2 Kings 22 Cross References - LEB

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. ² He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in all of the way of David his ancestor* and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³ It happened in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent word to Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the secretary of the temple of Yahweh, saying, ⁴ "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let them count the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, ⁵ and let them give it into the hand of those appointed doers of the work at the temple of Yahweh. Let them give it to the doers of the work who are at the temple of Yahweh to repair the breach of the temple: ⁶ to the skilled craftsmen, to the builders, to the masons, and to buy timber and hewing stones to repair the temple. ⁷ Only the money being given to them is not to be accounted for by them, for they are dealing with honesty." ⁸ Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple of Yahweh," and Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. ⁹ Shaphan the secretary came to the king and returned the king a word, and he said, "Your servant poured out the money found in the temple, and they have given it into the hand of the doers of the work appointed over the temple of Yahweh." ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll." Then Shaphan read before the king. ¹¹ When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes. ¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Acbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, ¹³ "Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and for the people and for all of Judah concerning the words of this scroll that was found. For the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us is great because our ancestors* did not listen to the words of this scroll to do according to all that is written concerning us!" ¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah the son of Harhas, the keeper of the robes. Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district. Then they spoke to her, ¹⁵ and she said to them, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Say to the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ "Thus says Yahweh, 'Look I am bringing evil to this place and upon its inhabitants, according to all of the words of that scroll that the king of Judah has read ¹⁷ because they have abandoned me and they have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all of the works of their hands. My wrath shall be kindled against this place and not be quenched.'" ¹⁸ And to the king of Judah who sent all of you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall say to him, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Concerning the words that you have heard, ¹⁹ because you have a responsive heart, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants to become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before my face, I have also heard, declares Yahweh. ²⁰ Therefore look, I am gathering you to your ancestors,* and you shall be gathered to your tombs in peace. Your eyes will not see all of the disaster that I am bringing onto this place.'" '" Then they _⌊reported the word_⌋* to the king.

³⁹ Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,

² Then he proclaimed against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, "O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: 'Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.'"

²¹ * Jehoash was _⌊seven years old_⌋* when he began to reign.

¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hephzibah.

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the ways of David his ancestor* and did not deviate to the right or to the left. ³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of David his ancestor.* And in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherahs, the idols, and the images. ⁴ And he destroyed before him the altars for the Baals, and he cut down the incense stands above them. And the Asherahs, the idols, and the images he smashed. And he ground them to powder and sprinkled the dust over the burial sites of those who sacrificed to them. ⁵ And he burned the bones of the priests on the altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, ⁷ he broke down the altars and the Asherahs and crushed the idols, grinding them to dust, and he cut down all the incense stands in all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. ⁸ Now in the eighteenth year of his reign after he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the commander of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God. ⁹ And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave the money that was brought for the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the whole remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen who were appointed in the house of Yahweh, and they in turn gave it to those doing the work who were at work in the house of Yahweh, to repair and restore the house. ¹¹ And they dispensed* it to the skilled craftsmen and the builders to buy stone for hewing and timber for the seams and for binding the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹² And the men did the work faithfully. Over them as supervisors were appointed Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites. And other Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song, ¹³ were over the porters and were directing all who worked _⌊on each task_⌋.* And some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers. ¹⁴ And when they brought out the money that had been brought to the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses. ¹⁵ And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found a scroll of the law in the house of Yahweh!" Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan. ¹⁶ And Shaphan brought the scroll to the king and _⌊also informed_⌋* the king, saying, "All that was put into the hand of your servants they are doing. ¹⁷ They have dispensed* the money which was found in the house of Yahweh and have put it into the hand of the overseers and those doing the work." ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the scribe reported to the king, "Hilkiah the priest gave to me a scroll." Then Shaphan read from it before the king. ¹⁹ And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments, ²⁰ and the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, ²¹ "Go! Seek Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the scroll that was found, for the anger of Yahweh that was poured out on us is great, because our ancestors* have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do all that is written in this scroll." ²² Then Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments. (Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district.) And they spoke to her concerning this. ²³ And she said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Say to the man who sent you all to me: ²⁴ "Thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, I am bringing disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants—all the curses written in the scroll that were read before the king of Judah— ²⁵ because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods so as to provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. And my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.' ²⁶ But to the king of Judah who sent you to seek Yahweh, thus shall you say to him: 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: As for the words which you heard, ²⁷ because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants and you humbled yourself before me and tore your garments and wept before me, now I also have heard,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ²⁸ 'Behold, I will gather you to your ancestors,* and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see any of the disaster that I am bringing upon this place.'" '" ²⁹ Then they sent word to the king, and he gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ And the king went up to the house of Yahweh with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites—all the people from great to small—and they read in their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that was found in the house of Yahweh. ³¹ And the king stood at his position. And he made the covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh and to keep his commands and statutes and regulations with all his heart and with all his soul, to do the words of the covenant that were written on this scroll. ³² Then he obligated* all who were found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would do according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.* ³³ And Josiah removed all the detestable things from the whole land that belonged to the _⌊Israelites_⌋* and obligated* all who were found in Israel to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they did not turn aside from following* Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.*

² From the mouth of children and infants you have founded* strength on account of your enemies, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁶ Woe to you, O land, when your king is a youth and your princes feast in the morning.

⁴ And I will make boys their princes, and children shall rule over them.

² to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

¹ The word of Yahweh that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

¹⁰ and Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh became the father of Amon,* and Amon became the father of Josiah,

³² "So you must be careful to do just as Yahweh your God commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left.

⁷ Only be strong and very courageous _⌊to observe diligently the whole law_⌋* that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn aside from it, to the right or left, so that you may succeed _⌊wherever you go_⌋.*

⁶ Then Solomon said, "You have shown great loyal love with your servant David my father, as he walked before you in faithfulness and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you. You have shown for him this great loyal love, and you have given a son to him who is sitting on his throne as it is this day.

³⁸ It shall be that if you listen to all that I command you and you walk in my ways and you do right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and I will build an enduring house for you as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

⁵ because David did right in the eyes of Yahweh and he didn't turn aside from all that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

² Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do right in the eyes of Yahweh his God as David his ancestor.*

³ He did right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that David his ancestor* had done.

³ And Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of David his father and did not seek after the Baals,

² And he did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done.

²⁷ Do not swerve right or left; remove your foot from evil.

¹¹ Even by his acts, a _⌊young man_⌋* will make himself known, whether his acts are pure and upright.

¹⁴ "And look! He has a son, and he sees all of the sin of his father that he did, and he sees it, but he does not do it. ¹⁵ On the mountains he does not eat, and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile. ¹⁶ And he oppresses no one; he requires no pledge for a loan, and _⌊he does not commit robbery_⌋;* he gives his bread to the hungry, and he covers the naked person with a garment. ¹⁷ He brings back* his hand from iniquity;* he does not take interest and usury; he does my regulations; he goes* in my statutes. He will not die because of the guilt of his father; he will surely live!

