He said to them, “Why do you behave in this way? For I hear about these evil things from all these ¹  people.

Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!”

Do I have a shortage of fools, that you have brought me this man to display his insanity in front of me? Should this man enter my house?”

All those who behave wickedly ¹  do not understand – ²  those who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and do not call out to the Lord.

Do not drag me away with evil men, with those who behave wickedly, ¹  who talk so friendly to their neighbors, ²  while they plan to harm them! ³ 

All those who behave wickedly ¹  do not understand ²  – those who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and do not call out to God.

As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path, ¹  may the Lord remove them, ²  along with those who behave wickedly! ³  May Israel experience peace! ⁴ 

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobility, ¹  and your princes feast at the proper time ²  – with self-control and not in drunkenness. ³ 

The Lord said to me, ¹  “I have made you like a metal assayer to test my people like ore. ²  You are to observe them and evaluate how they behave.” ³ 

But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! ¹  We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” ² 

Then the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things you are doing mean for us?”

After ¹  entering into an alliance with him, he will behave treacherously; he will ascend to power with only a small force. ² 

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, ¹  but you received the Spirit of adoption, ²  by whom ³  we cry, “Abba, Father.”

And all who will behave ¹  in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God. ² 

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 

But I fear the reaction ¹  of their enemies, for ²  their adversaries would misunderstand and say, “Our power is great, ³  and the Lord has not done all this!”’

Peninnah ¹  would behave this way year after year. Whenever Hannah ²  went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnah ³  would upset her so that she would weep and refuse to eat.

(Now his father had never corrected ¹  him ²  by saying, “Why do you do such things?” He was also very handsome and had been born right after Absalom. ³ )

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ¹  He did not do what pleased the Lord his God, in contrast to his ancestor David. ² 

You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods.