2 Chronicles 13 Cross References - MSB

¹ In the eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign, Abijah became king of Judah, ² and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; she was from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³ Abijah went into battle with an army of 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in formation against him with 800,000 chosen and mighty men of valor. ⁴ Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! ⁵ Do you not know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt? ⁶ Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master. ⁷ Then worthless and wicked men gathered around him to resist Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young, inexperienced, and unable to resist them. ⁸ And now you think you can resist the kingdom of the LORD, which is in the hands of David’s descendants. You are indeed a vast army, and you have with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods. ⁹ But did you not drive out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites? And did you not make priests for yourselves as do the peoples of other lands? Now whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of things that are not gods. ¹⁰ But as for us, the LORD is our God. We have not forsaken Him; the priests who minister to the LORD are sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties. ¹¹ Every morning and every evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the LORD. They set out the rows of showbread on the ceremonially clean table, and every evening they light the lamps of the gold lampstand. We are carrying out the requirements of the LORD our God, while you have forsaken Him. ¹² Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.” ¹³ Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to ambush from the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah, the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ When Judah turned and discovered that the battle was both before and behind them, they cried out to the LORD. Then the priests blew the trumpets, ¹⁵ and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. And when they raised the cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands. ¹⁷ Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain. ¹⁸ Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹ Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured some cities from him: Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, along with their villages. ²⁰ Jeroboam did not again recover his power during the days of Abijah, and the LORD struck him down and he died. ²¹ But Abijah grew strong, married fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. ²² Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, along with his ways and his words, are written in the Treatise of the Prophet Iddo.

¹ In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king of Judah, ² and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. ³ And Abijam walked in all the sins that his father before him had committed, and his heart was not as fully devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of David his forefather had been. ⁴ Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and to make Jerusalem strong. ⁵ For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not turned aside from anything the LORD commanded all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. ⁶ And there was war between the houses of Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Abijam’s life. ⁷ As for the rest of the acts of Abijam, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸ And Abijam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David, and his son Asa reigned in his place.

¹⁶ And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And his son Abijah reigned in his place.

²⁸ Zelah, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim—fourteen cities, along with their villages. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

¹⁴ So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.

¹⁶ That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was residing in Gibeah (the men of that place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the field.

²⁶ Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, and the men of valor whose hearts God had touched went with him.

² and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

⁶ And there was war between the houses of Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Abijam’s life. ⁷ As for the rest of the acts of Abijam, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.

²⁰ After her, he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.

¹ Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. ² Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines. ³ The Philistines stood on one hill and the Israelites stood on another, with the valley between them.

⁵ And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.

¹ When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the house of Judah and Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

⁸ Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin bearing small shields and drawing the bow. All these were mighty men of valor. ⁹ Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots, and they advanced as far as Mareshah.

¹⁴ These are their numbers according to the houses of their fathers: From Judah, the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, and with him 300,000 mighty men of valor; ¹⁵ next to him, Jehohanan the commander, and with him 280,000; ¹⁶ and next to him, Amasiah son of Zichri, the volunteer for the LORD, and with him 200,000 mighty men of valor. ¹⁷ From Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, and with him 200,000 armed with bows and shields; ¹⁸ and next to him, Jehozabad, and with him 180,000 armed for battle.

¹² The total number of family leaders of the mighty men of valor was 2,600. ¹³ Under their authority was an army of 307,500 trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies.

¹⁸ the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans were scattered,

²² Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

⁷ When this was reported to Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and cried out: “Listen to me, O leaders of Shechem, and may God listen to you.

² So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

¹³ And you shall season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offering; you are to add salt to each of your offerings.

¹⁹ All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the LORD for you and your offspring.”

²¹ Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country, ²² seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before His people Israel, should you now possess it? ²⁴ Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the LORD our God has granted us.

¹ Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”

¹² So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him in. He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, for he is the one.”

¹² And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. ¹⁵ But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I moved out of your way. ¹⁶ Your house and kingdom will endure forever before Me, and your throne will be established forever.”

²⁰ Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹¹ And when your days are fulfilled and you go to be with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹⁴ But I will set him over My house and My kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.”

⁴ Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of all my father’s house to be king over Israel forever. For He chose Judah as leader, and from the house of Judah He chose my father’s household, and from my father’s sons He was pleased to make me king over all Israel. ⁵ And of all my sons—for the LORD has given me many sons—He has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

⁹ So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our foreign enemies?