⁴ Jehoash said to the priests, "All of the money for the sacred things that is brought to the temple of Yahweh, _⌊the money taxed at its proper value for each person_⌋* and all of the money which comes upon the heart of a man to bring to the temple of Yahweh,

⁸ So the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the damage to the temple. ⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple. ¹⁰ It happened that when they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of Yahweh. ¹¹ They placed the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid it to the skilled craftsmen of wood and to the builders working on the temple of Yahweh

¹³ Shallum fathered Hilkiah; Hilkiah fathered Azariah;

¹¹ Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the commander of the house of God;

¹⁹ And Shallum the son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his kinsmen of the house of his fathers, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, the guardians of the entrances to the tent, and their fathers were over the camp of Yahweh, guardians of the entrance.

¹³ And they cast lots, small and great alike, by their fathers' houses, _⌊for their gates_⌋.* ¹⁴ And the lot fell to the east to Shelemiah. As for Zechariah his son, _⌊a wise counselor_⌋,* they cast lots. And his lot came out for the north. ¹⁵ To Obed-Edom went out the south, and to his sons, the storehouses. ¹⁶ For Shuppim and Hosah it went out for the west, at the gate of Shalleketh, on the road that goes up, guard for guard. ¹⁷ To the east, six Levites; to the north, four daily; to the south, four daily; and at the storerooms, two by two. ¹⁸ For the court to the west, four at the road, two at the court. ¹⁹ These were the working groups of the gatekeepers among the sons of the Korahites and among the sons of Merari.

¹⁴ And in accord with the ordinance of David his father he appointed working groups of priests for their service, Levites for their responsibilities for praise and cultic service before the priests _⌊according to the daily requirement_⌋,* and the gatekeepers in their working groups, gate by gate. For thus David the man of God had commanded.

⁸ Then the king commanded, and they made a chest and put it at the gate outside the house of Yahweh. ⁹ And _⌊they issued a proclamation_⌋* in Judah and in Jerusalem to bring to Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God had levied upon Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and they brought their tax and threw it into the chest until it was finished. ¹¹ And whenever he brought the chest to the appointee of the king by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money in it, then the secretary of the king and the officer of the chief priest came and emptied the chest, then they took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance. ¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh. And they hired stonemasons and skilled craftsmen to restore the house of Yahweh, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh.

⁹ And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave the money that was brought for the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the whole remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen who were appointed in the house of Yahweh, and they in turn gave it to those doing the work who were at work in the house of Yahweh, to repair and restore the house. ¹¹ And they dispensed* it to the skilled craftsmen and the builders to buy stone for hewing and timber for the seams and for binding the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹² And the men did the work faithfully. Over them as supervisors were appointed Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites. And other Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song, ¹³ were over the porters and were directing all who worked _⌊on each task_⌋.* And some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers. ¹⁴ And when they brought out the money that had been brought to the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses. ¹⁵ And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found a scroll of the law in the house of Yahweh!" Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan. ¹⁶ And Shaphan brought the scroll to the king and _⌊also informed_⌋* the king, saying, "All that was put into the hand of your servants they are doing. ¹⁷ They have dispensed* the money which was found in the house of Yahweh and have put it into the hand of the overseers and those doing the work." ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the scribe reported to the king, "Hilkiah the priest gave to me a scroll." Then Shaphan read from it before the king.

¹⁹ The gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers, the keepers of the gates, one hundred and seventy-two.

¹⁰ Because better is a day in your courtyards than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be at the threshold of the house* of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

⁴¹ And he sat down opposite the contribution box and* was observing how the crowd was putting coins into the contribution box. And many rich people were putting in many coins.* ⁴² And one poor widow came and* put in two small copper coins* (that is, a penny).*

⁵ let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurers, and let them repair the breach of the temple for every place where damage is found."

¹¹ They placed the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid it to the skilled craftsmen of wood and to the builders working on the temple of Yahweh ¹² and to the masons and the stonecutters, to buy timber and stones for hewing, in order to repair the damage of the temple of Yahweh, and for all who went to the temple to repair it. ¹³ Only, for the temple of Yahweh, there were not any silver basins, snuffers, bowls for drinking wine, trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver from the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh. ¹⁴ For they gave that to all the workers, and they repaired the temple* of Yahweh with it.

⁷ For the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had used all the holy vessels of the house of Yahweh for the Baals.

¹² And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh. And they hired stonemasons and skilled craftsmen to restore the house of Yahweh, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh. ¹³ So those doing the work labored, and the restoration for the work made progress under their hand. And they restored the house of God to its position and strengthened it.

²⁷ And as for his sons, the many oracles against him, and his repair of the foundation of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the scroll of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

⁷ So they gave money to the stone craftsmen and skilled craftsmen, and food, drink, and olive oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the authorization over them of Cyrus king of Persia.

⁵ And they said to Moses, saying, "The people are _⌊bringing more_⌋* than enough for the service of the work that Yahweh has commanded _⌊to be done_⌋."* ⁶ And Moses commanded, and they _⌊proclaimed the message_⌋* in the camp, saying, "Let no man or woman again make anything for the sanctuary contribution." And so the people were restrained from bringing.

¹⁵ They did not have to settle accounts with the men into whose hands they placed the money to give to the workers, for they were dealing honestly.

¹⁴ And when they had finished, they brought the remainder of the money before the king and Jehoiada, and they used it for objects for the house of Yahweh, objects for the service and the burnt offerings, dishes, and objects of gold and silver. And they were offering burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh regularly, all the days of Jehoiada.

² I gave command over Jerusalem to my brother Hanani and Hananiah the commander of the citadel. For he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.

²⁰ A man of faithfulness has abundant blessings, but he who hurries to become rich will not go unpunished.

¹⁰ "The one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. ¹¹ If then you have not been faithful with unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?* ¹² And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you your own?

² In this case, moreover, it is sought in stewards that one be found faithful.

²⁰ We are trying to avoid this, lest anyone should find fault with us in this abundant gift that is being administered by us. ²¹ For we are taking into consideration what is honorable not only before the Lord, but also before people.

² and the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these things to faithful people who will be competent to teach others also.

⁵ Dear friend, you act faithfully* in whatever you do for the brothers, _⌊even though they are strangers_⌋*.

²⁴ _⌊And then when Moses finished writing_⌋* the words of this law on the scroll _⌊until they were complete_⌋,* ²⁵ then Moses commanded the Levites carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, _⌊saying_⌋,* ²⁶ "Take the scroll of this law and put it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, and it will be there as a witness against you.

