They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes. ¹ 

The messenger came and told Jehu, ¹  “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Jehu ²  said, “Stack them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

In the morning he went out and stood there. Then he said to all the people, “You are innocent. I conspired against my master and killed him. But who struck down all of these men?

Condemn them, ¹  O God! May their own schemes be their downfall! ²  Drive them away ³  because of their many acts of insurrection, ⁴  for they have rebelled against you.

For innumerable dangers ¹  surround me. My sins overtake me so I am unable to see; they outnumber the hairs of my head so my strength fails me. ² 

Indeed, ¹  you have made the city ²  into a heap of rubble, the fortified town into a heap of ruins; the fortress of foreigners ³  is no longer a city, it will never be rebuilt.

“The rebellious ¹  children are as good as dead,” ²  says the Lord, “those who make plans without consulting me, ³  who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, ⁴  and thereby compound their sin. ⁵ 

It shatters in pieces like a clay jar, so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. ¹  Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough ²  to scoop a hot coal from a fire ³  or to skim off water from a cistern.” ⁴ 

Because of that, ¹  the Lord, the God who rules over all, ²  said to me, ³  “Because these people have spoken ⁴  like this, ⁵  I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire. And I will make this people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.” ⁶ 

does not oppress anyone, but gives the debtor back whatever was given in pledge, ¹  does not commit robbery, ²  but gives his bread to the hungry and clothes the naked,

Say to it, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘Look, I am against you, Mount Seir; I will stretch out my hand against you and turn you into a desolate ruin.

Seek the Lord so you can live! Otherwise he will break out ¹  like fire against Joseph’s ²  family; ³  the fire ⁴  will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ⁵ 

Therefore, because of you, ¹  Zion will be plowed up like ²  a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount ³  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁴ 

And he said to them, ¹  “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, ²  not one stone will be left on another. ³  All will be torn down!” ⁴ 

If anyone does not remain ¹  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ²  and are burned up. ³ 

Large numbers ¹  of those who had practiced magic ²  collected their books ³  and burned them up in the presence of everyone. ⁴  When ⁵  the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins. ⁶ 

because they hinder us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they constantly fill up their measure of sins, ¹  but wrath ²  has come upon them completely. ³ 

You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza ¹  and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin ²  forever – it must never be rebuilt again.

Instruct them, ‘Pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests ¹  stand firmly, and carry them over with you and put them in the place where you camp tonight.’”

At sunset Joshua ordered his men to take them down from the trees. ¹  They threw them into the cave where they had hidden and piled large stones over the mouth of the cave. (They remain to this very day.) ²