On that day I will carry out ¹  against Eli everything that I spoke about his house – from start to finish!

Exercise appropriate caution so that there is no negligence in this matter. Why should danger increase to the point that kings sustain damage?”

So we prayed to our God and stationed a guard to protect against them ¹  both day and night.

But I am like a deaf man – I hear nothing; I am like a mute who cannot speak. ¹ 

The bravehearted ¹  were plundered; ²  they “fell asleep.” ³  All the warriors were helpless. ⁴ 

You withdrew all your fury; you turned back from your raging anger. ¹ 

They spew out threats ¹  and speak defiantly; all the evildoers boast. ² 

The wicked will be thrown down in his trouble, ¹  but the righteous have refuge ²  even in the threat of death. ³ 

A king’s wrath ¹  is like ²  a messenger of death, ³  but a wise person appeases it. ⁴ 

This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance, ¹  for they taunted and verbally harassed ²  the people of the Lord who commands armies.

And people will settle there, and there will no longer be the threat of divine extermination – Jerusalem will dwell in security.

Then some soldiers ¹  also asked him, “And as for us – what should we do?” ²  He told them, “Take money from no one by violence ³  or by false accusation, ⁴  and be content with your pay.”

After threatening them further, they released them, for they could not find how to punish them on account of the people, because they were all praising ¹  God for what had happened.

So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

But now the Lord my God has made me secure on all fronts; there is no adversary or dangerous threat.

The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River.

Then, as soon as the copy of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read in the presence of Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they proceeded promptly to the Jews in Jerusalem ¹  and stopped them with threat of armed force. ² 

Do not turn me over to my enemies, ¹  for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. ² 

Banish ¹  emotional stress ²  from your mind. ³  and put away pain ⁴  from your body; ⁵  for youth ⁶  and the prime of life ⁷  are fleeting. ⁸ 

Here is why this will be so: ¹  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ²  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ³