Genesis 19 Cross References - NHEB

¹ The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, ² and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, and stay all night, and wash your feet, then you may rise up early, and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night." ³ But he urged them so strongly that they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ But before they could lie down to sleep, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. ⁵ They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them." ⁶ Lot went out to them at the entrance, and shut the door behind him. ⁷ He said, "Please, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ Look, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof." ⁹ They said, "Stand back." They said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them." They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. ¹¹ They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door. ¹² The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: ¹³ for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before God that he has sent us to destroy it." ¹⁴ Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up. Get out of this place, for God will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. ¹⁵ When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up. Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, and get out, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city." ¹⁶ But he hesitated, so the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, God being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. ¹⁷ It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life. Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away." ¹⁸ Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord. ¹⁹ See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest the disaster overtake me, and I die. ²⁰ See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there--isn't it a little one?--and my life will be saved." ²¹ He said to him, "Look, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. ²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the sky. ²⁵ He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground. ²⁶ But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷ Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before God. ²⁸ He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and he saw; and look, the smoke was rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. ²⁹ It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. ³⁰ Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to sleep with us according to the custom of all the land. ³² Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will sleep with him, that we may preserve our family through our father." ³³ They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and slept with her father. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she arose. ³⁴ It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Look, I slept last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and sleep with him, that we may preserve our family through our father." ³⁵ They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and slept with him. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she got up. ³⁶ Thus both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

¹ And God appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance to the tent in the heat of the day. ² He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the entrance of the tent, and bowed himself to the earth, ³ and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not go on past your servant. ⁴ Now let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵ I will get a bit of food so you may refresh yourselves. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant." They said, "Very well, do as you have said."

²² The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

³² (the foreigner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

² Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it.

⁴ Now let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

¹⁷ He lifted up his eyes, and saw the traveler in the street of the city. And the old man said, "Where are you going, and where did you come from?" ¹⁸ He said to him, "We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. And I am going to my home, and there is no one who will take me into his home. ¹⁹ Yet there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything." ²⁰ And the old man said, "Peace be to you. I will take care of all your needs; however, do not spend the night in the square." ²¹ So he brought him into his house, and fed the donkeys. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

²⁸ They drew near to the village, where they were going, and he acted like he would go further. ²⁹ They urged him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over." He went in to stay with them.

¹⁵ When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay." So she persuaded us.

⁶ Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly, get three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread." ⁷ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took curds, milk, and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

⁸ The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

¹⁵ "'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

³⁹ They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt; for it wasn't leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and couldn't wait, neither had they prepared for themselves any food.

¹⁹ Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal: the meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

²⁴ The woman had a fattened calf in the house. She hurried and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it.

⁸ It fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.

²⁹ Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.

⁸ I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.

²³ "The lord said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

² So they prepared a dinner for him there; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.

⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

¹⁴ For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.

¹³ Now the people of Sodom were evil, sinning greatly against God.

²⁰ The LORD said, "Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is so grievous,

² The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;

² You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;

¹⁶ For they do not sleep, unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.

¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

¹ "Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her. ² Though they say, 'As the LORD lives;' surely they swear falsely." ³ O LORD, do your eyes not look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. ⁴ Then I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD, nor the law of their God. ⁵ I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God." But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. ⁶ Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

³ Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

²⁰ Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. ²¹ But the governor answered them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" They said, "Barabbas." ²² Pilate said to them, "What then should I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let him be crucified." ²³ But he said, "Why? What evil has he done?" But they shouted all the louder, saying, "Let him be crucified." ²⁴ So Pilate, seeing that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, took water and he washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man. You see to it." ²⁵ All the people answered, "May his blood be on us, and on our children."

¹⁵ "Their feet are swift to shed blood.

²² "'You shall not have sexual relations with a male, as with a woman. That is detestable.

¹³ "'If a man has sexual relations with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

²² As they were enjoying themselves, look, the men of the city, some wicked men of the city surrounded the house, beating at the door. And they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may have sex with him."

⁹ Unless the LORD of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been like Gomorrah.

⁹ The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to their soul. For they have brought disaster upon themselves.

³ Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.

¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down," says the LORD.

⁴⁹ "'Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

⁵¹ Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done.

²³ And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, you will be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴ But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, on the day of judgment, than for you."

²³ and traded the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal humans, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and crawling creatures. ²⁴ Therefore God also abandoned them in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves,

²⁶ For this reason, God abandoned them to their degrading passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for that which is contrary to nature. ²⁷ Likewise also the men, giving up natural relations with women, burned in their lust toward one another, men with men, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor men who have sexual relations with men,

¹⁰ for the sexually immoral, for men who have sexual relations with men, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to sound teaching;

¹³ But evil people and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

⁷ Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of everlasting fire.

²³ The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, "No, my brothers, please do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house. Do not do this disgraceful thing.

⁴ But before they could lie down to sleep, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.

¹⁷ There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sacred male prostitute of the children of Israel.

²³ Then David said, "You shall not do so after what the LORD has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered into our hand the raiding party that came against us. ²⁴ So who will listen to you in this matter? For they are not inferior to you. For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so will his share be who remains with the supplies; they will share alike."