¹⁴ And when they brought out the money that had been brought to the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses. ¹⁵ And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found a scroll of the law in the house of Yahweh!" Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan. ¹⁶ And Shaphan brought the scroll to the king and _⌊also informed_⌋* the king, saying, "All that was put into the hand of your servants they are doing. ¹⁷ They have dispensed* the money which was found in the house of Yahweh and have put it into the hand of the overseers and those doing the work." ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the scribe reported to the king, "Hilkiah the priest gave to me a scroll." Then Shaphan read from it before the king. ¹⁹ And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments, ²⁰ and the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, ²¹ "Go! Seek Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the scroll that was found, for the anger of Yahweh that was poured out on us is great, because our ancestors* have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do all that is written in this scroll." ²² Then Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments. (Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district.) And they spoke to her concerning this. ²³ And she said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Say to the man who sent you all to me: ²⁴ "Thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, I am bringing disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants—all the curses written in the scroll that were read before the king of Judah— ²⁵ because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods so as to provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. And my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.' ²⁶ But to the king of Judah who sent you to seek Yahweh, thus shall you say to him: 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: As for the words which you heard, ²⁷ because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants and you humbled yourself before me and tore your garments and wept before me, now I also have heard,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ²⁸ 'Behold, I will gather you to your ancestors,* and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see any of the disaster that I am bringing upon this place.'" '"

¹⁸ Then they called to the king, so Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.

³ It happened in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent word to Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the secretary of the temple of Yahweh, saying,

¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Acbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying,

²² Now as far as the people left in Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left behind, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan over them.

²⁴ However, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hand of the people to put him to death.

³ by the hand of Elasah, the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to Babylon, _⌊saying_⌋,*

¹⁰ Then Baruch read aloud from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh, in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, the secretary, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple of Yahweh in the hearing of all the people. ¹¹ When Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Yahweh from the scroll, ¹² he went down to the house of the king, to the chamber of the secretary, and look, all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

¹⁴ And they sent and took Jeremiah from the courtyard of the guard and gave him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him to the house, so he stayed in the midst of the people.

¹¹ And also all the Judeans who were in Moab, and among the _⌊Ammonites_⌋,* and in Edom, and who were in all the lands, when they heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, in an official position over them,

² And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got up, _⌊along with_⌋* the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land.

¹¹ And seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, was standing in the midst of them, and they were standing _⌊before them_⌋.* Each one had his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of the cloud of the incense was going up.

¹⁸ "_⌊And then_⌋* _⌊when he is sitting_⌋* on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll _⌊before_⌋* the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ And it shall be with him, and he shall read it* all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by _⌊diligently observing_⌋* all the word of this law and these rules, ²⁰ so as not to exalt his heart above his countrymen* and not to turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that _⌊he may reign long over his kingdom_⌋,* he and his children in the midst of Israel."

⁹ So Moses wrote this law, and he gave it to the priests, the descendants* of Levi, the ones carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ Then Moses commanded them, _⌊saying_⌋,* "At the end of seven years, in the time of the year for canceling debts during the Feast of Booths, ¹¹ _⌊when all Israel comes to appear before_⌋* Yahweh their God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel _⌊in their hearing_⌋.* ¹² Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little children and your aliens that are in your _⌊towns_⌋,* so that they may hear and so that they may learn and they may revere Yahweh your God, and _⌊they shall diligently observe_⌋* all the words of this law. ¹³ And then their children,* who have not known, they too may hear, and they may learn to revere Yahweh their God all the days _⌊that you live_⌋* on the land that you are crossing the Jordan _⌊to get there_⌋* to take possession of it."

¹⁸ Then Shaphan the scribe reported to the king, "Hilkiah the priest gave to me a scroll." Then Shaphan read from it before the king.

¹ All of the people gathered as one to the public square before the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law* of Moses that Yahweh had commanded Israel. ² So Ezra the priest brought the law* before the assembly for each man and woman to hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. ³ He read from it facing the public square before the Water Gate from dawn until noon that day, opposite the men, women, and those with understanding. The ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.* ⁴ Then Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium that had been made for the occasion. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right. On his left was Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. ⁵ Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, because he was above all of the people. When he opened it all the people stood up. ⁶ Then Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God, and all of the people answered, "Amen! Amen!" while lifting their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped Yahweh with their noses to the ground. ⁷ And Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites were teaching the people from the law* while the people were in their places.

¹⁴ They found written in the law,* which Yahweh had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the _⌊Israelites_⌋* should live in booths during the festival of the seventh month, ¹⁵ and that they should proclaim and give voice in all of their cities in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the hill and bring olive tree branches, olive oil wood branches, myrtle shrub branches, palm tree branches, and other leafy tree branches to make booths, as it is written."

¹⁸ And he read from the scroll of the law* of God day by day from the first day up to the last day. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly according to the rule.

¹ On that day the book of Moses was read in the hearing of the people and it was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God

¹⁸ "Say to the king and to the queen mother, '_⌊Take a lower seat_⌋,* for _⌊your beautiful crown_⌋* has come down from your head.'*

¹ Thus says Yahweh: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and you must speak this word there. ² And you must say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter through these gates.

⁶ So you must go and you shall read aloud from the scroll that you have written from my mouth the words of Yahweh in the hearing of the people in the temple of Yahweh on a day of fast, and also you shall read aloud in the hearing of all those of Judah who came from their towns.

¹⁵ And they said to him, "Sit please and read it aloud in our hearing." So Baruch read aloud in their hearing.

²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and Jehudi read it aloud in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the officials who stood next to the king.

⁶ And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.*

¹⁹ because you have a responsive heart, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants to become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before my face, I have also heard, declares Yahweh.

¹⁹ And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments,

²⁴ And the king and any of his servants who heard all these words were not startled, and they did not tear their garments.

¹³ Rend your hearts* and not your garments, and return to Yahweh your God, because he is gracious and compassionate, _⌊slow to anger_⌋* and great in loyal love, and relenting from harm.

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. ⁷ And he had a proclamation made, and said,
"In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles:
"No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water!

² He sent Eliakim who was over the palace, Shebna the secretary, the elders, and the priests, all clothed in sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'A day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace is this day, for the children _⌊are about to be born_⌋,* but there is no strength to bear them.

⁹ Shaphan the secretary came to the king and returned the king a word, and he said, "Your servant poured out the money found in the temple, and they have given it into the hand of the doers of the work appointed over the temple of Yahweh."

¹⁹ And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments, ²⁰ and the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, ²¹ "Go! Seek Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the scroll that was found, for the anger of Yahweh that was poured out on us is great, because our ancestors* have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do all that is written in this scroll."

¹ And this happened: When King Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the temple* of Yahweh. ² And he sent Eliakim, who was _⌊in charge of_⌋* the palace,* and Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests _⌊covered_⌋* with sackcloth to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. ³ And they said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah: 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the cervical opening, and there is no strength to give birth. ⁴ Maybe Yahweh your God heard the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to taunt the living God, and he will rebuke the words that Yahweh your God hears. And you must lift up a prayer for the benefit of the remnant that is found.'"

²² Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt. Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and men with him went to Egypt.

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,

²³ Watch out for yourselves so that you do not forget the covenant of Yahweh your God that he had _⌊made_⌋* with you and make for yourselves a divine image of the form of anything that Yahweh your God _⌊has forbidden_⌋,* ²⁴ for Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous* God. ²⁵ "When you have had children and _⌊grandchildren_⌋* and you have grown old in the land and you act corruptly and you make a divine image of the form of anything and you do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God, thus provoking him to anger, ²⁶ I call* to witness against you today the heaven and the earth, that you will perish soon and completely from the land that you are crossing the Jordan into it to take possession of it; _⌊you will not live long on it_⌋,* but you will be completely destroyed. ²⁷ And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left _⌊few in number_⌋* among the nations _⌊to where Yahweh will lead you_⌋.*

²³ 'All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, _⌊none of its land will be sown_⌋,* and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.' ²⁴ And all the nations will say, '_⌊Why_⌋* has Yahweh done _⌊such a thing_⌋* to this land? What caused the fierceness of this great anger?' ²⁵ And they will say,* 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,* which he _⌊made_⌋* with them _⌊when he brought them out_⌋* from the land of Egypt. ²⁶ And they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know them and he* had not allotted to them. ²⁷ So _⌊the anger of Yahweh was kindled_⌋* against that land to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll, ²⁸ and Yahweh uprooted them from their land in anger and in wrath and in great fury, and he cast them into another land, _⌊just as it is today_⌋.'*

¹⁷ And _⌊my anger shall flare up against them_⌋* on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they* shall become as prey, and disasters and troubles shall find* them,* and they* shall say on that day, 'Is it not because our* God is not in our* midst that these disasters have found* us?'* ¹⁸ But I will certainly hide my face on that day, because of all of the evil that they* did because they* turned to other gods.

⁷ So Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might still inquire from him?" 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."

¹¹ Then Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might inquire guidance from Yahweh?" One of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah."*

¹³ So Saul died on account of his sin which he had sinned against Yahweh concerning the command of Yahweh that he did not keep. He also consulted a medium to seek guidance. ¹⁴ But he did not seek Yahweh. So Yahweh put him to death and turned over the kingship to David, the son of Jesse.

⁶ For our ancestors* acted unfaithfully and did evil in the sight of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him and turned away their faces from the dwelling place of Yahweh. _⌊They have turned their backs_⌋* on it.

²¹ "Go! Seek Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the scroll that was found, for the anger of Yahweh that was poured out on us is great, because our ancestors* have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do all that is written in this scroll."

⁸ So they read the book from the law* of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that they could understand the reading. ⁹ Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all of the people, "This day is holy to Yahweh your God. Do not mourn nor weep." For all of the people wept when they heard the words of the law.*

³ They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law* of Yahweh their God for a fourth part of the day, and for a fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God.

¹⁴ Intimate fellowship with Yahweh is for those who fear him, and he makes known his covenant to them.

⁷ _⌊You, indeed, are to be feared_⌋,* and who can stand before you when you are angry? *

⁶ We have sinned along with our ancestors.* We have committed iniquity; we have incurred guilt.

⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will straighten your paths.

¹² And _⌊you have behaved badly_⌋* more than your ancestors,* and look, you are going each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to me.

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, _⌊saying_⌋,* ² "Please inquire of Yahweh on behalf of us, for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh will do with us according to all his miraculous acts, so that he may go up from against us."

¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent and fetched him. And the king questioned him in secrecy in his house, and he said, "Is there a word from Yahweh?" And Jeremiah said, "There is." And he said, "You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon."

¹⁷ But certainly we will do _⌊everything_⌋* that went out from our mouths,* to make smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out to her libations just as we did, we, and our ancestors,* our kings, and our officials, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for then _⌊we had enough to eat_⌋,* and we were well-off, and we did not see disaster.

⁷ Our fathers have sinned, they are no more; we bear their iniquity.

³ "Son of man,* these men took up their idols into their heart and _⌊they placed before themselves_⌋* a stumbling block of their guilt.* _⌊Should I really let myself be consulted by them_⌋?* ⁴ Therefore speak with them, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Every person from the house of Israel who brings up his idols into his heart and _⌊places before himself_⌋* a stumbling block of his guilt* and yet he comes to the prophet, I Yahweh, I will respond to him through this act* with respect to the multitude* of his idols,

¹ And then in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, men from the elders of Israel came to consult Yahweh, and they sat _⌊before me_⌋.* ² And the word of Yahweh _⌊came_⌋* to me, _⌊saying_⌋,* ³ "Son of man,* speak with the elders of Israel, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Are you coming to consult me? _⌊As I live_⌋,* I will surely not allow myself* to be consulted by you!" ' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

⁵ we have sinned and we have done wrong and we acted wickedly and we rebelled and have been turning aside from your commandments and from your ordinances. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors* and to all the people of the land. ⁷ "_⌊Righteousness belongs to you, O Lord_⌋,* and on us is open shame, just as it is this day to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, _⌊those who are near and those who are far off_⌋* in all the lands to which you have driven them,* because of their infidelity which they displayed against you. ⁸ Yahweh, on us is open shame, on our kings, on our princes, and on our ancestors,* because we have sinned against you.

¹⁰ and we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, by following his law _⌊which he placed before us_⌋* by the hand of his servants the prophets.

⁷ Surely my Lord does not do anything unless he has revealed his secret to his servants the prophets.

⁶ His indignation—who can stand before it? Who can endure _⌊his fierce anger_⌋?* His wrath is poured out like fire; rocks are shattered before* him.

²⁰ For by the works of the law _⌊no person will be declared righteous_⌋* before him, for through the law comes knowledge of sin.

¹⁵ For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

⁹ And I was alive once, apart from the law, but when* the commandment came, sin sprang to life

²² But be doers of the message and not hearers only,* deceiving yourselves, ²³ because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone* staring at _⌊his own face_⌋* in a mirror, ²⁴ for he looks at himself and goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed _⌊in what he does_⌋*.

¹⁷ because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

²⁰ And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took her* tambourine in her hand, and all of the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.

⁴ Now at that time Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging* Israel.

²² He said to the one who was over the wardrobe, "Bring out clothing for all of the servants of Baal." So he brought the clothing out for them.

²² Then Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments. (Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district.) And they spoke to her concerning this.

⁷² And what the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly tunics.

⁴ For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and from the house of slavery I redeemed you. And I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.

¹⁰ "And there shall be on that day"—a declaration of Yahweh— "a _⌊loud outcry_⌋* from the Fish Gate, and a wailing from the Second District, and a loud* crashing from the hills.

