1 Chronicles 21 Cross References - LEB

¹ Then Satan* stood against Israel and urged David to count Israel. ² So David said to Joab and to the commanders of the nation, "Go, count Israel from Beersheba to Dan and bring a report to me that I might know their number." ³ But Joab said, "May Yahweh add to the people a hundred times what they are! Are they not, O my lord the king, all of them the king's servants? Why does my lord seek this? Why would he bring guilt to Israel?" ⁴ But the word of the king prevailed over Joab. Then he went about through all Israel and came to Jerusalem. ⁵ And Joab gave the number of the enrollment of the people to David. And it happened that all Israel was one million one hundred thousand men drawing a sword, and in Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men drawing a sword. ⁶ But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the word of the king was repulsive to Joab. ⁷ But this word was displeasing in the eyes of God, and he struck Israel. ⁸ Then David said to God, "I have sinned severely in that I have done this thing. But now, please forgive the sin of your servant, for I have been very foolish." ⁹ Then Yahweh spoke to Gad the seer of David, saying, ¹⁰ "Go, you must speak to David, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Three choices I offer to you. Choose one of them for yourself that I will do to you." '" ¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Choose for yourself: ¹² whether three years of famine or three months of devastation by your enemies while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days of the sword of Yahweh, with disease in the land and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the territory in Israel.' So now, see what word I should return to my sender." ¹³ Then David said to Gad, "_⌊I am very troubled_⌋.* Let me into the hand of Yahweh, for his compassion is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of a man." ¹⁴ So Yahweh sent a pestilence through Israel, and seventy thousand men from Israel fell. ¹⁵ And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was about to destroy it, Yahweh saw and was grieved on account of the calamity. Then he said to the angel, the destroyer, "It is enough; slacken your hand." And the angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, with his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. ¹⁷ Then David said to God, "Was it not I who gave a command to count the people? Now I am he who has sinned, and I have certainly done wickedness, but these sheep, what have they done? O Yahweh, my God, please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father, but against your people, let there be no plague." ¹⁸ Now the angel of Yahweh had spoken to Gad to say to David that David should go up and erect an altar for Yahweh. ¹⁹ So David went up at the word of Gad that he had spoken in the name of Yahweh. ²⁰ Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and Ornan turned and saw the angel, and his four sons with him hid themselves. ²¹ Then David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and they bowed down to David, faces to the ground. ²² Then David said to Ornan, "Please give me the place, the threshing floor, that I might build an altar on it to Yahweh; at full price please give it to me, that the plague against the people might be stopped." ²³ And Ornan said to David, "Take it to yourself; let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. See, I give the cattle for the burnt offerings and threshing sledges for the wood and wheat for the grain offering—I give it all." ²⁴ But King David said to Ornan, "No, for I will certainly buy it at full value; indeed, I will not take what is yours for Yahweh and offer burnt offerings for nothing." ²⁵ So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. ²⁶ Then David built an altar there to Yahweh, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and he called to Yahweh. And he answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. ²⁷ Then Yahweh commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath. ²⁸ At that time, when David saw that Yahweh answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. ²⁹ Now the tabernacle of Yahweh that Moses had made in the desert and the altar of burnt offering were at that time at the high place of Gibeon. ³⁰ But David was not able to go before it to seek God, for he was afraid on account of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.

¹ Again Yahweh was angry with Israel, and he* incited David against them, saying, "Go count Israel and Judah." ² The king said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him: "Please go about through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people that I may know the number of the people." ³ Then Joab said to the king, "May Yahweh your God increase the people a hundred times _⌊what they are_⌋* as the eyes of my lord the king are seeing. But my lord the king, why does he desire this thing?" ⁴ But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel. ⁵ They crossed over the Jordan and camped at Aroer to the south of the city, which was in the middle of the wadi of Gad, and up to Jazer. ⁶ Then they went to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi. They came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon ⁷ and came to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to the Negev of Judah at Beersheba. ⁸ They went about through all the land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹ Then Joab gave the number of the counting of the people to the king. Israel was eight hundred thousand _⌊valiant warriors_⌋* wielding the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand. ¹⁰ The heart of David struck him after he had counted the people, and David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done! So then, O Yahweh, please forgive the guilt of your servant because I have acted very foolishly." ¹¹ When David got up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to Gad the prophet, the seer of David, saying, ¹² "Go and speak to David, 'Thus says Yahweh, three things I am laying on you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.'" ¹³ Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he is pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word." ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, "I am greatly distressed. Please let us fall into the hand of Yahweh, because he is great in his compassion; but into the hand of man don't let me fall." ¹⁵ Then Yahweh sent a plague into Israel from the morning _⌊until the agreed time_⌋,* and from the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men died. ¹⁶ When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh regretted about the evil, and he said to the angel who brought destruction among the people, "Enough, now relax your hand." Now the angel of Yahweh was at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel destroying among the people, and he said, "Look, I have sinned and I have done wrong, but these sheep, what did they do? Please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father." ¹⁸ Then Gad came to David on that same day and said to him, "Go up and erect an altar to Yahweh at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." ¹⁹ So David went up according to the word of Gad, as Yahweh had commanded. ²⁰ Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming over to him, so Araunah went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. ²¹ Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh who brought a halt to the plague on the people." ²² Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer what is good in his eyes. Look, here are the cattle for the burnt offering and the threshing sledge and the yokes of the oxen for the firewood. ²³ All of this Araunah hereby gives to the king." Then Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God respond favorably for you." ²⁴ Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but _⌊I will certainly buy_⌋* it from you for a price; I don't want to offer to Yahweh my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the cattle for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵ David built an altar to Yahweh there, and he offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then Yahweh responded to his prayer for the land and brought the plague to a halt from upon Israel.

²⁰ And Yahweh said, 'Who will entice Ahab so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?' Then _⌊this one was saying one thing and the other one was saying another_⌋.* ²¹ Then a spirit came out and stood before Yahweh and said, 'I will entice him,' and Yahweh said to him, 'How?' ²² He said, 'I will go out and I will be a false spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he* said, 'You shall entice and succeed, go out and do so.'

⁶ And it happened _⌊one day_⌋* _⌊that_⌋* the sons of God* came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan* also came into their midst. ⁷ So* Yahweh said to Satan,* "From where have you come?"
Then* Satan* answered Yahweh and said, "From roaming on the earth and from walking about in it." ⁸ So* Yahweh said to Satan,* "Have you _⌊considered_⌋* my servant Job? Indeed,* there is no one like him on the earth—a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil." ⁹ Then* Satan* answered Yahweh and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ Have you* not put a fence around him and his household and around _⌊all that belongs to him_⌋* _⌊on every side_⌋?* You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock* has increased in the land. ¹¹ But,* on the other hand, stretch out* your hand and touch _⌊all that belongs to him_⌋* and see _⌊whether_⌋* he will _⌊curse_⌋* you to your face." ¹² So* Yahweh said to Satan,* "Look, _⌊all that belongs to him_⌋* is in your _⌊power_⌋.* Only do not stretch out your hand _⌊against_⌋* him." So* Satan* went out from Yahweh's _⌊presence_⌋.*

¹ _⌊And then_⌋* one day the sons of God* came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan* also came into their midst to present himself before Yahweh.

⁴ Then* Satan* answered him and said, "Skin for skin! All that _⌊that_⌋* man has he will give for his life. ⁵ But stretch out* your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, and see _⌊whether_⌋* he will _⌊curse_⌋* you to your face."* ⁶ So* Yahweh said to Satan,* "_⌊All right_⌋,* he is in your _⌊power_⌋.* Only spare his life."

¹ And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing _⌊before_⌋* the angel of Yahweh; and Satan* was standing on his right to accuse him.

³ And the tempter approached and* said to him, "If you are the Son of God, order that these stones become bread."

⁵³ And when* he departed from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly hostile, and to question him closely about many things,

³¹ "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat,

² And as* a dinner was taking place, when* the devil had already put into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot that he should betray him,

³ But Peter said, "Ananias, for what reason has Satan filled your heart, that you lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back for yourself some of the proceeds of the piece of land?

²⁴ And let us think about _⌊how to stir one another up to love_⌋* and good works,

¹³ No one who is being tempted should say, "I am being tempted by God," for God _⌊cannot be tempted_⌋* by evil, and he himself tempts no one.

¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,
"Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

¹³ and your herds and your flocks have multiplied, and _⌊you have accumulated silver and gold_⌋,* and all that _⌊you have_⌋* has multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart _⌊becomes proud_⌋* and you forget Yahweh your God, _⌊the one who brought you out_⌋* from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, ¹⁵ the one leading you in the great and terrible desert infested with _⌊dangerous_⌋* snakes* and scorpions* and parched ground, where there is* no water, and the one bringing out water for you from flint rock, ¹⁶ the one _⌊feeding you_⌋* manna in the desert, food that your ancestors* did not know, in order to humble you and in order to test you so that he could do good to you _⌊in the future_⌋.* ¹⁷ And you may think* in your heart, 'My strength and the might of my hand _⌊acquired this wealth for_⌋* me.'

¹ All the _⌊Israelites_⌋* went out, from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, and they gathered as one body* to Yahweh at Mizpah.

²⁰ All Israel from Dan to Beersheba realized that Samuel was faithful* as a prophet to Yahweh.

¹⁰ specifically, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan to Beersheba!"

¹¹ I give the advice that all of Israel from Dan to Beersheba should be completely gathered to you, as the sand which is on the seashore for abundance, with _⌊you personally_⌋* going into the battle.

² The king said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him: "Please go about through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people that I may know the number of the people." ³ Then Joab said to the king, "May Yahweh your God increase the people a hundred times _⌊what they are_⌋* as the eyes of my lord the king are seeing. But my lord the king, why does he desire this thing?" ⁴ But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel.

¹⁵ Then Yahweh sent a plague into Israel from the morning _⌊until the agreed time_⌋,* and from the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men died.

²⁵ Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

²³ And David did not _⌊take a census of those twenty years old or under_⌋* because Yahweh promised* to make Israel more numerous than the stars of heaven. ²⁴ Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but he did not finish. But wrath came upon Israel concerning this, and the number was not included in _⌊the chronicles_⌋* of King David.

⁵ So they let the decree stand, _⌊to make a proclamation_⌋* throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, to come to make a Passover feast to Yahweh the God of Israel.

²⁵ But Hezekiah did not reciprocate according to the benefit placed upon him, because his heart became proud. So wrath was upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶ But Hezekiah humbled himself with respect to the arrogance of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

²³ The pride of a person will bring him humiliation, and the lowly of spirit will obtain honor.

⁷ even because of the extraordinary degree of the revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, in order that it would torment me so that I would not exalt myself.

⁹ And Abimelech called for Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you that you brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that should not be done."

²¹ And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you brought on them such a great sin?"

⁹ When they went up to the valley* of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the _⌊Israelites_⌋* so that they did not come to the land that Yahweh gave to them. ¹⁰ So _⌊Yahweh's anger burned_⌋* on that day, and he swore an oath, saying,

¹¹ Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,* may he add to you as you are now a thousand times, and may he bless you just as he _⌊promised you_⌋.*

²⁴ No, my sons, the report is not good that I am hearing the people of Yahweh spreading.

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

¹³ Be strong! Let us strengthen ourselves on behalf of our people and on behalf of the cities of our God. And may Yahweh do what is good in his eyes."

¹⁴ May Yahweh give you increase, you and your children.

²⁸ In the multitude of people is the glory of the king, but without a population, a prince is ruined.

¹⁵ You have added to the nation, Yahweh. You have added to the nation; you are honored. You have extended all the ends of the land.

¹⁹ And your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your _⌊body_⌋* like its grains.* It would not be cut off, and its name would not be destroyed from my presence."