²⁶ He made from one blood every nation of the human race to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,

²⁴ Therefore God also abandoned them in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves,

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor men who have sexual relations with men, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers, will inherit the Kingdom of God. ¹¹ Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

⁵ I will get a bit of food so you may refresh yourselves. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant." They said, "Very well, do as you have said."

³¹ The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to sleep with us according to the custom of all the land. ³² Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will sleep with him, that we may preserve our family through our father." ³³ They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and slept with her father. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she arose. ³⁴ It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Look, I slept last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and sleep with him, that we may preserve our family through our father." ³⁵ They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and slept with him. He did not know when she lay down, nor when she got up. ³⁶ Thus both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

³⁷ Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons if I do not bring him to you. Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you."

²² Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.

¹⁵ "The bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

²⁴ Look, here is my virgin daughter and his secondary wife. I will bring them out now. Ravish them and do with them what seems good to you; but do not do any such a disgraceful thing to this man."

⁷ Isn't it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?

⁶ For he did not know what to answer, for they became very afraid.

⁸ And Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), "Let us do evil, that good may come?" Their condemnation is just.

⁶ The LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. So now nothing which they plan to do will be too difficult for them.

¹² Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

¹⁴ He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

¹⁶ If the man said to him, "Let the fat be burned first, and then take all of it which your soul desires"; then he would say, "No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force."

⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field."

¹⁷ Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house; for he is such a worthless fellow that one can't speak to him."

⁷ He who corrects a mocker invites insult. He who reproves a wicked man invites abuse. ⁸ Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

¹⁶ A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, but the fool is arrogant and reckless.

¹² Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

³ A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

³ This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

¹³ The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

⁵ who say, 'Keep your distance, do not come near to me, for I am holier than you.' These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.

¹² Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No. They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD.

¹⁹ Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰ He commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ²¹ Then these men were bound in their cloaks, trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ²² Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

⁶ "Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

²⁶ "The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?' ²⁷ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

⁷ and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man dwelling among them, was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds):

²⁸ The LORD will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart; ²⁹ and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways: and you shall be only oppressed and robbed always, and there shall be none to save you.

¹⁸ When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, "Please strike this people with blindness." He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

¹⁵ The labor of fools wearies every one of them; for he doesn't know how to go to the city.

¹⁰ You were wearied with the length of your way; yet you did not say, 'It is in vain.' You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren't faint.

³⁶ Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

¹¹ Now, look, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time." Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹ And God said to Noah, "Come with all of your household into the vessel, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation.

¹⁴ Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up. Get out of this place, for God will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.

¹⁷ It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life. Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away."

²² Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²⁶ He spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins."

²² And Joshua said to the two young men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring out from there the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her." ²³ The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.

³⁹ and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good, and of their children after them:

⁷ and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked

⁹ the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment;

⁴ I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you do not receive of her plagues,

¹⁵ God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, the LORD saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, "It is enough; now stay your hand." The angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

⁵ The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates. ⁶ On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

¹¹ Woe to the wicked. Disaster is upon them; for the work of his hands will be done to him.

¹⁰ Have I come up now without the LORD against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, "Go up against this land, and destroy it."'"

³⁶ The angel of the LORD went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, look, these were all dead bodies.

⁵ To the others he said in my hearing, "Go through the city after him, and strike: do not let your eye spare, neither have pity; ⁶ kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but do not come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary." Then they began at the old men that were before the house.

⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, ⁴² and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the grinding of teeth.

⁴⁹ So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come forth, and separate the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰ and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the grinding of teeth."

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

⁸ And Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), "Let us do evil, that good may come?" Their condemnation is just. ⁹ What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.

⁴ Look, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

¹ I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth." ² The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image. ³ The second one poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a corpse. And every living thing in the sea died. ⁴ The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵ I heard the angel of the waters saying, "You are righteous, who is and who was, the Holy One, because you have judged these things. ⁶ For they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this." ⁷ I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God of hosts, true and righteous are your judgments." ⁸ The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch people with fire. ⁹ People were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. ¹⁰ The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, ¹¹ and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They did not repent of their works. ¹² The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrise.

²¹ Whoever did not regard the word of the LORD left his servants and his livestock in the field.

³¹ He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said.

²¹ "Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment."

⁴⁵ "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." They fell on their faces.

¹⁰ So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun: but they ridiculed them, and mocked them.

¹⁶ but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, until there was no remedy.

¹ He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.

²² And as for you, do not be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the LORD of hosts, on the whole earth.

¹² They have denied the LORD, and said, "It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine. ¹³ The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them." ¹⁴ Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, "Because you speak this word, look, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

⁷ LORD, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I am, and have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all day long; everyone mocks me.

⁶ Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; do not be cut off in her iniquity: for it is the time of the LORD's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.

⁴⁹ Then I said, "Ah Lord GOD. They say of me, 'Isn't he a speaker of parables?'"

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened like this. His mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, and before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

²⁴ he said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead, but asleep." And they laughed at him.

⁴² While he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him violently. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

²⁸ Likewise, even as it happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ²⁹ but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

¹¹ These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they did not believe them.

³² Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, "We want to hear you again concerning this."

³ Now when they are saying, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.

⁴ I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you do not receive of her plagues, ⁵ for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities. ⁶ Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. ⁷ However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, 'I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.' ⁸ Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.