⁴¹ And it happened that when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby in her womb leaped and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² And she cried out with a loud shout and said,
"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy! ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there will be a fulfillment to what was spoken to her from the Lord!" ⁴⁶ And Mary said,
"My soul exalts the Lord, ⁴⁷ and my spirit has rejoiced greatly in God my Savior, ⁴⁸ because he has looked upon the humble state of his female slave, for behold, from now on all generations will consider me blessed, ⁴⁹ because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. ⁵⁰ And his mercy is for generation after generation to those who fear him. ⁵¹ He has done a mighty deed with his arm; he has dispersed the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. ⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly. ⁵³ He has filled those who are hungry with good things, and those who are rich he has sent away empty-handed. ⁵⁴ He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, ⁵⁵ just as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants _⌊forever_⌋."* ⁵⁶ And Mary stayed with her about three months, and returned to her home.

³⁶ And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher (she was advanced _⌊in years_⌋,* having lived with her husband seven years _⌊after her marriage_⌋,*

⁹ (_⌊Now this man had_⌋* four virgin daughters who prophesied.)

⁵ but every woman who prays or prophesies with uncovered head dishonors her head, for she is one and the same with the one whose head is shaved.

⁶ Then they said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and he said to us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you and speak to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore the bed upon which you have gone, you will not come down from it, for you will surely die.'" '"

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.'"

²⁸ The prophet who has with him a dream, let him tell the dream. But the prophet* who has my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. _⌊What is straw compared to wheat_⌋?"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

¹⁵ and if you reject my statutes and if your inner self* abhors my regulations, to not carry out* all my commands by your breaking my covenant, ¹⁶ I _⌊in turn_⌋* will do this to you: then* I will summon onto you horror, the wasting disease, and the fever that wastes eyes and that drains away life; and you shall sow your seed _⌊in vain_⌋,* and your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ And I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated _⌊before_⌋* your enemies; and your haters shall rule over you, and you shall flee away, but* there shall not be _⌊anybody who is pursuing_⌋* you. ¹⁸ " 'And if in spite of these things you do not listen to me, then* I will continue to discipline you seven times for your sins. ¹⁹ And I will break the pride of your strength; and I will make your heaven like iron* and your land like copper. ²⁰ And your strength shall be consumed _⌊in vain_⌋;* and your land shall not give its produce, and the land's trees shall not give their fruit. ²¹ " 'And if you go against me in hostility and you are not willing to listen to me, then* I will add a plague onto you seven times according to your sins. ²² And I will send _⌊wild animals_⌋* out among you, and they shall make you childless, and they shall cut down your domestic animals, and they shall make you fewer; and your roads shall be desolate. ²³ " 'And if you do not accept correction from* me through these things, but* you go against me in hostility, ²⁴ then* I myself* will also go against you in hostility, and I myself* also will strike you seven times for your sins. ²⁵ And I will bring upon you a sword that seeks vengeance for the covenant, and you shall be gathered to your cities; and I will send a plague in your midst, and you shall be given into the hand of an enemy. ²⁶ At my breaking the _⌊supply_⌋* of bread* for you, then* ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat it, and you shall not be satisfied. ²⁷ " 'And if through this you do not listen to me and you go against me in hostility, ²⁸ then* I will go against you in hostile anger, and also* I myself* will discipline you seven times for your sins. ²⁹ And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. ³⁰ And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols' corpses; and my inner self* shall abhor you. ³¹ And I will lay your cities in ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your sacrifices'* appeasing fragrance. ³² And I myself* will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it. ³³ And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword behind you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a ruin. ³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of its lying desolate, and you shall be in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ All the days of its lying desolate it shall rest for the time* that it had not rested during your Sabbaths while you were living on it. ³⁶ As for* the ones who remain among you, I will bring* fearfulness in their hearts in the land of their enemies; and a sound of a windblown leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee like flight _⌊before_⌋* a sword, and they shall fall, but* there shall not be a pursuer. ³⁷ And they shall stumble over _⌊one another_⌋* as _⌊from before_⌋* a sword, but* there shall not be a pursuer; and _⌊you shall have no resistance_⌋* _⌊before_⌋* your enemies. ³⁸ And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you. ³⁹ And because of their guilt, the ones among you who remain shall decay in the land of their enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their ancestors,* they shall decay with them. ⁴⁰ " 'But* when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors* in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility— ⁴¹ I myself* also* went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies—or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt, ⁴² I will remember* my covenant with Jacob; and I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ And the land shall be deserted by them, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths in its being desolate from them, and they themselves* must pay for their guilt, _⌊simply because_⌋* they rejected my regulations, and their inner self* abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴ And _⌊in spite of_⌋* this, _⌊when they are_⌋* in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God. ⁴⁵ And I will remember the first covenant for them*—whom I brought out from the land of Egypt _⌊in the sight of_⌋* the nations _⌊to be their God_⌋.* I am Yahweh.'" ⁴⁶ These are the rules and the regulations and the laws that Yahweh gave between himself and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* on _⌊Mount Sinai_⌋* _⌊through_⌋* Moses.