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

³ Then Joab said to the king, "May Yahweh your God increase the people a hundred times _⌊what they are_⌋* as the eyes of my lord the king are seeing. But my lord the king, why does he desire this thing?" ⁴ But the word of the king prevailed over Joab and over the commanders of the army, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to count the people of Israel. ⁵ They crossed over the Jordan and camped at Aroer to the south of the city, which was in the middle of the wadi of Gad, and up to Jazer. ⁶ Then they went to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi. They came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon ⁷ and came to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to the Negev of Judah at Beersheba. ⁸ They went about through all the land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

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

¹⁸ And if not, let it be known to you, O king, that _⌊we will not serve your gods_⌋,* and the statue of gold* that you have set up we will not worship."

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

⁹ Then Joab gave the number of the counting of the people to the king. Israel was eight hundred thousand _⌊valiant warriors_⌋* wielding the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.

²³ And David did not _⌊take a census of those twenty years old or under_⌋* because Yahweh promised* to make Israel more numerous than the stars of heaven.

⁴⁷ The Levites from their ancestors'* tribe were not mustered* in their midst. ⁴⁸ And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁹ "You will not muster* the tribe of Levi, and you will not _⌊take a census of_⌋* them in the midst of the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

²⁷ When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside to the middle of the gate to speak with him in private. Then he struck him in the stomach there and he died, _⌊for he had shed the blood of Asahel his brother_⌋.*

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

⁹ Then Joab said to Amasa, "Is it peace, O you my brother?" Then the right hand of Joab took hold of the beard of Amasa as if to kiss him. ¹⁰ Now Amasa was not on his guard against the sword that was in Joab's hand, and he struck him with it into the stomach, and his entrails poured out to the ground. He did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bicri.

²⁴ Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but he did not finish. But wrath came upon Israel concerning this, and the number was not included in _⌊the chronicles_⌋* of King David.

¹ But the _⌊Israelites_⌋* broke faith concerning the devoted things.* Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from the devoted things;* and _⌊Yahweh's anger was kindled_⌋* against the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

⁵ The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, and they chased them from the gate up to Shebarim and killed them on the slope. And the hearts* of the people melted and became like water.

¹³ Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: "There are devoted things* in your midst, O Israel. You will be unable to stand before you enemies until you remove the devoted things* from your midst."

¹⁶ "Thus says all the congregation of Yahweh: 'What is this treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel by turning away today from following Yahweh, by building for yourselves an altar to rebel today against Yahweh? ¹⁷ Is not the sin of Peor _⌊enough for us_⌋,* from which we have not cleansed ourselves today, and for which a plague came to the congregation of Yahweh, ¹⁸ that you must turn today from following Yahweh? If you rebel today against Yahweh, tomorrow he will be angry with all of the congregation of Israel; ¹⁹ if, however, the land of your property is unclean, cross over to the land of Yahweh's property, where Yahweh's tabernacle resides,* and take possession among us. But you must not rebel against Yahweh or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of Yahweh our God. ²⁰ Did not Achan son of Zerah commit treachery with devoted things,* and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? _⌊And he alone_⌋* did not perish because of his iniquity.'" ²¹ And the descendants* of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh spoke with the heads of the clans* of Israel, ²² "Yahweh, God of gods! Yahweh, God of gods knows. And let Israel itself know, if it was in rebellion or treachery against Yahweh, do not spare us this day ²³ for building for ourselves an altar to turn away from Yahweh, or if it was to offer burnt offerings,* grain offerings,* or fellowship offerings on it, may Yahweh himself take vengeance. ²⁴ But in fact, we have done this because of anxiety, because of a reason, saying, 'In the future your children may say to our children, '_⌊What is the relationship between you and Yahweh the God of Israel_⌋?* ²⁵ Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, the descendants* of Reuben and Gad; you have no portion in Yahweh.' So your children may put an end to our children worshiping* Yahweh. ²⁶ So we said, 'Let us build immediately for ourselves an altar, not for burnt offerings* or for sacrifices;*

²⁷ When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his household, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

¹ There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David _⌊inquired of Yahweh_⌋,* and Yahweh said, "The bloodguilt is on Saul and on his household, because he killed the Gibeonites."

¹⁴ And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin at Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. They did all that the king had commanded, and afterward God was entreated for the land.

¹ Again Yahweh was angry with Israel, and he* incited David against them, saying, "Go count Israel and Judah."

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

¹⁴ So Yahweh sent a pestilence through Israel, and seventy thousand men from Israel fell.

⁷ And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. And the men were distressed and very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by having sexual relations with the daughter of Jacob—_⌊something that_⌋* should not be done.

¹³ Then Samuel said to Saul, "You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

²¹ Then Saul said, "I have sinned! Come back, David my son, for I will not harm you again, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Look, I have acted like a fool and _⌊have made a terrible mistake_⌋."*

¹³ Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against Yahweh!"* Nathan said to David, "Yahweh has also forgiven your sin; you shall not die.

¹³ As for me, where should I take my disgrace? You will be as one of the fools in Israel. So please, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you."

¹⁰ The heart of David struck him after he had counted the people, and David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done! So then, O Yahweh, please forgive the guilt of your servant because I have acted very foolishly."

⁹ And he said to them, "What do you advise that we should say in return to this people, who said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father has put upon us'?"

¹¹ Also, for the sake of your name, O Yahweh, forgive my sin, because it is great.

⁵ I made known my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not cover. I said, "I will confess concerning my transgressions to Yahweh," and you took away the guilt of my sin. Selah

¹ For the music director. A psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.*
Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loyal love. According to your abundant mercies, blot out my transgressions. ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and from my sin cleanse me. ³ For _⌊I myself know_⌋* my transgressions,* and my sin is ever before me.

¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt, that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh."

² Take words with you, and return to Yahweh. Say to him, "Take away all guilt; accept good, and we will offer the fruit* of our lips.

¹⁸ I will set out and* go to my father and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and _⌊in your sight_⌋!* ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son! Make me like one of your hired workers.'

²⁹ On the next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so that he will forgive us our* sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

⁹ (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he would say: "Come, let us go up to the seer." For the prophet of today was formerly called a seer.)

¹¹ When David got up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to Gad the prophet, the seer of David, saying,

²⁹ Now the words of King David, from the first to the last, see, they are written among the words of Samuel the seer, and among the words of Nathan the prophet, and among the words of Gad the seer,

¹² But Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not trusted in me, to regard me as holy _⌊in the sight of_⌋* the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given to them."

¹⁵ But if it is bad in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you want to serve, whether it is the gods that your ancestors* served beyond the river,* or the gods of the Amorites* in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh."

¹⁰ So then, a sword will not turn away from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife!' ¹¹ Thus says Yahweh, 'Look, I am going to raise up evil against you from within your house, and I will take your women before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor, and he shall sleep with your wives _⌊in broad daylight_⌋.* ¹² Though you did this in secret, I will do this thing before all of Israel _⌊in broad daylight_⌋!'"*

²¹ He proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because you have disobeyed the word of Yahweh and have not kept the command which Yahweh your God commanded you, ²² but you have returned and have eaten food and drank water in the place which he ordered you not to eat food nor to drink water, then your dead body shall not return to the tomb of your ancestors.'"*

²⁹ Since they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Yahweh, ³⁰ they were not willing to accept my counsel, they despised all my reproof. ³¹ They shall eat from the fruit of their way, and they shall be sated from their own schemes,

¹² because whomever Yahweh will love, he will rebuke, as a father delights in his son.

¹⁹ As many as I love, I reprove and discipline. Be zealous, therefore, and repent!

²⁰ Listen to advice and accept instruction so that you will gain wisdom for your _⌊future_⌋.*

²³ And Yahweh will go through to strike Egypt, and he will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to come to your houses to strike you.

¹⁰ And you shall eat _⌊old grain_⌋,* and _⌊you shall clear away the old before the new_⌋.*

¹⁷ And I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated _⌊before_⌋* your enemies; and your haters shall rule over you, and you shall flee away, but* there shall not be _⌊anybody who is pursuing_⌋* you.

²⁵ And I will bring upon you a sword that seeks vengeance for the covenant, and you shall be gathered to your cities; and I will send a plague in your midst, and you shall be given into the hand of an enemy. ²⁶ At my breaking the _⌊supply_⌋* of bread* for you, then* ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat it, and you shall not be satisfied. ²⁷ " 'And if through this you do not listen to me and you go against me in hostility, ²⁸ then* I will go against you in hostile anger, and also* I myself* will discipline you seven times for your sins. ²⁹ And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.

³⁶ As for* the ones who remain among you, I will bring* fearfulness in their hearts in the land of their enemies; and a sound of a windblown leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee like flight _⌊before_⌋* a sword, and they shall fall, but* there shall not be a pursuer. ³⁷ And they shall stumble over _⌊one another_⌋* as _⌊from before_⌋* a sword, but* there shall not be a pursuer; and _⌊you shall have no resistance_⌋* _⌊before_⌋* your enemies.

¹⁵ "_⌊And then_⌋* if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God _⌊by diligently observing_⌋* all of his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you _⌊today_⌋,* then all of these curses shall come upon you, and they shall overtake you:

²² Yahweh will afflict you with the wasting diseases and with the fever and with the inflammation and with the scorching heat and with the sword* and with the blight and with the mildew, and they shall pursue you _⌊until you perish_⌋.*

²⁵ "Yahweh shall cause you to be defeated _⌊before_⌋* your enemies; on one road you shall go _⌊against_⌋* them,* but you will flee on seven roads _⌊before_⌋* them,* and you shall become a thing of horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth.

²⁷ "Yahweh shall afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scurvy and with _⌊the skin rash that cannot be healed_⌋.*

³⁵ Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs from which _⌊you will not be able to be healed_⌋,* from the sole of your foot and up to your crown.

⁵¹ And it* shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* and who will not leave for you any grain, wine, and olive oil, _⌊calves of your herds_⌋,* and _⌊lambs of_⌋* your flock _⌊until it has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁵² And it shall besiege you in all your towns _⌊until your high and fortified walls fall_⌋,* which you are trusting in* _⌊throughout your land_⌋;* and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

¹³ Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he is pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word." ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, "I am greatly distressed. Please let us fall into the hand of Yahweh, because he is great in his compassion; but into the hand of man don't let me fall."

¹ Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe of Gilead said to Ahab, "_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋,* the God of Israel before whom I stand, there shall surely not be dew nor rain these years _⌊except by my command_⌋."*

¹ Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Get up and go, you and your household, and dwell as an alien wherever you can, for Yahweh has called for a famine, and it will come to the land for seven years."

³⁵ It happened in that night that an angel of Yahweh went out, and he struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. When they got up early in the morning, look! All of them were dead corpses.

¹⁵ And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was about to destroy it, Yahweh saw and was grieved on account of the calamity. Then he said to the angel, the destroyer, "It is enough; slacken your hand." And the angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, with his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

⁶ or the plague that spreads in the darkness, or the destruction that devastates at noon.

¹⁶ For Yahweh enters into judgment on all flesh with fire and his sword, and _⌊those slain by_⌋* Yahweh shall be many.

¹² Upon all the barren heights in the desert* destroyers have come, for the sword of Yahweh devours, from one end of the land to the other end of the land, there is no peace for all flesh.

¹⁶ then it will be that the sword that you are in fear of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you are anxious of will pursue after you there into Egypt, and there you will die.

⁶ Ah, sword of Yahweh, _⌊how long_⌋* will you not be quiet? Gather to your sheath, keep quiet and stand still.

⁹ Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of famine; they have pined away, very hungry for the crops of my field.

¹⁹ And if I were to send a plague to that land, and I pour out my rage on it with blood to cut it off, both human and animal, ²⁰ and if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of her, _⌊as surely as I live_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, "surely not a son, surely not a daughter will they save by their righteousness; they would save _⌊themselves_⌋."* ²¹ For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "How much more when I send my four punishments—the evil sword, and famine, and a fierce animal, and a plague—to Jerusalem to cut it off, both human and animal!

⁴⁹ Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the evil from among the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the fiery furnace.* In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!

²⁵ But in truth I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months while a great famine took place over all the land.

²³ And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down _⌊because_⌋* he did not give the glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and* died.

