But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! ¹  I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands! ² 

Then David went from there to Mizpah in Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay ¹  with you until I know what God is going to do for me.”

For the Lord gave me strict orders, ¹  ‘Do not eat or drink ²  there and do not go home the way you came.’”

For the Lord gave me strict orders, ¹  ‘Do not eat or drink ²  there; do not go back the way you came.’”

As the prophet from Judah was traveling, a lion attacked him on the road and killed him. ¹  His corpse was lying on the road, and the donkey and the lion just stood there beside it. ² 

Joram ¹  crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers. ²  The Israelite army retreated to their homeland. ³ 

Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He assassinated him ¹  and took his place as king, in the twentieth year of the reign of Jotham son of Uzziah.

The king ¹  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching out to fight him. ²  He again sent messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

The descendants of Aaron were also allotted as cities ¹  of refuge Hebron, Libnah and its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa and its pasturelands,

The events of Rehoboam’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded ¹  in the Annals of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that include genealogical records.

Abijah launched the attack with 400,000 well-trained warriors, ¹  while Jeroboam deployed against him 800,000 well-trained warriors. ² 

But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron’s descendants serve as the Lord’s priests and the Levites assist them with the work. ¹ 

They defeated all the cities surrounding Gerar, for the Lord caused them to panic. ¹  The men of Judah ²  looted all the cities, for they contained a huge amount of goods. ³ 

(Wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into God’s temple and used all the holy items of the Lord’s temple in their worship of the Baals.)

But a prophet ¹  visited him and said: “O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites. ² 

Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother was Abijah, ²  the daughter of Zechariah.

This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ¹  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ²  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. ¹  They defiled the Lord’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel lived in their towns.

And during the reign ¹  of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, ²  Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues ³  wrote to King Artaxerxes ⁴  of Persia. This letter ⁵  was first written in Aramaic but then translated. [Aramaic:] ⁶