¹⁹ You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people. ²⁰ I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him. ²¹ My hand will sustain him; surely My arm will strengthen him. ²² No enemy will exact tribute; no wicked man will oppress him. ²³ I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. ²⁴ My faithfulness and loving devotion will be with him, and through My name his horn will be exalted. ²⁵ I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand upon the rivers. ²⁶ He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock of my salvation.’ ²⁷ I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. ²⁸ I will forever preserve My loving devotion for him, and My covenant with him will stand fast. ²⁹ I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. ³⁰ If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, ³¹ if they violate My statutes and fail to keep My commandments, ³² I will attend to their transgression with the rod, and to their iniquity with stripes. ³³ But I will not withdraw My loving devotion from him, nor ever betray My faithfulness. ³⁴ I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips. ³⁵ Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness—I will not lie to David— ³⁶ his offspring shall endure forever, and his throne before Me like the sun, ³⁷ like the moon, established forever, a faithful witness in the sky.” Selah

²⁹ For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.

⁵ By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please. ⁶ So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him. ⁷ All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

²¹ then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne. ²² As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”

²⁶ then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.”

²⁴ You must present them before the LORD; the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.

²⁵ You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes. ²⁶ As for the command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules. ²⁷ Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.” ²⁸ All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹ Twelve months later, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, ³⁰ the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” ³¹ While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you. ³² You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”

¹⁸ As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor.

⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt. ⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

³¹ Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

⁵ But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,

²⁶ Now Jeroboam son of Nebat was an Ephraimite from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah. Jeroboam was a servant of Solomon, but he rebelled against the king,

²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David.

²⁷ If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah; then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

¹⁹ So to this day Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David.

¹³ that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

⁴ So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.

³ So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.

² And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

¹⁰ But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

¹³ And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So all the Israelites went home,

¹ When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the house of Judah and Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ² But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God: ³ “Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah and all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin ⁴ that this is what the LORD says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each of you must return home, for this word is from Me.’” So they listened to the words of the LORD and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

¹³ Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.

⁸ A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.

⁴ I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.

¹¹ The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.

¹⁹ The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

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

⁴ “I will make mere lads their leaders, and children will rule over them.”

⁵ The Jews, however, brought in some troublemakers they took from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.

²⁰ Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

¹⁰ For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of (the) circumcision,

¹² Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!

²⁸ After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

⁹ You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have flung Me behind your back.

⁸ Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on His throne to be king for the LORD your God. Because your God loved Israel enough to establish them forever, He has made you king over them to carry out justice and righteousness.”

¹⁵ And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.

⁹ Then Zerah the Cushite came against them with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots, and they advanced as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰ So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah. ¹¹ Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”

⁶ and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can stand against You.

¹² Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast army that comes against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

¹ Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ² The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One: ³ “Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords.” ⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord taunts them. ⁵ Then He rebukes them in His anger, and terrifies them in His fury: ⁶ “I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.”

¹⁶ No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.

⁶ ‘Let us invade Judah, terrorize it, and divide it among ourselves. Then we can install the son of Tabeal over it as king.’ ⁷ But this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘It will not arise; it will not happen.

⁶ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

⁵ He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? ⁶ For this thing is from Israel—a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria.

¹⁴ But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’

²⁷ And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”

¹ “Now this is what you are to do to consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without blemish,

³⁵ This is what you are to do for Aaron and his sons based on all that I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them.

²⁹ Afterward, Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for service to the LORD, since each man went against his son and his brother; so the LORD has bestowed a blessing on you this day.”

² “Take Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull of the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread,

³² The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest shall make atonement. He will put on the sacred linen garments

¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

³¹ Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites. ³² And Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up, and he installed priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up. ³³ On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel. So he ordained a feast for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.

³³ Even after these events, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil ways, but again he appointed priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained anyone who desired to be a priest of the high places.

¹⁸ They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

⁵ for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now who will volunteer to consecrate himself to the LORD today?”

¹⁴ For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD. ¹⁵ And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.

¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.

⁷ “Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

⁶ For this thing is from Israel—a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria.