¹ After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. ² And I saw another angel ascending _⌊from the east_⌋*, holding the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels _⌊who were given permission_⌋* to damage the earth and the sea, ³ saying, "Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads."

⁶ And Yahweh passed over before him, and he proclaimed, "Yahweh, Yahweh, God, who is compassionate and gracious, _⌊slow to anger_⌋,* and abounding with* loyal love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping loyal love to the thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and he does not leave utterly unpunished, punishing the guilt of fathers on sons and on sons of sons on third and fourth generations."

¹⁵ The attendant of the man of God arose early and went out, and look, the army was surrounding the city with horses and chariots. His servant said to him, "Oh no, my master! What shall we do?"

⁴ If we say, 'Let us go into the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall die. So then, come, let us fall into the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we shall live; but if they kill us, then we shall die."

⁹ Now a prophet of Yahweh was there; Oded was his name. And he went out before the army that was coming to Samaria and said to them, "Look, it is on account of the anger of Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,* against Judah that he gave them into your hands, and you killed them in a rage reaching to the heavens.

¹¹ "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king _⌊for thirty days_⌋."*

¹⁶ "Go, gather all the Jews that are found in Susa and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, both night and day. I and my young girls will fast likewise, and then I will go to the king, which is not according to the law; if I perish, I perish.

⁷ _⌊But as for me_⌋,* through the abundance of your steadfast love* I will enter your house.* I will bow down* toward _⌊your holy temple_⌋* in awe of you.

¹ For the music director. A psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.*
Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loyal love. According to your abundant mercies, blot out my transgressions. ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and from my sin cleanse me.

¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Yahweh, for a favorable time, O God, according to the abundance of your loyal love. Answer me with the faithfulness of your salvation.

¹⁶ Answer me, O Yahweh, because your loyal love is good; according to your abundant mercies, turn to me,

⁵ For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, and abundant in loyal love* for all who call to you.

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

⁸ Yahweh is compassionate and gracious, _⌊slow to anger_⌋* and abundant in loyal love.

⁷ Our ancestors* in Egypt did not understand your wonderful works. They did not remember your many acts of loyal love, and so they rebelled by the sea at _⌊the Red Sea_⌋.*

⁴ But with you is forgiveness, so that you may be feared."

⁷ O Israel, wait* for Yahweh. For with Yahweh there is loyal love, and with him there is abundant redemption.

¹⁰ The righteous knows the life* of his animal, but the compassion* of the wicked is cruel.

⁷ They carry it on their shoulder; they support it and they set it in its place, and it stands in position. It cannot be removed from its place; even when he cries out to it, it does not answer. It does not save him from his trouble.

⁶ I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance, and I gave them into your hand. You did not _⌊give_⌋* them mercy; on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the man of sin his thoughts. And let him return to Yahweh, that* he may take pity on him, and to our God, for he will _⌊forgive manifold_⌋.*

⁷ I will mention the loyal love of Yahweh, the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has done for us, and the greatness of goodness to the house of Israel that he has done to them according to his mercy and the abundance of his loyal love.

¹⁵ Look from heaven, and see from the lofty residence of your holiness and glory. Where are your zeal and strength? _⌊Your compassion_⌋* and mercy to me hold themselves back.

³² For even though he causes grief he has compassion according to the greatness of his royal love.

⁹ Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn _⌊from his blazing anger_⌋* _⌊so that_⌋* we will not perish."

² And he prayed to Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh, was this not _⌊what I said_⌋* while I was in my homeland? Therefore _⌊I originally fled_⌋* to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger _⌊and having great steadfast love_⌋,* and one who relents concerning calamity.*

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

² O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you; O Yahweh, I stand in awe of your works. In the midst of the years, revive it! In the midst of the years, make it known! In wrath, may you remember to show compassion.

²⁷ "Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, deliver me from this hour'? But for this reason I have come to this hour!

²³ But I am hard pressed _⌊between the two options_⌋*, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ, _⌊for this is very much better_⌋*.

³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³⁰ And Pharaoh got up at night, he and all his servants and all Egypt, and a great cry of distress was in Egypt because there was not a house where there was no one dead.

⁴⁶ And Moses and Aaron said, "Take the censer, and put fire on it from the altar. Place incense on it, and bring it quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath went out from the presence of Yahweh, and a plague has begun." ⁴⁷ And so Aaron took it just as Moses had spoken, and he ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people; so he gave the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and between the living, and the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹ Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died on account of Korah.

⁹ The ones who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁹ He* struck seventy men* among the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of Yahweh. So the people mourned because Yahweh had struck a great blow among the people.

⁶ And Yahweh regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and _⌊he was grieved in his heart_⌋.*

²⁸ Pray to Yahweh. The thunder of God and hail _⌊are enough_⌋,* and I will release you, and _⌊you will no longer have to stay_⌋."*

¹⁴ And Yahweh relented concerning the disaster that he had _⌊threatened_⌋* to do to his people.

¹⁸ And when Yahweh raised leaders* for them, Yahweh was with the leader,* and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the leader,* for Yahweh was moved by their groaning because of their persecutors and oppressors.

¹⁶ So they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served Yahweh; and _⌊he could no longer bear_⌋* the misery of Israel.

¹⁶ When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh regretted about the evil, and he said to the angel who brought destruction among the people, "Enough, now relax your hand." Now the angel of Yahweh was at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁸ Then Gad came to David on that same day and said to him, "Go up and erect an altar to Yahweh at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

⁴ Then he went into the wilderness one day's journey, and he went and sat under a certain broom tree. Then _⌊he asked Yahweh that he might die_⌋,* and he said, "It is enough now, Yahweh; take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors."*

¹ Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had established, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

³⁸ But he was compassionate; he pardoned* their guilt and did not destroy them. And many times he turned back his anger and did not stir up all his wrath,

¹³ Return,* O Yahweh. How long? And have compassion on* your servants.

¹² "For go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell in the beginning, and see what I did to it _⌊because of_⌋* the wickedness of my people Israel.

