When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, “We have no portion in David – no share in the son of Jesse! ¹  Return to your homes, O Israel! ²  Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!” ³  So all Israel returned to their homes. ⁴ 

Oded, a prophet of the Lord, was there. He went to meet the army as they arrived in Samaria and said to them: “Look, because the Lord God of your ancestors was angry with Judah he handed them over to you. You have killed them so mercilessly that God has taken notice. ¹ 

They responded to us in the following way: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king ¹  of Israel built it and completed it.

Then Ezra got up from in front of the temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he stayed ¹  there, he did not eat food or drink water, for he was in mourning over the infidelity of the exiles.

My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders, ¹  the officials, and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy. I found the genealogical records ²  of those who had formerly returned. Here is what I found written in that record: ³ 

They have gone back to the evil ways ¹  of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to ²  other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah ³  have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors.

I also told the priests and all the people, “The Lord says, ‘Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that ¹  the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon. ²  But they are prophesying a lie to you.

He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! ¹ 

“‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth and have enraged me with all these deeds, I hereby repay you for what you have done, ¹  declares the sovereign Lord. Have you not engaged in prostitution on top of all your other abominable practices?

to loot and plunder, to attack ¹  the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center ²  of the earth.”

But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? ¹  Then they paid attention ²  and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

So ¹  the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the master of the household was furious ²  and said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly ³  to the streets and alleys of the city, ⁴  and bring in the poor, ⁵  the crippled, ⁶  the blind, and the lame.’

And he journeyed from place to place ¹  from the Negev as far as Bethel. ²  He returned ³  to the place where he had pitched his tent ⁴  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.

Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, ¹  and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

When ¹  Jacob heard that Shechem ²  had violated his daughter Dinah, his sons were with the livestock in the field. So Jacob remained silent ³  until they came in.

But when they related to him everything Joseph had said to them, ¹  and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, their father Jacob’s spirit revived.

and all the people answered together, “All that the Lord has commanded we will do!” ¹  So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord.

When the Israelites would see ¹  the face of Moses, that ²  the skin of Moses’ face shone, Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with the Lord. ³ 

he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold, ¹  refund the balance ²  to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property.

¹ Now the mixed multitude ²  who were among them craved more desirable foods, ³  and so the Israelites wept again ⁴  and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ⁵