¹⁵ "_⌊And then_⌋* if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God _⌊by diligently observing_⌋* all of his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you _⌊today_⌋,* then all of these curses shall come upon you, and they shall overtake you: ¹⁶ "You shall* be cursed in the city, and you shall be cursed in the field. ¹⁷ "Your basket shall be cursed and your kneading trough. ¹⁸ "The fruit of your womb shall be cursed and the fruit of you ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock. ¹⁹ "You shall be cursed _⌊when you come in_⌋,* and you shall be cursed _⌊when you go out_⌋.* ²⁰ "Yahweh will send upon you* the curse,* the panic,* and the threat* _⌊in everything that you undertake_⌋,* _⌊until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly_⌋* _⌊because of_⌋* the evil of your deeds in that* you have forsaken me. ²¹ Yahweh will cause the plague to cling to you _⌊until it consumes you_⌋* from the land that you are going to,* to take possession of it. ²² Yahweh will afflict you with the wasting diseases and with the fever and with the inflammation and with the scorching heat and with the sword* and with the blight and with the mildew, and they shall pursue you _⌊until you perish_⌋.* ²³ And your heavens that are over your heads shall be like bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be like iron. ²⁴ Yahweh will change the rain of your land to fine dust and to sand; from the heaven it shall come down upon you _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋.* ²⁵ "Yahweh shall cause you to be defeated _⌊before_⌋* your enemies; on one road you shall go _⌊against_⌋* them,* but you will flee on seven roads _⌊before_⌋* them,* and you shall become a thing of horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And your dead bodies shall be as food for all of the birds of the heaven and to the animals of the earth, and there shall not be _⌊anyone to frighten them away_⌋.* ²⁷ "Yahweh shall afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scurvy and with _⌊the skin rash that cannot be healed_⌋.* ²⁸ Yahweh shall afflict you with madness and with blindness and with confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall be groping at noon just as the blind person gropes in the dark, and you shall not succeed in finding your way, and you shall only be abused and robbed _⌊all the time_⌋,* and there will not be _⌊anyone who will rescue you_⌋. * ³⁰ You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep* with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey shall be stolen right _⌊before you_⌋,* and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats shall be given to your enemies, and _⌊there shall not be anyone who rescues you_⌋.* ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to other people, and _⌊you will be looking on_⌋* _⌊longingly_⌋* for* them all day, _⌊but you will be powerless to do anything_⌋.* ³³ A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed _⌊for the rest of your lives_⌋.* ³⁴ You shall become mad _⌊because of what your eyes shall see_⌋.* ³⁵ Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs from which _⌊you will not be able to be healed_⌋,* from the sole of your foot and up to your crown. ³⁶ Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors* have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you will become a horror and a proverb and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you there. ³⁸ "You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little produce, for the locust shall devour it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress* them, but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it.* ⁴⁰ There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives* shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be _⌊yours_⌋,* for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³ The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail. ⁴⁵ "And all of these curses shall come over you, and they shall pursue you, and they shall overtake you _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* because _⌊you did not listen_⌋* to the voice of Yahweh your God, _⌊by observing_⌋* his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be among you as a sign and as a wonder and among your offspring _⌊forever_⌋.* ⁴⁷ "_⌊Because_⌋* of the fact that you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸ then you shall serve your enemies, whom Yahweh will send against you under conditions of famine, in thirst, in nakedness, and in a lack of everything; and he shall place* a yoke of iron on your neck _⌊until he has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁴⁹ Yahweh will raise up against you a nation from far off, from the end of the earth, attacking as the eagle swoops down, _⌊a nation whose language you will not understand_⌋,* ⁵⁰ _⌊a grim-faced nation_⌋* _⌊who does not show respect_⌋* to the old and the young and does not show pity. ⁵¹ And it* shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* and who will not leave for you any grain, wine, and olive oil, _⌊calves of your herds_⌋,* and _⌊lambs of_⌋* your flock _⌊until it has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁵² And it shall besiege you in all your towns _⌊until your high and fortified walls fall_⌋,* which you are trusting in* _⌊throughout your land_⌋;* and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you. ⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and the very sensitive* man among you _⌊shall be mean with his brother_⌋* and _⌊against his beloved wife_⌋* and against the rest* of his children that he has left over, ⁵⁵ _⌊by refraining from giving_⌋* to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him _⌊during the siege and distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁶ The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall* not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, _⌊shall be mean to her beloved husband_⌋* and against her son and against her daughter, ⁵⁷ and even concerning her afterbirth _⌊that goes out_⌋* from between her feet and also concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon her in your _⌊towns_⌋.* ⁵⁸ "If _⌊you do not diligently observe_⌋* all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God, ⁵⁹ then Yahweh shall overwhelm you with your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, severe plagues and lasting illnesses, grievous and enduring. ⁶⁰ And he shall bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt concerning which _⌊you were in dread_⌋* _⌊because of them_⌋.* ⁶¹ Also any illness and any plague* that is not written in the scroll of this law, he shall bring them, Yahweh, upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² And you shall remain _⌊only a few people_⌋* in place of the fact you were formerly as the stars of heaven as far as number is concerned, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. ⁶³ _⌊And then_⌋* as Yahweh delighted over you _⌊to make you prosperous_⌋* to make you numerous, so Yahweh shall delight over you to exterminate you* and to destroy you, and so you shall be plucked from the land that you are going there to take possession of it. ⁶⁴ And Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth up to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods that you have not known nor* your ancestors,* gods of wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall not find rest, and there shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes* and a languishing of your inner self.* ⁶⁶ And _⌊your life shall hang in doubt before you_⌋,* and you shall be startled* night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, '_⌊If only it was evening_⌋!'* and in the evening you shall say '_⌊If only it was morning_⌋!'* because of the dread of your heart that you shall feel, and because of the sight of your eyes that you shall see. ⁶⁸ And Yahweh shall bring you back to Egypt in ships by the route that I _⌊promised_⌋* to you that '_⌊You shall not see it again_⌋!'* And you shall sell yourself there to your enemies as slaves and as female slaves, but there will not be a buyer."

¹⁸ so that _⌊there is not_⌋* among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe _⌊whose heart_⌋* turns _⌊today_⌋* from being with Yahweh our God to go to serve the gods of these nations, so that there is not among you a root sprouting poison and wormwood. ¹⁹ And then when he hears the words of this oath, then* _⌊he will assure himself_⌋* in his heart, _⌊saying_⌋,* '_⌊Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart_⌋,'* thereby destroying the well-watered land along with the parched.* ²⁰ Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for by then the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law. ²² "And the next generation, that is, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, when* they will see the plagues of that land and its diseases that Yahweh has inflicted upon it, will say, ²³ 'All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, _⌊none of its land will be sown_⌋,* and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.'

²⁷ So _⌊the anger of Yahweh was kindled_⌋* against that land to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll,

¹⁷ However, if your heart turns aside and you do not listen and you are lured away and you bow down to other gods and you serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you _⌊today_⌋* that you will certainly perish; _⌊you will not extend your time_⌋* on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to go there to take possession of it.

¹⁶ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, you are about to lie down with your ancestors,* and this people will arise and they* will play the prostitute after _⌊the foreign gods_⌋* of the land _⌊to which they are going_⌋.*

¹⁵ And Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked; you grew fat, you bloated, and you became obstinate; and he abandoned God, his maker, and he scoffed at the rock of his salvation. ¹⁶ They made him jealous with strange gods; with detestable things they provoked him. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to the demons, not God, to gods whom* they had not known, new gods who* came from recent times; _⌊their ancestors had not known them_⌋.* ¹⁸ The rock who* bore you, you neglected, and you forgot God, the one giving you birth. ¹⁹ Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. ²⁰ So he said, 'I will hide my face from them; I will see what will be their end, for they are a generation of perversity, _⌊children in whom there is no faithfulness_⌋.* ²¹ They annoyed me with what is not a god; they provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those not a people, with a foolish nation I will provoke them. ²² For a fire was kindled* by my anger, and it burned _⌊up to the depths of Sheol_⌋,* and it devoured the earth and its produce, and it set afire the foundation of the mountains. ²³ I will heap disasters upon them; my arrows I will spend on them. ²⁴ They will become weakened by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence; and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them, with the poison of the creeping things in the dust; ²⁵ From outside her boundaries the sword will make her childless, and from inside, terror; both for the young man and also the young woman, the infant along with the gray-headed man. ²⁶ I thought, "I will wipe them out; _⌊I will make people forget they ever existed_⌋."*

¹³ know for certain that Yahweh your God _⌊will not continue to drive out_⌋* these nations from before you; they will be for you a snare and a trap, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

¹⁵ But just as all the good things* came to you that Yahweh your God promised, so will Yahweh bring to you all the bad things* until he has destroyed you from this good land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

¹⁷ 'Look, days are coming when all that is in your palace will be carried off; even all that your ancestors* have stored up until this day, to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says Yahweh.