⁷ One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy it.* ⁸ But if that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it. ⁹ And the next moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to build, and to plant it.* ¹⁰ But if it does evil in my sight, to not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said I would do to it.

⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be in ruins, _⌊without_⌋* inhabitant'?" And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh.

¹⁸ "Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, _⌊saying_⌋:*
'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Zion will be plowed, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the _⌊temple_⌋* as high places of wood." '

³⁷ "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together _⌊the way_⌋* a hen gathers her young together under her* wings, and you were not willing! ³⁸ Behold, your house has been left to you desolate!

⁴¹ And he came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

²⁴ So* he drove the man out, and placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden, and _⌊a flaming, turning sword_⌋* to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹⁹ And the angel of God who was going before the camp of Israel set out and went behind them. And the column of cloud set out ahead of them, and it stood still behind them, ²⁰ so that it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. And _⌊it was a dark cloud_⌋,* but it gave light to the night,* so that _⌊neither approached the other_⌋* all night.

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces _⌊before_⌋* the assembly of the community of the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

²² And they fell on their faces, and they said, "God, God of the spirits of all flesh, will one man sin and you become angry toward the entire community?"

³¹ Then Yahweh exposed the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with his sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed down and worshiped to his face.

¹³ And it happened, when Joshua was by Jericho, _⌊he looked up_⌋,* and he saw a man standing _⌊opposite him_⌋* with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, "Are you with us, or with our adversaries?" ¹⁴ And he said, "Neither. I have come now as the commander of Yahweh's army." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and _⌊he bowed down_⌋* and said to him, "What is my lord commanding his servant?"

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his flesh, fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly.

¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed and said, "O Yahweh, please open his eyes that he may see," and Yahweh opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw, and look, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

¹ It happened that when King Hezekiah heard, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went to the temple of Yahweh.

¹³ But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I weakened my soul with fasting, and my prayer _⌊returned to me unanswered_⌋.* ¹⁴ I _⌊behaved_⌋* as though he were a friend or as a brother to me. As one lamenting a mother, I was bowed down in mourning.

⁶ And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. ⁷ And he had a proclamation made, and said,
"In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles:
"No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water! ⁸ And the human beings and the animals must be covered with sackcloth! And they must call forcefully to God, and each must turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his* hands.

³³ So then, please let your servant remain in place of the boy as a slave to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers.

⁵ You will not bow down to them, and you will not serve them, because I am Yahweh your God, a jealous God, punishing the guilt of the parents on the children on the third and on the fourth generations* of those hating me,

³² And now if you will forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me from your scroll that you have written." ³³ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot him from my scroll.

¹⁸ that you must turn today from following Yahweh? If you rebel today against Yahweh, tomorrow he will be angry with all of the congregation of Israel;

⁸ So then, thus you shall say to my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "I took you from the pasture _⌊from following_⌋* the sheep to be a leader over my people, over Israel,

¹⁰ So then, a sword will not turn away from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife!'

¹⁷ David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel destroying among the people, and he said, "Look, I have sinned and I have done wrong, but these sheep, what did they do? Please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father."

¹⁷ So he said, "I saw all of Israel scattering to the mountains, like the sheep without a shepherd. Yahweh also said, 'There are no masters for these, let them return in peace, each to his house.'"

⁸ Then David said to God, "I have sinned severely in that I have done this thing. But now, please forgive the sin of your servant, for I have been very foolish."

¹¹ You have given us as sheep for food, and among the nations you have scattered us.

⁴ Against you, only you, I have sinned and have done this evil* in your eyes, so that you are correct when you speak, you are blameless when you judge.

¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation; then my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

¹ A maskil of Asaph.*
Why, O God, have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

⁷ 'And some of your sons who go out from you, whom you fathered, shall be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'" ⁸ And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh that you have spoken is good," for* he _⌊thought_⌋,* "Surely there will be peace and security in my days."

⁶³ in order that you will remember, and you will be ashamed, and _⌊you will not open your mouth again_⌋* _⌊because of_⌋* your disgrace when I forgive you for all that you have done!'" _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

¹¹ "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand, who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf approaching and abandons the sheep and runs away—and the wolf seizes them and scatters them*—

³ For I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my fellow countrymen according to the flesh,

¹⁶ We have come to know love by this: that _⌊he_⌋* laid down his life on behalf of us, and we ought to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers.

¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Choose for yourself:

¹⁵ And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was about to destroy it, Yahweh saw and was grieved on account of the calamity. Then he said to the angel, the destroyer, "It is enough; slacken your hand." And the angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Get up and go toward the south* on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a desert road.) ²⁷ And he got up and* went, and behold, there was a man, an Ethiopian eunuch (a court official of Candace,* queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasury) who had come to worship in Jerusalem ²⁸ and was returning and sitting in his chariot, and reading aloud the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ And the Spirit said to Philip, "Approach and join this chariot." ³⁰ So Philip ran up to it* and* heard him reading aloud Isaiah the prophet and said, "So then, do you understand what you are reading?" ³¹ And he said, "So how could I, unless someone will guide me?" And he invited Philip to come up and* sit with him. ³² Now the passage of scripture that he was reading aloud was this:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ³³ In his* humiliation justice was taken from him. Who can describe his _⌊descendants_⌋?* For his life was taken away from the earth."* ³⁴ And the eunuch answered and* said to Philip, "I ask you, about whom does the prophet say this—about himself or about someone else?" ³⁵ So Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture, proclaimed the good news to him about Jesus. ³⁶ And as they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"*

³⁸ And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water—Philip and the eunuch—and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer, for he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he* passed through, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, you must wash seven times in the Jordan, then your flesh shall return to you, and you shall be clean." ¹¹ But Naaman became angry and he went and said, "Look, I said to myself, 'Surely he will come out, stand, call upon the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hands over the spot; then he would take away the skin disease.' ¹² Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them that I may be clean?" Then he turned and left in anger. ¹³ But his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had spoken a difficult thing to you to do, would you not have done it? Why not even when he says to you, 'Wash and you shall be clean'?" ¹⁴ So he went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh returned as the flesh of a small boy, and he was clean.

⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Whatever he says to you, do it!"*

⁶ But get up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you _⌊what you must do_⌋."*

¹¹ The angel of Yahweh came and sat under the oak* that was at Ophrah that belonged to Jehoash the Abiezrite; and Gideon his son was threshing wheat in the winepress to hide it* from the Midianites.*

²³ When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell on her face before _⌊David's anger_⌋,* and she bowed down to the ground.

¹⁸ Then Gad came to David on that same day and said to him, "Go up and erect an altar to Yahweh at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." ¹⁹ So David went up according to the word of Gad, as Yahweh had commanded. ²⁰ Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming over to him, so Araunah went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and between the living, and the plague was stopped.

⁸ He went after the man of Israel into the woman's section of the tent, and he drove the two of them, the man of Israel and the woman, into her belly. And the plague among the _⌊Israelites_⌋* stopped.

²¹ Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh who brought a halt to the plague on the people."

² Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard that it may be mine for a garden of vegetable plants, because it is near, beside my house, and I will give to you a better vineyard in place of it. If it is better in your eyes, I will give you the money of its price."

⁴ "I am a stranger and an alien among you; give to me _⌊my own burial site_⌋* among you so that I may bury my dead from before me." ⁵ And the Hittites* answered Abraham and said to him, ⁶ "Hear us, my lord, you are a mighty prince* in our midst. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial sites. None of us _⌊will withhold his burial site_⌋* from you for burying your dead."

¹⁴ The utility cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there where there was a large stone. They split the wood of the utility cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh.

²² Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer what is good in his eyes. Look, here are the cattle for the burnt offering and the threshing sledge and the yokes of the oxen for the firewood. ²³ All of this Araunah hereby gives to the king." Then Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God respond favorably for you."

²¹ So he returned from after him, and he took a pair of oxen and slaughtered them, and with the yoke of the oxen he boiled the flesh and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and served him.

²⁷ For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a wheel of a utility cart _⌊rolled_⌋* over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. ²⁸ Grain is crushed fine, but certainly one does not thresh it forever; and one drives the wheel of his cart, but his horses do not crush it.

⁸ Then Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me, to the courtyard of the guard _⌊according to_⌋* the word of Yahweh, and he said to me, 'Please buy my field that is at Anathoth, that is in the land of Benjamin, for to you is the claim of possession, and to you the redemption; buy it* for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.

²³ _⌊that neither a thread nor_⌋* a thong of a sandal would I take from all that belongs to you, that you might not say, 'I made Abram rich.'

¹³ And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "_⌊If only you will hear me_⌋*—I give the price of the field. Take it from me that I may bury my dead there."

¹⁶ Three times in the year all of your males shall appear _⌊before _⌋* Yahweh your God at the place that he will choose, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear _⌊before Yahweh_⌋* empty-handed. ¹⁷ Each person _⌊shall give as he is able_⌋,* that is, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you.

¹² "But you are profaning it by saying the table of the Lord is defiled, and its fruit—its food*—is despised! ¹³ And you say, 'Look! This is a weariness,' and you sniff with disdain at it," says Yahweh of hosts. "And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the one that is sick—this you bring as the offering! Should I _⌊accept it_⌋* from your hand?" says Yahweh. ¹⁴ "Cursed is the one who cheats, who has in his flock a male and vows it, but instead sacrifices a blemished one to the Lord! For I am a great king," says Yahweh of hosts, "and my name is awesome among the nations."

¹⁷ Pay back no one evil for evil. Take thought for what is good in the sight of all people.

²⁴ An altar of earth you will make for me, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered,* I will come to you, and I will bless you. ²⁵ And if you make an altar of stones for me, you will not build them as hewn stone, because if you use your chisel on it, you have defiled it.

⁴ And Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh, and he rose early in the morning, and he built an altar at the base of the mountain and set up twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men from the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* and they offered burnt offerings, and they sacrificed sacrifices as fellowship offerings to Yahweh using bulls.

²⁴ Then* a fire went out _⌊from before_⌋* Yahweh, and it consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And all the people saw it, so* they shouted for joy, and they fell on their faces.

²¹ Then the angel of Yahweh reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and he touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of Yahweh went _⌊from his sight_⌋.*

²⁰ And when the flame went up toward the heaven from the altar, the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar to heaven while Manoah and his wife were watching. And they fell on their faces to the ground.

⁸ Then the _⌊Israelites_⌋* said to Samuel, "_⌊You must not cease_⌋* from crying out to Yahweh our God, so that he will deliver us from the hand of the Philistines." ⁹ So Samuel took a single _⌊nursing lamb_⌋* and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to Yahweh. Then Samuel cried out to Yahweh on behalf of Israel, and Yahweh answered him.

²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh, and it shall be that the god who answers by fire, he is God."* Then all the people answered and said, "The word is good!"

³⁸ Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and it consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust; and the water which was in the trench it licked up!

¹ And when Solomon finished praying, then fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of Yahweh filled the house.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise.

¹⁵ He will call upon me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue and honor him.

⁹ Exalt Yahweh our God, and worship at his holy mountain, for Yahweh our God is holy.

⁸ The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination of Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

²⁴ And this will happen: before they call, I myself will answer; while still they are speaking, I myself will hear.

³ 'Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great things and inaccessible things that you have not known.'

¹² whether three years of famine or three months of devastation by your enemies while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days of the sword of Yahweh, with disease in the land and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the territory in Israel.' So now, see what word I should return to my sender."

²⁰ Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and Ornan turned and saw the angel, and his four sons with him hid themselves.

²⁰ Bless Yahweh, you his angels, you mighty heroes who do his word by _⌊obeying_⌋* the sound of his word.

³⁰ Return it to its sheath in the place where you were created. In the land of your origin I will judge you!

⁵² Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place! For all who take up the sword will die by the sword.

¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, "Put the sword into its* sheath! The cup that the Father has given me—shall I not drink it?"

¹⁴ Are they not all spirits engaged in special service, sent on assignment for the sake of those who are going to inherit salvation?