²⁶ And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

⁵ Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. ⁶ And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”

¹ “Now this is what you are to do to consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without blemish, ² along with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour, ³ put them in a basket, and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ Then present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. ⁵ Take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastplate. Fasten the ephod on him with its woven waistband. ⁶ Put the turban on his head and attach the holy diadem to the turban. ⁷ Then take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head. ⁸ Present his sons as well and clothe them with tunics. ⁹ Wrap the sashes around Aaron and his sons and tie headbands on them. The priesthood shall be theirs by a permanent statute. In this way you are to ordain Aaron and his sons. ¹⁰ You are to present the bull at the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. ¹¹ And you shall slaughter the bull before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹² Take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; then pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³ Take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. ¹⁴ But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering. ¹⁵ Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. ¹⁶ You are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and sprinkle it on all sides of the altar. ¹⁷ Cut the ram into pieces, wash the entrails and legs, and place them with its head and other pieces. ¹⁸ Then burn the entire ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. ¹⁹ Take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. ²⁰ Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Sprinkle the remaining blood on all sides of the altar. ²¹ And take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, as well as on his sons and their garments. Then he and his garments will be consecrated, as well as his sons and their garments. ²² Take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the lobe of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh (since this is a ram for ordination), ²³ along with one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD. ²⁴ Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and wave them before the LORD as a wave offering. ²⁵ Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar atop the burnt offering as a pleasing aroma before the LORD; it is an offering made by fire to the LORD. ²⁶ Take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and wave it before the LORD as a wave offering, and it will be your portion. ²⁷ Consecrate for Aaron and his sons the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the heave offering that is lifted up from the ram of ordination. ²⁸ This will belong to Aaron and his sons as a regular portion from the Israelites, for it is the heave offering the Israelites will make to the LORD from their peace offerings. ²⁹ The holy garments that belong to Aaron will belong to his sons after him, so they can be anointed and ordained in them. ³⁰ The son who succeeds him as priest and enters the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place must wear them for seven days. ³¹ You are to take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. ³² At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. ³³ They must eat those things by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no outsider may eat them, because these things are sacred. ³⁴ And if any of the meat of ordination or any bread is left until the morning, you are to burn up the remainder. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred. ³⁵ This is what you are to do for Aaron and his sons based on all that I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them. ³⁶ Sacrifice a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷ For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will become most holy; whatever touches the altar will be holy.

⁴⁰ just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers.

¹ So the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house must bear the iniquity involving the sanctuary. And you and your sons alone must bear the iniquity involving your priesthood. ² But bring with you also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and assist you and your sons before the Tent of the Testimony. ³ And they shall attend to your duties and to all the duties of the Tent; but they must not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die. ⁴ They are to join you and attend to the duties of the Tent of Meeting, doing all the work at the Tent; but no outsider may come near you. ⁵ And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and of the altar, so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again. ⁶ Behold, I Myself have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to perform the service for the Tent of Meeting. ⁷ But only you and your sons shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and what is inside the veil, and you are to perform that service. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but any outsider who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.”

¹⁶ Those from every tribe of Israel who had set their hearts to seek the LORD their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers. ¹⁷ So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, because they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

⁹ This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”

⁵ because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

³⁰ And place the Bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times. ³¹ Then you are to make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. It shall be made of one piece, including its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals. ³² Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. ³³ There are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the first branch, each with buds and petals, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches that extend from the lampstand. ³⁴ And on the lampstand there shall be four cups shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals. ³⁵ For the six branches that extend from the lampstand, a bud must be under the first pair of branches, a bud under the second pair, and a bud under the third pair. ³⁶ The buds and branches are to be all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold. ³⁷ Make seven lamps and set them up on the lampstand so that they illuminate the area in front of it. ³⁸ The wick trimmers and their trays must be of pure gold. ³⁹ The lampstand and all these utensils shall be made from a talent of pure gold.

²⁰ And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. ²¹ In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come.

³⁸ This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old.

¹ “You are also to make an altar of acacia wood for the burning of incense. ² It is to be square, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and two cubits high. Its horns must be of one piece. ³ Overlay with pure gold the top and all the sides and horns, and make a molding of gold around it. ⁴ And make two gold rings below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles used to carry it. ⁵ Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶ Place the altar in front of the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony—before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you. ⁷ And Aaron is to burn fragrant incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps. ⁸ When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he must burn the incense perpetually before the LORD for the generations to come. ⁹ On this altar you must not offer unauthorized incense or a burnt offering or grain offering; nor are you to pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on the horns of the altar. Throughout your generations he shall make atonement on it annually with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. The altar is most holy to the LORD.”

¹ “When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of fine flour. He is to pour olive oil on it, put frankincense on it, ² and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the frankincense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ³ The remainder of the grain offering shall belong to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD.

² “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. ³ Outside the veil of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps continually before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come. ⁴ He shall tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually. ⁵ You are also to take fine flour and bake twelve loaves, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf, ⁶ and set them in two rows—six per row—on the table of pure gold before the LORD. ⁷ And you are to place pure frankincense near each row, so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread, an offering made by fire to the LORD. ⁸ Every Sabbath day the bread is to be set out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a permanent covenant. ⁹ It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD—his portion forever.”

¹⁹ Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites kept the LORD’s charge and did not set out.

⁶ You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers,

⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

⁴ Behold, I am about to build a house for the Name of the LORD my God to dedicate to Him for burning fragrant incense before Him, for displaying the showbread continuously, and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening as well as on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts of the LORD our God. This is ordained for Israel forever.

⁸ And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but have appointed others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.’

¹⁵ But the Levitical priests, who are descended from Zadok and who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, are to approach Me to minister before Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD.

¹¹ It will be for the consecrated priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept My charge and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray.

⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

³ Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. ⁴ And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.

⁸ The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to sound the trumpets. This shall be a permanent statute for you and the generations to come. ⁹ When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who attacks you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God and saved from your enemies.

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD? This will not succeed!

²¹ He considers no disaster for Jacob; He sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of the King is among them.

⁶ And Moses sent the thousand from each tribe into battle, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who took with him the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.

⁴ For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”

²⁹ and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.

¹³ Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?” ¹⁴ “Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the LORD’s army.” Then Joshua fell facedown in reverence and asked Him, “What does my Lord have to say to His servant?” ¹⁵ The Commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

¹³ And the seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns kept marching ahead of the ark of the LORD and blowing the horns. The armed troops went in front of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the horns kept sounding. ¹⁴ So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. ¹⁵ Then on the seventh day, they got up at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. That was the only day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶ After the seventh time around, the priests blew the horns, and Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷ Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon it. ¹⁹ For all the silver and gold and all the articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they must go into His treasury.” ²⁰ So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into the city and captured it.

⁵ When the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a great shout that it shook the ground. ⁶ On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” And when they realized that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp, ⁷ the Philistines were afraid. “The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you.’”

⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?

²⁵ For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty, ²⁶ rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield.

⁹ Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?

⁷ Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

¹⁰ Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

⁹ Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?

¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

³⁷ Moreover, you will leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not prosper by their help.”

²⁴ I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD.

⁹ So you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Will it flourish? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it shrivels? All its foliage will wither! It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by its roots.

⁵ They will be like mighty men in battle, trampling the enemy in the mire of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put the horsemen to shame.

³⁹ But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.”

⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” ⁵ “Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” replied the Lord.

³¹ What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

¹⁰ In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

⁴ with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.

⁹ So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.

²² The moment they began their shouts and praises, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.

³⁰ There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.

²² “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified and cried out to the LORD.

²⁰ When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.

³³ So all the men of Israel got up from their places and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar, and the Israelites in ambush charged from their positions west of Gibeah. ³⁴ Then 10,000 select men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not realize that disaster was upon them. ³⁵ The LORD defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. ³⁶ Then the Benjamites realized they had been defeated. Now the men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin because they were relying on the ambush they had set against Gibeah. ³⁷ The men in ambush rushed suddenly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword. ³⁸ The men of Israel had arranged a signal with the men in ambush: When they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, ³⁹ the men of Israel would turn in the battle. When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They are defeated before us as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰ But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke. ⁴¹ Then the men of Israel turned back on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had come upon them. ⁴² So they fled before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and the men coming out of the cities struck them down there. ⁴³ They surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them, and easily overtook them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east.

