I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle ¹  them there; they will live there and not be disturbed ²  anymore. Violent men will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning ³ 

But after our ancestors ¹  angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands ²  of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon. ³ 

Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him stood up, pulled out their swords, and killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. Thus Ishmael killed the man that the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

ב (Bet) The Lord ¹  destroyed ²  mercilessly ³  all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁴  In his anger he tore down the fortified cities ⁵  of Daughter Judah. He knocked to the ground and humiliated the kingdom and its rulers. ⁶ 

ג (Gimel) In fierce anger ¹  he destroyed ²  the whole army ³  of Israel. He withdrew his right hand ⁴  as the enemy attacked. ⁵  He was like a raging fire in the land of Jacob; ⁶  it consumed everything around it. ⁷ 

And when his mind ¹  became arrogant ²  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him.

“I destroyed ¹  nations; their walled cities ²  are in ruins. I turned their streets into ruins; no one passes through them. Their cities are desolate; ³  no one lives there. ⁴ 

Then ¹  Jesus entered the temple area ²  and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, ³  and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.

Then ¹  they came to Jerusalem. ²  Jesus ³  entered the temple area ⁴  and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. ⁵  He turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves,

As ¹  the boy ²  was approaching, the demon threw him to the ground ³  and shook him with convulsions. ⁴  But Jesus rebuked ⁵  the unclean ⁶  spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

They will besiege all of your villages ¹  until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you.

The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them and chased them from in front of the city gate all the way to the fissures ¹  and defeated them on the steep slope. ²  The people’s ³  courage melted away like water. ⁴ 

When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw ¹  the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar.

But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ¹  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ²  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ³  will die by morning! ⁴  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ⁵  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ⁶ 

So Joab visited ¹  the king at his home. He said, “Today you have embarrassed all your servants who have saved your life this day, as well as the lives of your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your concubines.

When the old prophet who had invited him to his house heard the news, ¹  he said, “It is the prophet ²  who rebelled against the Lord. ³  The Lord delivered him over to the lion and it ripped him up ⁴  and killed him, just as the Lord warned him.” ⁵ 

Now the king had placed the officer who was his right-hand man ¹  at the city gate. When the people rushed out, they trampled him to death in the gate. ²  This fulfilled the prophet’s word which he had spoken when the king tried to arrest him. ³ 

He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ¹  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ²  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ³ 

The Beloved about Her Lover: I was asleep, but my mind ¹  was dreaming. ²  Listen! ³  My lover ⁴  is knocking ⁵  at the door! ⁶  The Lover to His Beloved: “Open ⁷  for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

So the Lord is furious ¹  with his people; he lifts ²  his hand and strikes them. The mountains shake, and corpses lie like manure ³  in the middle of the streets. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. ⁴