¹ And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² "On the first day of the month, you will set up the tabernacle of the tent of assembly. ³ And you will put there the ark of the testimony, and you will cover over the ark with the curtain.* ⁴ And you will bring the table, and you will arrange its setting, and you will bring the lampstand, and you will set up its lamps. ⁵ And you will put the gold altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and you will set up the entrance screen for the tabernacle. ⁶ And you will put the altar of the burnt offering before the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of assembly. ⁷ And you will put the basin between the tent of assembly and the altar, and you will put water _⌊in it_⌋.* ⁸ And you will set up the courtyard all around, and you will put up the screen of the gate of the courtyard. ⁹ "And you will take the anointing oil, and you will anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and you will consecrate all of its equipment,* and it will be holy. ¹⁰ And you will anoint the altar of the burnt offering and all of its equipment,* and you will consecrate the altar, and the altar will be a most holy thing.* ¹¹ And you will anoint the basin and its stand, and you will consecrate it. ¹² And you will bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of assembly, and you will wash them with the water. ¹³ And you will clothe Aaron with the holy garments, and you will anoint him, and you will consecrate him, and he will serve as a priest for me. ¹⁴ And you will bring his sons, and you will clothe them with tunics. ¹⁵ And you will anoint them as you anointed their father, and they will serve as priests for me. And their anointing will be for them to be a lasting priesthood* throughout their generations." ¹⁶ And Moses did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him; so he did. ¹⁷ _⌊In_⌋* the first month of the second year, on the first of the month, the tabernacle was set up. ¹⁸ And Moses raised the tabernacle, and he placed its bases, and he set up its frames,* and he placed its bars, and he raised its pillars. ¹⁹ And he spread the tent over the tabernacle; he placed the covering of the tent over it, above it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁰ And he took and he put the testimony into the ark, and he placed the poles on the ark, and he put the atonement cover on the ark, above it. ²¹ And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and he set up the curtain of the screening, and he shielded the ark of the testimony, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²² And he put the table in the tent of assembly on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain. ²³ And he arranged on it an arrangement of bread before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁴ And he placed the lampstand in the tent of assembly opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle. ²⁵ And he set up the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁶ And he placed the gold altar in the tent of assembly before the curtain. ²⁷ And he turned fragrant incense into smoke on it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ²⁸ And he set up the entrance screen for the tabernacle. ²⁹ And the altar of burnt offering he placed at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of assembly, and he offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ³⁰ And he placed the basin between the tent of assembly and the altar, and he put there water for washing. ³¹ And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet from it. ³² At their going into the tent of assembly and at their approaching the altar, they washed, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ³³ And he set up the courtyard all around the tabernacle and the altar, and he put up the screen of the gate of the courtyard, and Moses completed the work. ³⁴ And the cloud covered the tent of assembly, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ And Moses was unable to go into the tent of assembly because the cloud settled on it and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ And when the cloud was lifted from the tabernacle, the _⌊Israelites_⌋* set out on all their journeys. ³⁷ But if the cloud was not lifted, they did not set out until the day of its being lifted. ³⁸ For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night before the eyes of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

⁴ So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice, for the great high place was there. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵ Yahweh appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night, and God said, "Ask what I should give to you." ⁶ Then Solomon said, "You have shown great loyal love with your servant David my father, as he walked before you in faithfulness and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you. You have shown for him this great loyal love, and you have given a son to him who is sitting on his throne as it is this day. ⁷ So then, O Yahweh, you are my God. You have made your servant king in place of David my father though I am a young boy. I do not know going out or coming in. ⁸ Your servant is in the middle of your people whom you have chosen; a great people who cannot be counted or numbered because of abundance. ⁹ Give to your servant a listening heart to judge your people, to discern between good and bad, because who is able to judge this, your difficult people?" ¹⁰ The word was good in the eyes of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹ And God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing and you did not ask for yourself _⌊a long life_⌋* and you did not ask riches for yourself and you did not ask for the life of your enemies, but you have asked for yourself _⌊the ability to make wise judgments_⌋;* ¹² behold, I do hereby do according to your word. I hereby give you a wise and discerning heart; there was no one like you before you, nor afterwards will one like you arise. ¹³ Too, what you have not asked I give to you: both riches and honor, so that no man among the kings will be like you all of your days. ¹⁴ If you will walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David your father walked, then I will lengthen your days." ¹⁵ Then Solomon awoke, and look, it was a dream, and he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings, and he held a feast for all of his servants.

³⁹ And he left Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests before the tabernacle of Yahweh at the high place which was at Gibeon

³ And Solomon and the whole assembly with him went to the high place that was at Gibeon, for the tent of assembly* of God that Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the desert was there.

¹³ So Solomon went from the high place which was at Gibeon to Jerusalem before the tent of assembly.* And he reigned over Israel.

¹² And now, Israel, what is Yahweh your God asking* from you, except* to revere Yahweh your God, to go* in all his ways and to love him and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,*

⁹ But David feared Yahweh on that day and said, "How can the ark of Yahweh come to me?"

¹² And David feared God on that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God home to me?"

¹⁶ And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, with his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

²¹ withdraw your* hand from me, and let not your* dread terrify me.

⁶ And when I think of it, I am horrified,* and shuddering seizes my flesh.

¹⁵ Therefore, I am horrified because of his presence; when I consider, I tremble* because of him.

¹¹ Who knows the strength of your anger, and your rage consistent with* the fear due you?

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

²² Do you not revere me?" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "Do you not tremble _⌊before me_⌋?* For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, _⌊as an everlasting limit_⌋,* and it cannot pass over it, and they rise and fall loudly, but they cannot prevail, and its waves roar, but they cannot pass over it.

⁷ Who would not revere you, O king of the nations? For you it is fitting. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms,* there is none like you.

²⁸ Therefore, since we* are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence. ²⁹ For indeed our God is a consuming fire.

¹⁷ And when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person, and he placed his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last,

⁴ Who would never fear, Lord, and glorify your name? For only you are holy, because all the nations* will come and worship before you, because your righteous deeds have been revealed."