ His trouble comes back on his head, and his violence comes down on his skull.

¹⁶ Yahweh has made himself known; he has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his hands. Higgaion* Selah

¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. ¹¹ And people* will say, "Surely there is a _⌊reward_⌋* for the righteous. Surely there is a God who judges in the land."*

¹ And I said, "Listen, O heads of Jacob and leaders of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? ² Those of you who are haters of good and lovers of evil, who tear their skin from them and their flesh from their bones, ³ and who eat the flesh of my people, and strip their skin from them, and break their bones, and chop them like meat in the pot, and like flesh in the midst of a cooking pot." ⁴ Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time, when they have made their deeds evil.

⁹ Woe to him who obtains profit from evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be saved from the hand of misfortune!

¹² Woe to him who builds a city by bloodguilt, and who founds a city by wickedness!

² For by what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and by what measure you measure out, it will be measured out to you.

³⁰ But Ahab son of Omri did evil in the eyes of Yahweh more than all who were before him.

¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is this you who throws Israel into confusion?"

⁸ Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man to inquire from Yahweh, but I despise him, for he never prophesies anything good concerning me, but only bad: Micaiah the son of Imlah." Then Jehoshaphat said, "The king should not say so."

¹⁷ They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him.

² He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the detestable things of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from the presence of the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

⁷ Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom to seek Yahweh, but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, but _⌊always_⌋* disaster. He is Micaiah the son of Imlah." Then Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say thus."

¹⁷ Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not say to you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but only disaster?"

⁶ And he himself burned his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. And he practiced sorcery and divination, and he engaged in witchcraft and dealt with mediums and spiritists. And he did much evil in the eyes of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.

¹ Thus says Yahweh:
"Where is this divorce document of your mother's divorce, with which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.

³ For thus says Yahweh:
"You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money."

¹⁰ They hate the one who reproves in the gate and they abhor the one who speaks honestly.

¹² And they were seeking to arrest him, and they were afraid of the crowd, because they knew that he had told the parable with reference to them. And they left him and* went away.

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, _⌊sold into slavery to sin_⌋*.

¹⁶ So then, have I become your enemy by* being truthful to you?

¹⁹ who, becoming callous, gave themselves over to licentiousness, for the pursuit of all uncleanness in greediness.

¹⁰ And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them, and will celebrate and will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth.

⁵ You will not bow down to them, and you will not serve them, because I am Yahweh your God, a jealous God, punishing the guilt of the parents on the children on the third and on the fourth generations* of those hating me, ⁶ and showing loyal love to thousands of generations* of those loving me and of those keeping my commandments.

³⁶ For Yahweh will judge on behalf of his people, and concerning his servants; he will change his mind when he sees that their power has disappeared, and there is no one left, confined* or free.*

²² _⌊May God severely punish the enemies of David_⌋* and again do thus if I leave behind _⌊anything that is his_⌋* until the morning, not even _⌊one male_⌋!"*

³⁴ But _⌊as Yahweh lives_⌋,* the God of Israel who has prevented me from harming you, if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been _⌊one male_⌋* left alive for Nabal by the light of morning!"

¹⁰ Therefore, look, I am about to bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam, and I will cut off _⌊males_⌋* from Jeroboam, bond or free, in Israel. I will burn after the house of Jeroboam as one burns after the manure, until it is finished.

⁷ You will destroy the house of Ahab your master, and you will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all of the servants of Yahweh, from the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ All of the house of Ahab will perish, and I shall cut off _⌊all males_⌋* from Ahab, both bond and free. ⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah.

¹¹ Then Jehu killed all of the remainder of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all of his leaders, his close friends, and his priests, until there was no survivor left for him. ¹² Then he arose and went and came to Samaria. On the way, he was at Beth-Eked of the shepherds, ¹³ and Jehu met the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah. He asked, "Who are you?" They said, "We are the brothers of Ahaziah; we came down for the peace of the king's children and the children of the queen." ¹⁴ Then he said, "Seize them alive!" So they seized them alive but then slaughtered them at the cistern of Beth-Eked, forty-two men. He did not allow any of them to survive.

¹⁷ Then he came to Samaria and killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria until he wiped them out according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to Elijah.

³⁰ Yahweh said to Jehu, "Because you have done well by doing right in my eyes and you have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart; therefore, sons of the fourth generation will sit for you on the throne of Israel."

²⁶ For Yahweh saw that the misery of Israel was very bitter, whether bond or free, but there was no helper for Israel.

³⁰ This thing became a sin, and the people walked before the one as far as Dan.

¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of the sin of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he caused Israel to sin."

²⁹ It happened that as soon as he became king, he killed all of the house of Jeroboam. There was no one left of Jeroboam who breathed, until he had destroyed him according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servant, Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ because of the sins of Jeroboam that he had committed and that he had caused Israel to commit and because of his anger with which he had provoked Yahweh the God of Israel.

³⁴ He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin that he caused Israel to commit.

³ I am now about to consume Baasha and his house. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¹¹ It happened that as soon as he became king, at the moment he sat on his throne, he killed all of the house of Baasha. He left _⌊no males_⌋* among his kindred or any of his friends.

²⁶ He went in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins that he caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh the God of Israel with their idols.

¹⁰ The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and there shall not be _⌊anyone to bury her_⌋.'"* Then he opened the door and fled.

³⁰ When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, so she painted her eyes with black eye paint and adorned her head and looked through the window. ³¹ Now Jehu had come in the gate, so she said, "Is it peace, O Zimri, murderer of his master?" ³² When he lifted up his face to the window, he asked, "Who is with me?" Two or three eunuchs looked down to him. ³³ So he said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. ³⁴ Then he came and ate and drank, and said, "Please take care of this cursed one and bury her, for she is the daughter of a king." ³⁵ When they went to bury her, they could not find her, except the skull, the feet, and the palms of the hands. ³⁶ They returned and told him, and he said, "This is the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'On the plot of ground of Jezreel, the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.'" ³⁷ So the dead body of Jezebel became dung on the surface spread on the field in the plot of ground of Jezreel, so one cannot say, "This is Jezebel."

¹¹ He who dies for Jeroboam in the city, the dogs will eat. He who dies in the open field, the birds from the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken it." '

⁴ Those who die for Baasha in the city, the dogs will eat; those who die for him in the field, the birds of the heavens will eat."

¹⁹ But as for you, you are thrown away from your grave, like an abhorrent shoot, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, those who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse that is trodden down.

³ "And I will summon* over them four types of calamity," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds* of the air and the wild animals* of the earth to devour and to destroy.

⁴ And I will throw you on the ground; on the surface of the open field I will hurl you, and I will cause every bird of the heaven to dwell on you, and I will satisfy the animals* of all of the world from you. ⁵ And I will put your flesh on the mountains, and I will fill the valleys with your carcass.

¹⁸ Flesh of warriors you will eat, and the blood of leaders of the land you will drink; rams, young rams and goats, bulls, and the fattened animals of Bashan—all of them! ¹⁹ And you will eat fat _⌊until you are satiated_⌋,* and you will drink blood _⌊until you are drunk_⌋* from my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, ²⁰ and you will be satisfied at my table with horse and horsemen and warriors and every man of war," ' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁸ in order that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of military tribunes, and the flesh of the powerful, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, and small and great!"

¹ King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, Hittite; ² from the nations which Yahweh had said to the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* "You shall not _⌊marry them_⌋,* and they shall not _⌊marry you_⌋.* They will certainly turn your heart after other gods." But Solomon clung to them to love. ³ He had seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart. ⁴ It happened at the time of Solomon's old age that his wives guided his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully with Yahweh his God as the heart of David his father had been.

³⁰ But Ahab son of Omri did evil in the eyes of Yahweh more than all who were before him. ³¹ _⌊If it wasn't enough that he went_⌋* after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he also took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal the king of the Sidonians. He went and served Baal and bowed down to him. ³² And he built an altar to Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria. ³³ Ahab also made the sacred pole, and _⌊he continued to provoke_⌋* Yahweh the God of Israel more than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

²⁰ Then Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" He said, "I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

²⁵ There was not a king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all of his heart and with all of his soul and with all of his might according to the law* of Moses, nor did one arise like him afterwards.