¹² therefore, thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Look, I am bringing disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah about which the two ears of all who hear it will tingle. ¹³ I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish; he wipes it and turns it on its face.

¹ It happened that in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and his army, against Jerusalem. He encamped against it and built siege works against it all around. ² So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of the king. ³ In the ninth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ Then the city was breached, and all of the men of war entered by night by way of the gate between the wall which was by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans were against the city all around, so he* left by the way of the Arabah.

²⁴ "Thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, I am bringing disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants—all the curses written in the scroll that were read before the king of Judah— ²⁵ because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods so as to provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. And my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.'

¹¹ "And all Israel transgressed your law and turned aside so as not to listen to your voice, and so the curse and the oath which was written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. ¹² And so he has carried out his words which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring upon us a great calamity which was not done under all of heaven as it was done in Jerusalem. ¹³ Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all of this calamity has come upon us, and _⌊we have not implored_⌋* the face of Yahweh our God so as to turn from our iniquities and to attend closely to your faithfulness.* ¹⁴ So Yahweh has kept watch over the* calamity, and now he has brought it upon us. Indeed, Yahweh our God is righteous concerning all his works* that he has done, but we have not listened to his voice.

³⁴ And now go, lead the people to where I spoke to you. Look, my angel will go before you, and on the day when I punish I will punish them for their sin."

¹⁵ And Jeshurun grew fat, and he kicked; you grew fat, you bloated, and you became obstinate; and he abandoned God, his maker, and he scoffed at the rock of his salvation. ¹⁶ They made him jealous with strange gods; with detestable things they provoked him. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to the demons, not God, to gods whom* they had not known, new gods who* came from recent times; _⌊their ancestors had not known them_⌋.* ¹⁸ The rock who* bore you, you neglected, and you forgot God, the one giving you birth. ¹⁹ Then Yahweh saw, and he spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

²² For a fire was kindled* by my anger, and it burned _⌊up to the depths of Sheol_⌋,* and it devoured the earth and its produce, and it set afire the foundation of the mountains.

¹² They abandoned Yahweh the God of their ancestors,* who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They _⌊followed_⌋* other gods from the gods of the people who were around them; and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the anger of Yahweh. ¹³ They abandoned Yahweh, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴ So _⌊the anger of Yahweh was kindled_⌋* against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of plunderers; and they plundered them, and he sold them into the hand of their enemies from all sides. They were unable to withstand their enemies any longer.

⁷ The _⌊Israelites_⌋* did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They forgot Yahweh their God, and they served the Baals and the Asheroth.* ⁸ And _⌊the anger of Yahweh was kindled_⌋* against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Aram Naharaim; and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years.

⁶ And again, the _⌊Israelites_⌋* did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, and the gods of the _⌊Ammonites_⌋* and Philistines; they abandoned Yahweh and did not serve him. ⁷ And _⌊the anger of Yahweh burned_⌋* against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and the _⌊Ammonites_⌋.*

¹⁰ Then the _⌊Israelites_⌋* cried out to Yahweh, saying, "We have sinned against you; we have abandoned our God and served the Baals." ¹¹ And Yahweh said to the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* "Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians,* the Amorites,* from the _⌊Ammonites_⌋,* and from the Philistines?* ¹² And when the Sidonians, the Amalekites,* and the Maonites* oppressed you, you cried out to me, and I delivered you from their hand. ¹³ Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. Therefore I will no longer deliver you. ¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your trouble."

⁶ "If ever you or any of your descendants* turn from following me and do not keep my commandments and my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, even the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. ⁸ This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, 'On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?' ⁹ And they will say, 'Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors* out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.'"

²² He abandoned Yahweh the God of his ancestors* and did not walk in the way of Yahweh.

¹⁶ But they were mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people until there was no remedy.

²⁶ "But they rebelled and were rebellious against you and cast your law* behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them to turn back to you, and they did great blasphemies. ²⁷ Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemy, and they brought trouble to them. Then in the time of their trouble they cried out to you, and you heard from the heavens, and according to your great compassions, you gave them saviors, and you saved them from the hand of their enemies.

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. ⁴⁰ So Yahweh's anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his inheritance. ⁴¹ Then he gave them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴² And their enemies oppressed them, and they were subdued under their hand.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; ⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; ⁷ they have their hands, but they cannot feel, their feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot utter a sound in their throats. ⁸ Those who make them become like them, as does everyone who trusts in them.

⁸ Its land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their* hands, to what they made with their* fingers. ⁹ So humanity is humbled; everyone is humbled, and you must not forgive them.

¹⁴ Sinners are afraid in Zion; trembling has seized the godless: "Who of us can _⌊live_⌋* with devouring fire? Who of us can _⌊live_⌋* with everlasting consuming hearths?"

¹⁷ And he makes the remainder of it into a god! He bows down to his idol, and he bows in worship and prays to him, and he says, "Save me, for you are my god!" ¹⁸ They do not know, and they do not understand, for their eyes are besmeared _⌊so that they cannot see_⌋,* their _⌊minds_⌋* _⌊so that they have no insight_⌋.* ¹⁹ And _⌊no one takes it to heart_⌋,* and there is no knowledge and no understanding to say, "I burned half of it in the fire and also I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat, and I have eaten. And I shall make the rest of it into an abomination! I shall bow down to a block of wood!" ²⁰ He feeds on ashes; a _⌊deceived mind_⌋* misleads him. And he cannot save _⌊himself_⌋,* and he cannot say, "Is this not an illusion in my right hand?"

⁵ To whom will you liken me, and count as equal, and compare with me, as though* we were alike? ⁶ Those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh out silver in the balance scales; hire _⌊a goldsmith_⌋* and he makes him a god; they bow down, indeed they bow in worship. ⁷ They carry it on their shoulder; they support it and they set it in its place, and it stands in position. It cannot be removed from its place; even when he cries out to it, it does not answer. It does not save him from his trouble. ⁸ Remember this and pluck up courage! Call to _⌊mind_⌋,* you transgressors!

¹¹ Has a nation exchanged gods? And they are not gods! But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit. ¹² Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder; be utterly desolate," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ¹³ "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the source* of living water, to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

²⁷ Those who say to the tree, 'You are my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth to me.' For they have turned their _⌊backs_⌋* to me, and not their faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us.' ²⁸ But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For according to the number of your towns are your gods, O Judah.

²⁰ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on the humankind, and on the animal, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground, and it will not be extinguished."