⁸ The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country. ⁹ When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans. ¹⁰ And he placed the rest of the forces under the command of his brother Abishai, who arrayed them against the Ammonites. ¹¹ “If the Arameans are too strong for me,” said Joab, “then you will come to my rescue. And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to your rescue. ¹² Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in His sight.” ¹³ So Joab and his troops advanced to fight the Arameans, who fled before him. ¹⁴ When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Abishai, and they entered the city. So Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

¹¹ Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”

³¹ When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “This is the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him. God drew them away from him.

¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,

⁴ which the LORD conquered before the congregation of Israel, are suitable for livestock—and your servants have livestock.”

¹⁶ After the seventh time around, the priests blew the horns, and Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!

²⁰ So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into the city and captured it.

⁸ and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.

¹⁵ And in front of him the LORD routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

¹⁸ When I and all who are with me blow our horns, then you are also to blow your horns from all around the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’” ¹⁹ Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands. ²⁰ The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” ²¹ Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran. ²² And when the three hundred rams’ horns sounded, the LORD set all the men in the camp against one another with their swords. The army fled to Beth-shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

¹ Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

¹² So the LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled.

²¹ Then Jehoshaphat consulted with the people and appointed those who would sing to the LORD and praise the splendor of His holiness. As they went out before the army, they were singing: “Give thanks to the LORD, for His loving devotion endures forever.”

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout unto God with a voice of triumph.

⁵ God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD with the sound of the horn.

⁴ Let those who fear the LORD say, “His loving devotion endures forever.” ⁵ In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered and set me free. ⁶ The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? ⁷ The LORD is on my side; He is my helper. Therefore I will look in triumph on those who hate me.

³⁶ Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.

³⁶ From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.

³ So the LORD our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.

¹² On the day that the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”

⁴⁴ And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴ When Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.

²¹ Then the LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, who defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that country,

⁷ When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”

⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand.

³ Abijah went into battle with an army of 400,000 chosen men, while Jeroboam drew up in formation against him with 800,000 chosen and mighty men of valor.

¹² Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

⁶ For in one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 valiant men in Judah. This happened because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers.

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame. ¹⁷ And the Light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame. In a single day it will burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and thistles. ¹⁸ The splendor of its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man. ¹⁹ The remaining trees of its forests will be so few that a child could count them.

⁵ The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.

²² Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

⁵ Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.

²⁰ And because they cried out to God in battle, they were helped against their enemies, and the Hagrites and all their allies were delivered into their hands. Because they put their trust in God, He answered their prayers.

⁸ Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter. From now on, therefore, you will be at war.”

²⁰ Early in the morning they got up and left for the Wilderness of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, “Hear me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be upheld; believe in His prophets, and you will succeed.”

⁴ In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. ⁵ They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed.

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

⁷ The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.

¹² in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.

¹⁹ But you, do not stop there. Pursue your enemies and attack them from behind. Do not let them reach their cities, for the LORD your God has delivered them into your hand.”

³⁹ And they captured Debir, its king, and all its villages. They put them to the sword and devoted to destruction everyone in the city, leaving no survivors. Joshua did to Debir and its king as he had done to Hebron and as he had done to Libnah and its king.

¹² Joshua captured all these kings and their cities and put them to the sword. He devoted them to destruction, as Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded.

⁹ From the hilltop the border curved to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron, and then bent around toward Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim).

⁷ When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple.

⁵⁴ As a result, Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but He withdrew to a town called Ephraim in an area near the wilderness. And He stayed there with the disciples.

³⁸ About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

¹⁰ David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

²⁰ And the length of Jeroboam’s reign was twenty-two years, and he rested with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Asa became king of Judah,

³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back until they were consumed. ³⁸ I crushed them so they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet.

¹⁶ “Son of man, behold, I am about to take away the desire of your eyes with a fatal blow. But you must not mourn or weep or let your tears flow.

²³ Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

³⁰ Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives. ³¹ His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

⁵ He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.

⁴ He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. And they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth-jair.

¹² And David realized that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel. ¹³ After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

²¹ Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

²⁹ As for the rest of the acts of Solomon, from beginning to end, are they not written in the Records of Nathan the Prophet, in the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the Visions of Iddo the Seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat?

¹⁵ Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days.

²⁷ The accounts of the sons of Joash, as well as the many pronouncements about him and about the restoration of the house of God, are indeed written in the Treatise of the Book of the Kings. And his son Amaziah reigned in his place.