²⁴ "Speak to the congregation, saying, 'Get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'" ²⁵ Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ He spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins." ²⁷ So they went away from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones.

⁴ Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. ⁵ Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

²⁴ "Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able. ²⁵ When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us.' then he will answer and tell you, 'I do not know you or where you come from.'

² for he says, "At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I helped you." Look, now is the "acceptable time." Look, now is the "day of salvation."

⁷ Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you will hear his voice, ⁸ do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,

⁶ The LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,

¹⁸ 'The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and upon the children's children, on the third and on the fourth [generation].'

³¹ for the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.

²² And Joshua said to the two young men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring out from there the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her."

³⁴ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

¹² Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?

⁵ For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.

¹⁵ But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.

⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. ⁹ He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. ¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.

¹³ Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

¹ Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

⁸ Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power known.

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

⁴ He has caused his wonderful works to be remembered. The LORD is gracious and merciful.

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

⁶⁰ I will hurry, and not delay, to obey your commandments.

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever.

⁹ In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

²² The LORD's faithful love does not cease; his compassion does not fail.

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn't retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

³⁵ But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. ³⁶ Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.

¹³ But the tax collector, standing far away, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.'

⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.

¹⁵ For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." ¹⁶ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.

¹⁸ So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;

⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

⁵ not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of rebirth and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

¹⁰ Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, like the garden of God, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

¹⁴ Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up. Get out of this place, for God will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. ¹⁵ When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up. Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, and get out, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city."

²⁶ But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

¹¹ Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Mikal, David's wife, told him, saying, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."

³ And he was afraid, and he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

¹ [A Song of Ascents.] I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?

⁶ "Flee, save your lives, and be like a shrub in the wilderness."

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism he said to them, "You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out things that are in his house. ¹⁸ Let him who is in the field not return back to take his coat.

⁶² But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God."

³¹ In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back. ³² Remember Lot's wife.

¹³ Brothers, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forward to the things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

³ how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard;

²⁶ Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But Jacob said, "I wonʼt let you go unless you bless me."

¹¹ But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, "Look, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.' ¹² Aren't Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I go wash in them, and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

¹¹ Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands.

⁶ Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" ⁷ Jesus answered him, "You do not know what I am doing now, but you will understand later." ⁸ Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me."

¹³ But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.

¹⁴ But Peter said, "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean."

¹³ Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you."

¹⁷ Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, 'Haven't these evils come on us because our God is not among us?'

¹ David said in his heart, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me except that I escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand."

⁹ And they shall answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.'"

¹ [For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said,] I love you, LORD, my strength. ² The LORD is my Rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. ³ I call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. ⁴ The waves of death surrounded me, and the currents of ungodliness overwhelmed me. ⁵ The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me. ⁶ In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried out to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry before him came into his ears. ⁷ Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. ⁸ Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. ⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. ¹⁰ He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness his hiding place, his canopy around him thick clouds dark with water. ¹² From the brightness before him his thick clouds passed on, with hailstones and coals of fire. ¹³ The LORD also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice. ¹⁴ And he sent out arrows and scattered them, and he shot lightning bolts and routed them. ¹⁵ And the depths of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. ¹⁶ He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. ¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me. ¹⁸ They came on me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. ¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. ²⁰ The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me. ²¹ For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²² For all his ordinances were before me. I did not put away his statutes from me. ²³ I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity. ²⁴ Therefore the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. ²⁵ With the faithful you show yourself faithful. With the innocent you show yourself innocent. ²⁶ With the pure you show yourself pure. And with the crooked you show yourself tortuous. ²⁷ For you will save a humble people, but the eyes of the proud you will bring low. ²⁸ For you light my lamp. The LORD my God lights up my darkness. ²⁹ For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall. ³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the LORD is pure. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. ³¹ For who is God, except the LORD? Who is a rock, besides our God, ³² the God who girds me with strength, and makes my way blameless? ³³ He makes my feet like deer's feet, and sets me on my high places. ³⁴ He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze. ³⁵ You have also given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand holds me up, and your help has made me great. ³⁶ You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped. ³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and I did not turn back until they were destroyed. ³⁸ I struck them through, so that they did not rise. They fell beneath my feet. ³⁹ For you have equipped me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ⁴⁰ You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. ⁴¹ They cried, but there was none to save; even to the LORD, but he did not answer them. ⁴² Then I ground them as fine as the dust on the surface of a path. Like the mud in the streets, I trampled them. ⁴³ You have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me; ⁴⁴ as soon as they hear of me they obey me. Foreigners come cringing to me; ⁴⁵ they are not bound in chains. ⁴⁶ The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation, ⁴⁷ even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me. ⁴⁸ He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man. ⁴⁹ Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name. ⁵⁰ He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his descendants, until forever.

