At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority ¹  of Moses.

So the Lord’s anger was kindled against the Israelites, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all that generation that had done wickedly before ¹  the Lord was finished. ² 

then whoever is the first to come through ¹  the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he ²  will belong to the Lord and ³  I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

But may the Lord prevent me from extending my hand against the Lord’s chosen one! Now take the spear by Saul’s head and the jug of water, and let’s get out of here!”

The Lord is in his holy temple; ¹  the Lord’s throne is in heaven. ²  His eyes ³  watch; ⁴  his eyes ⁵  examine ⁶  all people. ⁷ 

“Speak kindly to ¹  Jerusalem, ²  and tell her that her time of warfare is over, ³  that her punishment is completed. ⁴  For the Lord has made her pay double ⁵  for all her sins.”

Before two years are over, I will bring back to this place everything that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from it and carried away to Babylon.

So Baruch son of Neriah did exactly what the prophet Jeremiah had told him to do. He read what the Lord had said from the scroll in the temple of the Lord. ¹ 

Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. ¹  So they have all gone mad. ² 

ר (Resh) Our very life breath – the Lord’s anointed king ¹  – was caught in their traps, ²  of whom we thought, ³  “Under his protection ⁴  we will survive among the nations.”

So they brought the gold and silver ¹  vessels that had been confiscated from the temple, the house of God ²  in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, together with his wives and concubines, drank from them.

In the future ¹  the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; ²  it will be more prominent than other hills. ³  People will stream to it.

Hear the Lord’s accusation, you mountains, you enduring foundations of the earth! For the Lord has a case against his people; he has a dispute with Israel! ¹ 

‘Think carefully about the past: ¹  from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ²  to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, ³  think about it. ⁴ 

On that day the bells of the horses will bear the inscription “Holy to the Lord.” The cooking pots in the Lord’s temple ¹  will be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar. ² 

If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

So they assembled ¹  all the leaders of the Philistines and asked, “What should we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They replied, “The ark of the God of Israel should be moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.

So they assembled ¹  all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us ²  and our ³  people!” The terror ⁴  of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there. ⁵ 

Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel, ¹  where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.