Do not let your mouth cause you ¹  to sin, and do not tell the priest, ²  “It was a mistake!” ³  Why make God angry at you ⁴  so that he would destroy the work of your hands?”

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much that is good.

So I, the Lord, affirm that ¹  I will send for all the peoples of the north ²  and my servant, ³  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy ⁴  this land, its inhabitants, and all the nations that surround it ⁵  and make them everlasting ruins. ⁶  I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn. ⁷ 

“‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word – I, the Lord, have made a fool of ¹  that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.

They will steal your wealth and loot your merchandise. They will tear down your walls and destroy your luxurious ¹  homes. Your stones, your trees, and your soil he will throw ²  into the water. ³ 

He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. ¹  Nobody will be able to resist you until you destroy them.

You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹  burn up their sacred Asherah poles, ²  and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.

They invaded the land ¹  and devoured ²  its crops ³  all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, ⁴  and they took away ⁵  the sheep, oxen, and donkeys.

Yes! ¹  The king may ²  listen and deliver his female servant ³  from the hand of the man who seeks to remove ⁴  both me and my son from the inheritance God has given us!’ ⁵ 

Eliezer son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, “Because ¹  you made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will shatter what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and unable to go to sea. ² 

May those who are trying to snatch away my life be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ¹  May those who want to harm me be turned back and ashamed! ² 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ²  a prayer ³  of David. Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? ⁴  Do you judge people ⁵  fairly?

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ²  a psalm of Asaph; a song. We give thanks to you, O God! We give thanks! You reveal your presence; ³  people tell about your amazing deeds.

Come down from your place of honor; sit on the dry ground, ¹  you who live in Dibon. ²  For the one who will destroy Moab will attack you; he will destroy your fortifications.

Then say, ‘O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!’

I will pour out my anger on you; the fire of my fury I will blow on you. I will hand you over to brutal men, who are skilled in destruction.

The chief priests and the experts in the law ¹  heard it and they considered how they could assassinate ²  him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching.

“Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both.” ¹  The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

As for the king seeing a holy sentinel coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its taproot in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, surrounded by the grass of the field. Let it become damp with the dew of the sky, and let it live with the wild animals, until seven periods of time go by for him’ –

Saul said to the Kenites, “Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away ¹  with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.