²⁷ But if you do not listen to me, to declare holy the day of the Sabbath, and to not carry a burden and enter through the gates of Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched." '"

⁴⁷ And you must say to the forest of the Negev, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am kindling against you a fire, and it will devour in you every fresh tree and every dry tree; the blaze of the flame will not be quenched, and all the surfaces from the south to the north will be scorched by it. ⁴⁸ And all creatures will see that I, Yahweh, I kindled it—it will not be quenched!" '"

¹³ And I will cut off your idols and your stone pillars from among you, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.

¹⁸ Moreover, their silver and their gold will not be able to save them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. And in the fire of his zeal, the whole land shall be consumed, for a terrifying end he shall make for all the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁶ hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles in order that they may be saved, so that they always fill up their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the end.*

¹⁰ Tell the innocent* that it is good for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁶ Then those who revered* Yahweh spoke _⌊with one another_⌋.* And Yahweh listened attentively* and heard, and a scroll of remembrance was written _⌊before him_⌋* of those who revere* Yahweh and ponder his name. ¹⁷ "They will be mine," says Yahweh of hosts, "on the day that I am acting, my treasured possession. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

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.

³¹ And I will lay your cities in ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your sacrifices'* appeasing fragrance. ³² And I myself* will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it.

⁴⁰ " 'But* when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors* in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility— ⁴¹ I myself* also* went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies—or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt,

⁶ And behold, a man from the _⌊Israelites_⌋* came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of all of the community of the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* and they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of assembly.

²³ 'All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, _⌊none of its land will be sown_⌋,* and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.'

⁴ And as the angel of Yahweh spoke these words to all the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* the people _⌊wept bitterly_⌋.* ⁵ And they called the name of this place Bokim,* and there they sacrificed to Yahweh.

²⁶ And all the _⌊Israelites_⌋* and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh.

⁵ _⌊And then_⌋* afterward David _⌊felt guilty_⌋,* because he had cut _⌊the hem of Saul's robe_⌋.*

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."

²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'What you have prayed to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

⁵ "Return; you must say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'Thus says Yahweh the God of David your ancestor,* "I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Look, I am about to heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the temple of Yahweh.

¹¹ When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes.

¹² And when he was in distress he entreated Yahweh his God and greatly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors*

¹⁹ And his prayer, and how he* responded to him, all his sin and his unfaithful acts, and the places where he built the high places and set up Asherahs and idols before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the words of the seers.

²³ And he did not humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father humbled himself, but Amon himself multiplied his guilt.

³ When I heard this I tore my garment and my robe, and I pulled the hair out from my head and beard, and I sat appalled. ⁴ Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the sin of the returned exiles were gathered around me and I sat appalled until the evening offering.

¹ While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children from Israel gathered to him. And the people wept bitterly.

⁴ When I heard these words, I sat and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.

⁹ Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all of the people, "This day is holy to Yahweh your God. Do not mourn nor weep." For all of the people wept when they heard the words of the law.*

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹²⁰ My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.

¹³⁶ Streams of water flow down from my eyes, because people do not heed your law.

¹² Listen to me, strong of heart, far from righteousness!

¹⁵ For thus says the high and lofty one who resides forever, and whose name is holy:
"I reside in a high and holy place, and with the _⌊contrite_⌋* and humble of spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the _⌊contrite_⌋.*

² And my hand has made all these things, and all these _⌊came to be_⌋,"*
_⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "but* I look to this one:
to the humble and the contrite of spirit and the one frightened at my word.

⁵ Hear the word of Yahweh, you who are frightened at his word:
Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for my name's sake have said, "Let Yahweh be honored so that* we may see your joy!" But* they themselves shall be ashamed.

¹ * _⌊Oh that my head were waters_⌋,* and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night, for the slain of the daughter of my people.

¹⁷ But if you will not listen to it, my inner self* will weep in secret places, because of _⌊the presence of_⌋* your pride. And my eyes* will weep bitterly, and they will melt in tears, because the flock of Yahweh has been taken captive.

¹⁷ "And you shall say to them this word,
'Let my eyes melt with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for with a great wound the virgin daughter of my people is broken, with a very incurable wound.

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse for all the nations of the earth.'" '"

²⁹ And concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, you shall say, 'Thus says Yahweh, "You have burned this scroll, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Why have you written in it, _⌊saying_⌋,* "The king of Babylon will certainly come and he will destroy this land, and he will cause to disappear from it humankind and animals"?'"* ³⁰ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, "There will not be for him one who sits on the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to the heat in the day and to the frost in the night. ³¹ And I will punish him, and his offspring, and his servants for their guilt, and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster with which I have threatened them, but they would not listen." '" ³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah, the secretary, and he wrote on it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and furthermore was added to them many words like these.

²² And Yahweh was no longer able to bear* it, _⌊because of_⌋* the evil of your deeds, _⌊because of_⌋* the detestable things that you committed. Thus your land became as a site of ruins, and as a horror, and as a curse, _⌊without_⌋* inhabitants, as it is this day.

⁴ And Yahweh said to him, "Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and you must place a mark on the foreheads of the men _⌊who are groaning and lamenting_⌋* about all of the detestable things _⌊that are being done_⌋* in the midst of her."

⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does Yahweh ask from you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

⁴¹ And when he approached and* saw the city, he wept over it,

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? ⁵ But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

² that my grief is great and there is constant distress in my heart. ³ For I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my fellow countrymen according to the flesh,

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. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded! ⁹ Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your* joy to gloominess. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

⁵ In the same way, younger men, be subject to the elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. ⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the right time,

⁸ And Abraham passed away and died in a good old age, old and full of years. And he was gathered to his people.

¹⁶ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, you are about to lie down with your ancestors,* and this people will arise and they* will play the prostitute after _⌊the foreign gods_⌋* of the land _⌊to which they are going_⌋.*

²⁹ In his days, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to meet him, and he* killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. ³⁰ So his servants drove him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

¹¹ And it shall be that when your days are fulfilled to go and sleep with your ancestors,* then I will raise up your seed after you, who will be one of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

²⁸ 'Behold, I will gather you to your ancestors,* and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see any of the disaster that I am bringing upon this place.'" '"

³⁷ Observe the blameless and look at the upright, for there is a future for a man of peace.

¹ The righteous one perishes, and there is no one who takes* it to heart. And men of faithfulness are gathered, while there is no one who understands, for the righteous is gathered from the presence of wickedness. ² he enters into peace; they will rest on their beds, walking straight ahead of him.

¹⁰ You must not weep for the dead person, and you must not show sympathy for him. Weep bitterly for the one who goes away, for he will not return, or see the land of his birth again.

¹⁵ Do you reign as king because you are competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and he did justice and righteousness, then it was well with him? ¹⁶ He judged the legal cause of the needy and the poor, and then it was well. _⌊Is that not what it means to know me_⌋?*" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.