Camel caravans will cover your roads, ¹  young camels from Midian and Ephah. All the merchants of Sheba ²  will come, bringing gold and incense and singing praises to the Lord. ³ 

The least of you will multiply into ¹  a thousand; the smallest of you will become a large nation. When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” ² 

the foreigners living in Egypt; ¹  all the kings of the land of Uz; ²  all the kings of the land of the Philistines, ³  the people of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the people who had been left alive from Ashdod; ⁴ 

The Lord spoke about Kedar ¹  and the kingdoms of Hazor ²  that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered. “Army of Babylon, ³  go and attack Kedar. Lay waste those who live in the eastern desert. ⁴ 

The Lord says, ¹  “Army of Babylon, ²  go and attack a nation that lives in peace and security. They have no gates or walls to protect them. ³  They live all alone.

“Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ¹  of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity.

I will hand it over, ¹  along with the Ammonites, ²  to the tribes ³  of the east, so that the Ammonites will no longer be remembered among the nations.

“‘But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for ¹  their sin.

You must divide it equally just as I vowed to give it to your forefathers; ¹  this land will be assigned as your inheritance. ² 

The arrogance of Israel testifies against it; Israel and Ephraim will be overthrown ¹  because ²  of their iniquity. Even Judah will be brought down ³  with them.

Look, the sovereign Lord is watching ¹  the sinful nation, ²  and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will not completely destroy the family ³  of Jacob,” says the Lord.

The Ephraimites will be like warriors and will rejoice as if they had drunk wine. Their children will see it and rejoice; they will celebrate in the things of the Lord.

Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant ¹  may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.

The men of Israel replied to the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and we have a greater claim on David than you do! Why do you want ¹  to curse us? Weren’t we the first to suggest bringing back our king?” But the comments of the men of Judah were more severe than those of the men of Israel.

The Lord God of Israel chose me out of my father’s entire family to become king over Israel and have a permanent dynasty. ¹  Indeed, ²  he chose Judah as leader, and my father’s family within Judah, and then he picked me out from among my father’s sons and made me king over all Israel. ³ 

He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ¹  and will multiply you. ²  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ³  as an everlasting possession.’ ⁴ 

and they assembled ¹  the entire community together on the first day of the second month. ²  Then the people recorded their ancestry ³  by their clans and families, and the men who were twenty years old or older were listed ⁴  by name individually,

And they were as follows: The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

When they went up through the Negev, they ¹  came ²  to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, ³  descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan ⁴  in Egypt.)

Jair, son of Manasseh, took all the Argob region as far as the border with the Geshurites ¹  and Maacathites ²  (namely Bashan) and called it by his name, Havvoth-Jair, ³  which it retains to this very day.)