Bethlehem, ¹  Etam, Tekoa,

Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa,

Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite,

After Hezron’s death, Caleb had sexual relations with Ephrath, his father Hezron’s widow, and she bore to him Ashhur the father of Tekoa. ¹ 

The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. ¹  He ²  was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him ³  during the time of ⁴  King Uzziah of Judah and ⁵  King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ⁶ 

“Run for safety, people of Benjamin! Get out of Jerusalem! ¹  Sound the trumpet ²  in Tekoa! Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem! For disaster lurks ³  out of the north; it will bring great destruction. ⁴ 

So the Tekoan woman went ¹  to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, “Please help me, ²  O king!”

The Tekoan woman said to the king, “My lord the king, let any blame fall on me and on the house of my father. But let the king and his throne be innocent!”

After them the men of Tekoa worked on another section, from opposite the great protruding tower to the wall of Ophel.

Early the next morning they marched out to the Desert of Tekoa. When they were ready to march, Jehoshaphat stood up and said: “Listen to me, you people of Judah ¹  and residents of Jerusalem! Trust in the Lord your God and you will be safe! ²  Trust in the message of his prophets and you will win.”

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ² 

The men of Tekoa worked on the section adjacent to them, but their town leaders ¹  would not assist ²  with the work of their master. ³ 

The sixth, assigned the sixth month, was Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite. His division consisted of 24,000 men.