¹ [For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.] I waited patiently for the LORD, and he turned to me, and heard my cry. ² He also brought me up out of a pit of tumult, out of the miry clay; and he set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. ³ And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. ⁴ Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, and doesn't respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. ⁵ Many, LORD, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can't be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. ⁶ Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. Whole burnt offering and sin offering you did not require. ⁷ Then I said, "Look, I have come. It is written about me in the scroll of a book; ⁸ to do your will, O God, I desired. And your Law is within my heart." ⁹ I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Look, I will not seal my lips, LORD, you know. ¹⁰ I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly. ¹¹ Do not withhold your tender mercies from me, LORD. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me. ¹² For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me. ¹³ Be pleased, LORD, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, LORD. ¹⁴ Let them be put to shame and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt. ¹⁵ Let them be desolate by reason of their shame that tell me, "Aha. Aha." ¹⁶ Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let such as love your salvation say continually, "Let the LORD be exalted." ¹⁷ But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Do not delay, my God.

⁷ "Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more? ⁸ Has his loving kindness vanished forever? Does his promise fail for generations? ⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?" Selah. ¹⁰ And I thought, "This is my wounding, that the right hand of the Most High has changed." ¹¹ I will remember the works of the LORD; for I will remember your wonders of old.

¹ [By David.] Praise the LORD, my soul, and all that is within me, praise his holy name. ² Praise the LORD, my soul, and do not forget all his benefits; ³ who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases; ⁴ who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies; ⁵ who satisfies your desire with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ⁶ The LORD executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed. ⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel. ⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. ⁹ He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever. ¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities. ¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. ¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³ Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. ¹⁴ For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. ¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. ¹⁶ For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. ¹⁷ But the LORD's loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children's children; ¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts. ¹⁹ The LORD has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all. ²⁰ Praise the LORD, all you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word. ²¹ Praise the LORD, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure. ²² Praise the LORD, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul.

¹ Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. ² Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD, or fully declare all his praise? ³ Blessed are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times. ⁴ Remember me, LORD, with the favor that you show to your people. Visit me with your salvation, ⁵ that I may see the prosperity of your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance. ⁶ We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. ⁷ Our fathers did not understand your wonders in Egypt. They did not remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Sea at the End. ⁸ Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power known. ⁹ He rebuked the Sea at the End also, and it was dried up; so he led them through the depths, as through a desert. ¹⁰ He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. ¹¹ The waters covered their adversaries. There was not one of them left. ¹² Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. ¹³ They soon forgot his works. They did not wait for his counsel, ¹⁴ but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland. ¹⁵ He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. ¹⁶ They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, the LORD's holy one. ¹⁷ The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. ¹⁸ A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked. ¹⁹ They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰ Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass. ²¹ They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, ²² Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome things by the Sea at the End. ²³ Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn't destroy them. ²⁴ Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They did not believe his word, ²⁵ but murmured in their tents, and did not listen to the LORD's voice. ²⁶ Therefore he swore to them that he would overthrow them in the wilderness, ²⁷ and that he would make their offspring fall among the nations, and scatter them in the lands. ²⁸ They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. ²⁹ Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them. ³⁰ Then Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. ³¹ That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come. ³² They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes; ³³ because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips. ³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them, ³⁵ but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works. ³⁶ They served their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷ Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood. ³⁹ Thus were they defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds. ⁴⁰ Therefore the LORD burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance. ⁴¹ He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴² Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand. ⁴³ Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity. ⁴⁴ Nevertheless he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry. ⁴⁵ He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. ⁴⁶ He made them also to be pitied by all those who carried them captive. ⁴⁷ Save us, LORD, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise. ⁴⁸ Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the people say, "Amen." Praise the LORD.

¹ I love the LORD, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy. ² Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. ³ The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow. ⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD: "LORD, I beg you, deliver my soul." ⁵ The LORD is Gracious and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful. ⁶ The LORD preserves the simple. I was brought low, and he saved me. ⁷ Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. ⁸ For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. ⁹ I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. ¹⁰ I believed, therefore I said, "I am greatly afflicted." ¹¹ I said in my haste, "All men are liars." ¹² What will I give to the LORD for all his benefits toward me? ¹³ I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the LORD. ¹⁴ I will pay my vows to the LORD, yes, in the presence of all his people. ¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. ¹⁶ LORD, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. You have freed me from my chains. ¹⁷ I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on the name of the LORD. ¹⁸ I will pay my vows to the LORD, yes, in the presence of all his people, ¹⁹ in the courts of the LORD's house, in the midst of you, Jerusalem. Praise the LORD.

²⁵ They came to him, and woke him up, saying, "Save us, Lord. We are dying." ²⁶ And he said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.

¹⁹ And answering, he said to them, "You unbelieving generation, how long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me."

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

¹⁴ The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. ¹⁶ However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience, for an example of those who were going to believe in him for everlasting life.

³⁰ Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.

¹⁷⁵ Let my soul live, that I may praise you. Let your ordinances help me.

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. ⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

³ Turn your ear, and come to me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful kindnesses of David.

⁶ Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does disaster happen to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

⁷ If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you do not do well, sin lies in wait at the door. It desires to control you, but you must rule over it."

² And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you will be a blessing.

²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you sweep it away and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?

⁸ Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has." ⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did what the LORD commanded them, and the LORD accepted Job.

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.

¹⁷ He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer.

¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

¹⁰ Thus says the LORD to this people, "Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore the LORD does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins."

²⁰ He won't break a bruised reed. And he won't put out a smoldering wick, until he leads justice to victory.

¹⁷ Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need.

² that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

²⁵ When he saw that he did not defeat him, he struck the socket of his hip, and Jacobʼs hip was dislocated as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But Jacob said, "I wonʼt let you go unless you bless me." ²⁷ And he said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." ²⁸ Then he said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."

¹⁰ Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation."

¹⁴ let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they."

¹ He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of Shaddai. ² I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust." ³ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence. ⁴ He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His truth is an encompassing shield. ⁵ You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day; ⁶ nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday. ⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. ⁸ You will only look with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked. ⁹ Because you have made the LORD, my refuge, the Most High, your dwelling place, ¹⁰ no evil shall overtake you; no plague shall come near your dwelling.

⁵ My heart cries out for Moab. Her Nazirites flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for in the way of Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.

⁸ Thus says the LORD, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, 'Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it:' so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.

³⁴ From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah: for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate.

⁵ And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people, and healed them.

¹³ If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself."

² in hope of everlasting life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began;

²³ and that the whole land of it is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

¹⁵ There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.

⁶ On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

¹⁹ Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

¹⁶ Let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and did not repent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime;

¹⁸ As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it," says the LORD, "no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man live in it.

⁴⁰ As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it," says the LORD, "so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man live in it."

⁶ For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant, and no hands were laid on her.

⁴⁹ "'Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty, and committed abomination before me. So I took them away, as you have seen.

⁸ "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

¹¹ "I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven't returned to me," says the LORD.

⁹ Therefore as I live, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the people of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them.

²⁸ Likewise, even as it happened in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; ²⁹ but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all.

⁶ and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;

³ All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

³⁴ and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

³⁸ even the censers of these sinners against their own lives; and let them be made beaten plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD; therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel."

¹⁴ The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.

³⁸ But the righteous will live by faith, and if he holds back, my soul has no pleasure in him."

²² The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. ²³ Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you sweep it away and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the earth do right?" ²⁶ The LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake." ²⁷ Abraham answered, "Look, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸ What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?" He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there." ²⁹ He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?" He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake." ³⁰ He said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?" He said, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." ³¹ He said, "Look, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake." ³² He said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake." ³³ The LORD went his way, as soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

³ LORD, in the morning you shall hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my requests before you, and watch.

¹ I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

¹ Therefore we ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard, so that we will not drift away.

² He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the shaft, like the smoke from a great furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit.

¹⁰ he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

⁹ The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her, will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning,

¹⁸ and exclaimed as they looked at the smoke of her burning, saying, 'What is like the great city?'

³ A second said, "Hallelujah. Her smoke goes up forever and ever."

⁸ But to the cowards, and unbelieving, and detestable, and murderers, and sexually immoral, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

¹ And God remembered Noah, and all the wild animals, and all the tame animals, and all the flying creatures, and all the crawling creatures that were with him in the vessel; and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters began to recede.

²² God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and made her fertile.

⁵ Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

¹⁴ Remember me, my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances.

²² I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness.

⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness' sake, LORD.

⁸ He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,

⁴² For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant.

⁴ Remember me, LORD, with the favor that you show to your people. Visit me with your salvation,

²³ Who remembered us in our low estate; for his loving kindness endures forever;

²⁰ The LORD preserves all those who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

³¹ Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. ³² Nor for your sake do I this," says the Lord GOD, "be it known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel."'

²² Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth,

¹⁹ See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest the disaster overtake me, and I die.

⁴ Uncontrolled as the waters, you will not have excel, because you went up to your father's bed, you went up and defiled my couch.

³ and the Negev, and the Plain of the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, to Zoar.

³⁶ Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria. ³⁷ From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head; for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.

⁸ He is a double-minded person, unstable in all his ways.

¹ Now Adam had marital relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, "I have gotten a man from God."

⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after that), when the sons of God had sexual relations with the daughters of humankind and had children by them. They were the mighty men who were from ancient times, famous men.

² Sarai said to Abram, "Look now, God has prevented me from bearing. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I will obtain children by her." Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

⁴ He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

²⁸ He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and he saw; and look, the smoke was rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, "Sleep with your brotherʼs wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother." ⁹ But Onan knew that the offspring wouldnʼt be his. So it happened when he slept with his brotherʼs wife that he released his semen on the ground, so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

¹⁴ She took off her widowʼs clothes and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He went over to her by the road and said, "Please come, let me sleep with you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me for sleeping with you?" ¹⁷ He said, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She said, "Will you give me something as a guarantee until you send it?" ¹⁸ He said, "What kind of guarantee should I give you?" She replied, "Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her, and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹ And she got up and left, and took off her veil, and put on her widowʼs clothing. ²⁰ Judah sent the young goat by his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the guarantee back from the womanʼs hand, but he did not find her. ²¹ Then he asked the men of the place, saying, "Where is the prostitute that was at Enaim by the road?" They said, "There has been no prostitute here." ²² He returned to Judah, and said, "I havenʼt found her; and also the men of the place said, 'There has been no prostitute here.'" ²³ Judah said, "Let her keep the things, lest we be publicly shamed. Look, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her." ²⁴ Now it happened about three months later that Judah was told, saying, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has turned to prostitution, and now, look, she is pregnant by prostitution." Judah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burned." ²⁵ When she was brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man who owns these I am pregnant." She also said, “Please discern whose these are—the signet, and the cord, and the staff." ²⁶ Then Judah recognized them, and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah." He did not sleep with her again. ²⁷ It happened when it was time for her to give birth, that look, there were twins in her womb. ²⁸ As she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, "This one came out first." ²⁹ It happened, as he drew back his hand, that look, his brother came out, and she said, "How did you break through?" So he was named Perez. ³⁰ Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet thread on his hand, so he was named Zerah.

⁵ If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.

¹ Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing: only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach."

²¹ He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.

³ And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

⁶ "'None of you shall approach anyone who are his close relatives, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. ⁷ "'You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, nor the nakedness of your mother: she is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness.

³¹ Do not look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. ³² In the end, it bites like a serpent, and poisons like a viper. ³³ Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.

¹⁵ "Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies. ¹⁶ You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed. The cup of the LORD's right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.

¹⁹ "Teacher, Moses wrote to us, 'If a man's brother dies, and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take the wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.'

¹ Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? ³⁰ Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine. ³¹ Do not look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. ³² In the end, it bites like a serpent, and poisons like a viper. ³³ Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things. ³⁴ Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging: ³⁵ "They hit me, and I was not hurt. They beat me, and I do not feel it. When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another."

³ O LORD, do your eyes not look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.

⁴ what is man, that you think of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

¹⁶ For the righteous may fall seven times, but gets up again, but the wicked will stumble in adversity.

²⁶ I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

³⁴ "So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.

¹¹ Now these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹² Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.

⁷ But the end of all things is near. Therefore be serious and disciplined in your prayers.

⁸ Look, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof."

⁷ Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, scavenged under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

³³ Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women." Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

¹⁵ "Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies.

² For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.

²⁹ Woe to you, Moab. You are undone, people of Chemosh. He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites.

¹ The children of Israel traveled, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. ² Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³ Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. ⁴ Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. ⁵ He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor on the river, to the land of the people of Ammon, to call him, saying, "Look, there is a people who came out from Egypt. Look, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me. ⁶ And now please come, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." ⁷ The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak. ⁸ And he said to them, "Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak to me." The princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. ⁹ And God came to Balaam, and said, "Who are these men with you?" ¹⁰ And Balaam said to God, "Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ¹¹ 'Look, this people has come out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the earth. Come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.'" ¹² And God said to Balaam, "You are not to go with them, and you are not to curse the people, for they are blessed." ¹³ And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, "Go to your lord; for God refuses to permit me to go with you." ¹⁴ The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, "Balaam refuses to come with us." ¹⁵ Then Balak again sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. ¹⁶ They came to Balaam, and said to him, "Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, 'Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me: ¹⁷ for I will greatly honor you, and whatever you say to me I will do for you. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.'" ¹⁸ Balaam answered the servants of Balak, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the command of the LORD my God, to do less or more. ¹⁹ Now therefore, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what else the LORD will say to me." ²⁰ God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do." ²¹ Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. ²² God's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of the LORD placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ The donkey saw the angel of God standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the way. ²⁴ Then the angel of God stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. ²⁵ The donkey saw the angel of God, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he struck her again. ²⁶ The angel of God went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. ²⁷ The donkey saw the angel of God, and she lay down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. ²⁸ And God opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" ²⁹ Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you." ³⁰ The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Was I ever in the habit of doing so to you?" He said, "No." ³¹ Then God opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of God standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. ³² The angel of God said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Look, I have come forth as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me: ³³ and the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times. Unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive." ³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, "I have sinned; for I did not know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again." ³⁵ The angel of God said to Balaam, "Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. ³⁶ When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him to the City of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border. ³⁷ Balak said to Balaam, "Did I not earnestly send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able indeed to promote you to honor?" ³⁸ Balaam said to Balak, "Look, I have come to you: have I now any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak." ³⁹ Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath Huzoth. ⁴⁰ Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him. ⁴¹ It happened in the morning, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there the utmost part of the people.

¹ When Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not go, as at the other times, to meet with omens, but he set his face toward the wilderness. ² Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him. ³ He took up his parable, and said, "Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eye was closed says; ⁴ he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of Shaddai, falling down, and having his eyes open: ⁵ How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your tents, Israel. ⁶ As valleys they are spread forth, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which the LORD has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters. ⁷ Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag. His kingdom shall be exalted. ⁸ God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows. ⁹ He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed." ¹⁰ Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, and, look, you have altogether blessed them these three times. ¹¹ Therefore now flee you to your place. I thought to promote you to great honor; but, look, the LORD has kept you back from honor." ¹² Balaam said to Balak, "Did I not also tell your messengers who you sent to me, saying, ¹³ 'If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the word of the LORD, to do either good or bad in my heart. I will say what God says'? ¹⁴ Now, look, I go to my people: come, I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days." ¹⁵ He took up his parable, and said, "Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eye was closed says; ¹⁶ he says, who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of Shaddai, falling down, and having his eyes open: ¹⁷ I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and will crush the forehead of Moab, and the crown of all the sons of tumult. ¹⁸ Edom shall be a possession. Seir, his enemies, also shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly. ¹⁹ Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city." ²⁰ He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, "Amalek was the first of the nations, But his latter end shall come to destruction." ²¹ He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, "Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock. ²² Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive." ²³ He took up his parable, and said, "Alas, who shall live when God does this? ²⁴ But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction." ²⁵ Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.

⁹ The LORD said to me, "Do not bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot for a possession."

¹⁹ and when you come near over against the people of Ammon, do not bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the people of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the people of Lot for a possession."

³ An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of the LORD forever:

¹ Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan; ² only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing of it: ³ namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. ⁴ They were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ⁵ The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hethites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: ⁶ and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. ⁷ The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth. ⁸ Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim; and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years. ⁹ When the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Calebʼs younger brother; and he obeyed him. ¹⁰ The Spirit of the LORD came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the LORD delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim. ¹¹ The land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. ¹² The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. ¹³ He gathered to him the people of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees. ¹⁴ The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵ But when the children of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶ Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, eighteen inches in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his right thigh. ¹⁷ He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ When he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people who bore the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." The king said, "Keep silence." All who stood by him went out from him. ²⁰ Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, "I have a message from God to you, O king." He arose out of his seat. ²¹ And it happened as he rose up that Ehud put forth his left hand and took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. ²² And the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn't draw the sword out of his belly; and it came out behind. ²³ Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them. ²⁴ Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and look, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, "Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room." ²⁵ They waited until they were ashamed; and look, he did not open the doors of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened them, and look, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. ²⁶ Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ It happened, when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he before them. ²⁸ He said to them, "Follow after me; for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand." They went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and did not allow a man to pass over. ²⁹ They struck of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a man. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. Then the land had rest eighty years. And Ehud judged them until he died. ³¹ And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who alone struck down six hundred men of the Philistines with an oxgoad. And he also saved Israel.

¹⁰ Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, that the name of the deceased may not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day."

¹ After this it happened that David struck the Philistines, and subdued them, and David took the bridle of Ammah out of the hand of the Philistines. ² He struck Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. The Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute. ³ David struck also Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River. ⁴ And David took from him a thousand of his chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for one hundred chariots. ⁵ When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck of the Arameans two and twenty thousand men. ⁶ Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David, and brought tribute. The LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷ And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem, which, later on, were also taken by Shishak king of Egypt in the days of Rehoboam son of Solomon when he went up to Jerusalem. ⁸ From Tebah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took a very great amount of bronze. ⁹ When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had struck all the army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰ then Toi sent Hadoram his son to king David, to greet him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and struck him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And he brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze. ¹¹ King David also dedicated these to the LORD, with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued; ¹² of Edom, and of Moab, and of the people of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³ And David made a name for himself when he returned from defeating the Arameans. And Abishai son of Zeruiah defeated the Edomites in the Valley of Salt--eighteen thousand. ¹⁴ And he put a garrison in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. The LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. ¹⁵ David reigned over all Israel; and David executed justice and righteousness to all his people. ¹⁶ Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; ¹⁷ and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Shisha was scribe; ¹⁸ and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David's sons were chief ministers.

¹ Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. ² He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³ Nevertheless he held to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it. ⁴ Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he rendered to the king of Israel the wool of one hundred thousand lambs, and of one hundred thousand rams. ⁵ But it happened, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶ King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel. ⁷ He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?" He said, "I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." ⁸ He said, "Which way shall we go up?" He answered, "The way of the wilderness of Edom." ⁹ So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days' journey. There was no water for the army, nor for the animals that followed them. ¹⁰ The king of Israel said, "Alas. For the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab." ¹¹ But Jehoshaphat said, "Isn't there here a prophet of the LORD, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?" One of the king of Israel's servants answered, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." ¹² And Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah and the king of Edom went down to him. ¹³ Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother." The king of Israel said to him, "No; for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab." ¹⁴ Elisha said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you. ¹⁵ But now bring me a minstrel." It happened, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came on him. ¹⁶ He said, "Thus says the LORD, 'Make this valley full of trenches.' ¹⁷ For thus says the LORD, 'You will not see wind, neither will you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and your animals. ¹⁸ This is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD. He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. ¹⁹ You shall strike every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.'" ²⁰ It happened in the morning, about the time of offering the offering, that look, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. ²¹ Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border. ²² They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water over against them as red as blood. ²³ They said, "This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil." ²⁴ When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land smiting the Moabites. ²⁵ They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the springs of water, and felled all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth only they left its stones; however the men armed with slings went about it, and struck it. ²⁶ When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. ²⁷ Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

⁶ The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals, and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the LORD, and did not serve him. ⁷ The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the people of Ammon. ⁸ And they shattered and oppressed the children of Israel that year. Eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. ⁹ The people of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was very distressed. ¹⁰ The children of Israel cried to the LORD, saying, "We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals." ¹¹ The LORD said to the children of Israel, "Did I not save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the people of Ammon, and from the Philistines? ¹² Also the Sidonians, and Amalek, and Midian oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand. ¹³ Yet you have forsaken me, and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more. ¹⁴ Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress." ¹⁵ The children of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, this day." ¹⁶ They put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the LORD; and his soul was grieved with the misery of Israel. ¹⁷ Then the people of Ammon were gathered together, and camped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together, and camped at Mizpah. ¹⁸ And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to each other, "What man is he who will begin to fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."

⁶ and they said to Jephthah, "Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the people of Ammon." ⁷ And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "Did you not hate me, and drive me out of my father's house, and sent me away from you? And why have you come to me now when you are in distress?" ⁸ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "Not so. We have turned to you now, that you may go with us, and fight with the people of Ammon; and you shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead." ⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, "If you bring me home again to fight with the people of Ammon, and the LORD delivers them before me, shall I be your head?" ¹⁰ The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, "The LORD shall be witness between us; surely according to your word so will we do." ¹¹ Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah. ¹² Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the people of Ammon, saying, "What have you to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?" ¹³ And the king of the people of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, "Because Israel took away my land, when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore it peaceably, and I will depart." ¹⁴ And the messengers returned to Jephthah, and Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the people of Ammon; ¹⁵ and he said to him, "Thus says Jephthah: 'Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the people of Ammon, ¹⁶ but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Lake of Rushes, and came to Kadesh; ¹⁷ then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Please let me pass through your land.' But the king of Edom did not listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab; but he would not. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they camped on the other side of the Arnon; but they did not come within the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. ¹⁹ Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, "Please let me pass through your land to our land.' ²⁰ But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and camped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹ The LORD, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ²² They possessed all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan. ²³ So now the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them? ²⁴ Won't you possess that which Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whoever the LORD our God has driven out from before us, we will possess. ²⁵ And now are you anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ²⁶ While Israel lived in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years; why did you not liberate them within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong by making war against me. The LORD, the Judge, be judge this day between the children of Israel and the people of Ammon." ²⁸ However the king of the people of Ammon did not listen to the words of Jephthah which he sent him. ²⁹ Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the people of Ammon. ³⁰ Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, "If you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hand, ³¹ then it shall be that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, it shall be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering." ³² So Jephthah passed over to the people of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hand. ³³ He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. So the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. ³⁴ Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and look, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances: and she was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ And it happened, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter. You have brought me very low. You have become a stumbling block in my sight. And you are among those who trouble me. For I have given my word to the LORD, and I can't break it." ³⁶ She said to him, "My father, since you have given your word to the LORD; do to me as you promised, because the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the people of Ammon." ³⁷ She said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may depart and go down on the mountains, and weep because of my virginity, I and my companions." ³⁸ He said, "Go." He sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and wept because of her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹ It happened at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to what he had vowed. And she was a virgin. It became a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went yearly four days in a year to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

¹ After about a month, Nahash the Ammonite came up and camped against Jabesh Gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you." ² And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, "On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that all your right eyes are put out; and I will make it a disgrace on all Israel." ³ The elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you." ⁴ Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voice, and wept. ⁵ Look, Saul came following the oxen out of the field; and Saul said, "What ails the people that they weep?" They told him the words of the men of Jabesh. ⁶ The Spirit of God came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger was kindled greatly. ⁷ He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, "Whoever doesn't come forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen." The dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man. ⁸ He numbered them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. ⁹ And he said to the messengers who came, "Thus you shall tell the men of Jabesh Gilead, 'Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have deliverance.'" The messengers came and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. ¹⁰ Therefore the men of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you." ¹¹ It was so on the next day, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it happened, that those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. ¹² And the people said to Samuel, "Who is it that said Saul should not reign over us? Bring those men so we may put them to death." ¹³ Saul said, "There shall not a man be put to death this day; for today the LORD has worked deliverance in Israel." ¹⁴ Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there." ¹⁵ All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

¹ It happened after this, that the king of the people of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his place. ² David said, "I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me." So David sent by his servants to comfort him concerning his father. David's servants came into the land of the people of Ammon. ³ But the leaders of the people of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Hasn't David sent his servants to you to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?" ⁴ So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵ When David was told, he sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, "Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return." ⁶ When the people of Ammon saw that they were become odious to David, the people of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth Rehob, and the Arameans of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men. ⁷ When David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of the mighty men. ⁸ The people of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate: and the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. ⁹ Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Arameans: ¹⁰ The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and he put them in array against the people of Ammon. ¹¹ He said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come and help you. ¹² Be courageous, and let us be strong for our people, and for the cities of our God; and the LORD do that which seems good to him." ¹³ So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Arameans: and they fled before him. ¹⁴ When the people of Ammon saw that the Arameans had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, and entered into the city. Then Joab returned from the people of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. ¹⁵ When the Arameans saw that they were defeated by the children of Israel, they gathered themselves together. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent, and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head. ¹⁷ It was told David; and he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. The Arameans set themselves in array against David, and fought with him. ¹⁸ The Arameans fled before Israel; and David killed of the Arameans seven hundred charioteers, and forty thousand foot soldiers, and struck Shobach the captain of their army, so that he died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Arameans feared to help the people of Ammon any more.

¹ On that day they read in the scroll of Moses in the audience of the people; and in it was found written, that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever, ² because they did not meet the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them: however our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³ It came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

²³ In those days also saw I the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: ²⁴ and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. ²⁵ I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves. ²⁶ Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin. ²⁷ Shall we then listen to you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women?" ²⁸ One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

⁴ "Come," they say, "and let's destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more." ⁵ For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you. ⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites; ⁷ Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; ⁸ Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the descendants of Lot. Selah.

¹⁴ They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the people of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon will obey them.