But a prophet ¹  visited him and said: “O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites. ² 

So some of ¹  the Ephraimite family leaders, Azariah son of Jehochanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jechizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai confronted ²  those returning from the battle.

Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children. They are the children I take delight in. ¹  For even though I must often rebuke them, I still remember them with fondness. So I am deeply moved with pity for them ²  and will surely have compassion on them. I, the Lord, affirm it! ³ 

When all this was over, the Israelites ¹  who were in the cities of Judah went out and smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished ²  all the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. ³  Then all the Israelites returned to their own homes in their cities. ⁴ 

his ¹  son Rephah, his son Resheph, ²  his son Telah, his son Tahan,

He had sexual relations with his wife; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Ephraim ¹  named him Beriah because tragedy had come to his family. ² 

Those numbered in his division are 40,500.

So the Lord delivered Israel that day, and the battle shifted over to Beth Aven. ¹ 

¹ The sovereign master ²  decreed judgment ³  on Jacob, and it fell on Israel. ⁴ 

Even though he flourishes like a reed plant, ¹  a scorching east wind will come, a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. As a result, his spring will dry up; ²  his well will become dry. That wind ³  will spoil all his delightful foods in the containers in his storehouse.

The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten cities in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh. ¹ 

his son Zabad, his son Shuthelah (Ezer and Elead were killed by the men of Gath, who were natives of the land, when they went down to steal their cattle.

Next to them will be the tribe of Manasseh. The leader of the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth Horon, as well as Uzzen Sheerah),

Then the Lord provoked ¹  their adversaries to attack them, ²  he stirred up ³  their enemies –

They consume their alcohol, then engage in cult prostitution; they dearly love their shameful behavior.

then they said to him, “Say ‘Shibboleth!’” ¹  If he said, “Sibboleth” (and could not pronounce the word ²  correctly), they grabbed him and executed him right there at the fords of the Jordan. On that day forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell dead.

Any children that you father ¹  after them will be yours; they will be listed ²  under the names of their brothers in their inheritance. ³ 

Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s servants, rebelled against ¹  the king. He was an Ephraimite ²  from Zeredah whose mother was a widow named Zeruah.

¹  When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. ²