¹⁴ A deep pit is the mouth of an _⌊adulteress_⌋,* he with whom Yahweh is angry will fall there.

²⁶ I myself found that more bitter than death is the woman who is a trap, whose heart is a snare, and whose hands are bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent and* arrested John and bound him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not permitted for you to have your brother's wife." ¹⁹ So Herodias held a grudge against him and was wanting to kill him, and was not able to do so. ²⁰ For Herod was afraid of John, because he* knew him to be a righteous and holy man and protected him. And when he* listened to him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he listened to him gladly. ²¹ And a suitable day came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers and military tribunes and the most prominent men of Galilee. ²² And when* the daughter of Herodias herself* came in and danced and pleased* Herod and _⌊his dinner guests_⌋,* the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it* to you." ²³ And he swore to her,* "Anything whatever you ask me for I will give you, up to half my kingdom!" ²⁴ And she went out and* said to her mother, "What should I ask for?" And she said, "The head of John the baptizer." ²⁵ And she came in immediately with haste to the king and* asked, saying, "I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately." ²⁶ And although he* was deeply grieved, the king, because of his* oaths and _⌊dinner guests_⌋,* did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ And immediately the king sent an executioner and* ordered him* to bring his head. And he went and* beheaded him in the prison.

¹² And they incited the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came up and* seized him and brought him* to the Sanhedrin.*

² But the Jews who were disobedient stirred up and _⌊poisoned the minds_⌋* of the Gentiles against the brothers.

¹⁹ (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you presented your members as slaves to immorality and lawlessness, leading to lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification.

¹⁶ And the fourth generation shall return here, for the guilt of the Amorites _⌊is not yet complete_⌋."*

²⁵ So* the land became unclean, and _⌊I have brought the punishment of_⌋* its guilt upon it, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But* you (neither the native nor* the alien who is dwelling in your midst) shall keep my statutes and my regulations, and you shall not _⌊practice_⌋* any of these detestable things ²⁷ (because the people of the land, who were _⌊before you_⌋,* did all these detestable things, so the land became unclean), ²⁸ so that the land will not vomit you out when you make it unclean just as it vomited out the nation that was _⌊before you_⌋.* ²⁹ Indeed, anyone who does any of these detestable things, even* those persons who do so shall be cut off from the midst of their people. ³⁰ Thus* you shall keep my obligation to not do any of the statutes _⌊regarding_⌋* the detestable things that they did _⌊before you_⌋,* so that you will not make yourselves unclean by them; I am Yahweh your God.'"

²² " 'And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations, and you shall do them, so that* the land, to which I am bringing you to inhabit it, shall not vomit you out. ²³ And you shall not follow the statutes of the nation that I am driving out _⌊from before you_⌋,* because they did all these things, and I detested them.

³¹ You must not do so toward Yahweh your God, because of every detestable thing they have done for their gods Yahweh hates, for even their sons and their daughters they would burn in the fire to their gods.

¹² He put away the male shrine prostitutes from the land, and he removed all of the idols that his ancestors* made.

³ He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even let his son pass through the fire according to the detestable things of the nations which Yahweh drove out from before the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

¹² They served idols which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this thing!"

¹¹ "Because Manasseh the king of Judah committed these detestable things and did evil more than the Amorites did who were before him and caused even Judah to sin with his idols,

⁸ And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the vile idols from all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of Yahweh that was in front of the portico of Yahweh.

² And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to the detestable things of the nations whom Yahweh drove out before the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

⁹ And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

¹⁴ All the leaders of the priests and the people likewise increased in unfaithfulness according to all the detestable things of the nations. And they polluted the house of Yahweh that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹¹ which you commanded by the hand of your servants the prophets saying, 'The land that you are entering to possess is a land of impurity with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their detestable things which they have filled from end to end with their uncleanness. ¹² Therefore, do not give your daughters to their sons, and do not take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek their peace and prosperity so that forever you may be strong and eat the good of the land and may give it as an inheritance to your sons.'

³⁵ but they mingled with the nations and learned their works, ³⁶ and served their idols, which became* a snare to them. ³⁷ They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons, ³⁸ and they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and so the land was defiled with the blood.* ³⁹ And they became unclean by their works, and were unfaithful in their deeds.

⁴ _⌊who sit_⌋* in graves and spend the night in _⌊secret places_⌋,* _⌊who eat_⌋* the flesh of swine with* a fragment* of impurity in their vessels,

¹⁸ And _⌊I will first doubly repay_⌋* their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodies* of their abhorrences, and with their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.'"

⁴ And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, _⌊sending over and over again_⌋,* _⌊saying_⌋,* "Please, you must not do this detestable thing that I hate."

⁴⁷ And you have not only gone in their ways, but* you also did according to their detestable things. _⌊In such a short time_⌋* you behaved more corruptly than they in all of your ways.

¹² He oppresses the needy and the poor, and _⌊he commits robbery_⌋,* and he does not return a pledge for a loan, and he lifts his eyes to the idols so he does a detestable thing.

³ For the time that has passed was sufficient _⌊to do what the Gentiles desire to do_⌋*, having lived in licentiousness, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and wanton idolatries,

⁸ But as for the cowards and unbelievers and detestable persons and murderers and sexually immoral people and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their share is in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.

³⁴ And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.

³¹ David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothing and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." Now King David was following after the bier.

¹⁶ David pleaded with God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his household stood over him to lift him up from the ground, but he was not willing, and he did not eat any food with them.

³⁰ It happened that when the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he had been walking on the wall, and the people saw, and behold, sackcloth was over his flesh underneath.

³⁷ Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with torn clothes, and they told him the words of the chief commander.

¹⁵ "I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and I have inserted _⌊my pride_⌋* in the dust.

¹² And the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, called on that day
for weeping and mourning, and for baldness and girding _⌊with_⌋* sackcloth.

¹⁵ What can I say? For* he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

⁵ Is the fast I choose like this, a day for humankind to humiliate _⌊himself_⌋*? To bow his head like a reed, and _⌊make_⌋* his bed on sackcloth and ashes; you call this a fast and a day of pleasure to Yahweh? ⁶ Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice, to untie the ropes of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and _⌊tear_⌋* every yoke to pieces? ⁷ Is it not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring _⌊home_⌋* the poor, the homeless. When you see the naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your _⌊relatives_⌋.* ⁸ Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall grow quickly. And your salvation shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard.

¹³ Gird yourselves and lament, O priests! Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because offering and libation are withheld from the house of your God.

⁶ And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.

³ And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, 'Until when will you refuse to submit before me? Release my people so that they may serve me.

³³ So he said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her.

⁴⁴ as soon as _⌊they heard_⌋,* they obeyed me. The children of a foreign land feigned obedience before me.

³ Say to God, "How awesome are your works! Because of the greatness of your strength, your enemies will cringe before you.

³⁴ When he killed some of them, then they sought him, and repented and earnestly sought God. ³⁵ And they remembered that God was their rock, and God Most High their redeemer. ³⁶ But they enticed him with their mouth and lied to him with their tongue. ³⁷ For their heart was not steadfast with him, nor were they faithful to his covenant.

¹⁵ But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, _⌊slow to anger_⌋* and abundant in loyal love and faithfulness.

¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰ "And you, son of man,* say to the house of Israel, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'So you said, _⌊saying_⌋,* "Indeed, our transgressions and our sins are on us, and because of them we are rotting, and how can we live?" ' ¹¹ Say to them, '_⌊As I live_⌋,'* _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, '_⌊Surely I have no delight_⌋* in the death of the wicked, _⌊except_⌋* in the wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil ones, for why should you die, house of Israel?'

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, forgiving sin and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, for he delights in loyal love.

⁴⁴ And turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered into your house. You did not give me water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them* with her hair.

⁴ Or do you despise the wealth of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

⁹ The Lord is not delaying the promise, as some consider slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he* does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.