All the choice men ¹  among his troops will die ²  by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!

I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them fully armed, a great company with shields of different types, ¹  all of them armed with swords.

But I will have pity on the nation ¹  of Judah. ²  I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior’s bow, by sword, by military victory, ³  by chariot horses, or by chariots.” ⁴ 

Even the calf idol ¹  will be carried to Assyria, as tribute for the great king. ²  Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be put to shame because ³  of its wooden idol. ⁴ 

O Israel, you have sinned since the time ¹  of Gibeah, and there you have remained. Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah?

The shields of his warriors are dyed red; ¹  the mighty soldiers are dressed in scarlet garments. ²  The metal fittings ³  of the chariots ⁴  shine like ⁵  fire ⁶  on the day of battle; ⁷  the soldiers brandish ⁸  their spears. ⁹ 

On that day there will be great confusion from the Lord among them; they will seize each other and attack one another violently.

For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. ¹  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, ²  and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ³  ‘Do this’ and he does it.” ⁴ 

For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires ¹  that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to ²  each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

For our struggle ¹  is not against flesh and blood, ²  but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, ³  against the spiritual forces ⁴  of evil in the heavens. ⁵ 

I put this charge ¹  before you, Timothy my child, in keeping with the prophecies once spoken about you, ²  in order that with such encouragement ³  you may fight the good fight.

In fact this is why ¹  we work hard and struggle, ²  because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, ³  especially of believers.

Compete well ¹  for the faith and lay hold of that eternal life you were called for and made your good confession ²  for ³  in the presence of many witnesses.

You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you ¹  about our common salvation, I now feel compelled ²  instead to write to encourage ³  you to contend earnestly ⁴  for the faith ⁵  that was once for all ⁶  entrusted to the saints. ⁷ 

But even ¹  when Michael the archangel ²  was arguing with the devil and debating with him ³  concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”

Now the length of time it took for us to go from Kadesh Barnea to the crossing of Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, time for all the military men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them.

If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, ¹  you must not chop down its trees, ²  for you may eat fruit ³  from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! ⁴ 

For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat ¹  your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent ²  among you and turn away from you.

David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them. ¹  David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them.