He has done this so ¹  all the nations ²  of the earth might recognize the Lord’s power ³  and so you might always obey ⁴  the Lord your God.”

That day Moses made this solemn promise: ¹  ‘Surely the land on which you walked ²  will belong to you and your descendants permanently, ³  for you remained loyal to the Lord your God.’

or associate with these nations that remain near ¹  you. You must not invoke or make solemn declarations by the names of their gods! ²  You must not worship ³  or bow down to them!

But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, ¹  for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’ ² 

So all the people went to Gilgal, where ¹  they established Saul as king in the Lord’s presence. They offered up peace offerings there in the Lord’s presence. Saul and all the Israelites were very happy.

Then someone from the army informed him, “Your father put the army under a strict oath ¹  saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food today!’ That is why the army is tired.”

Our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law. They have not paid attention to your commandments or your testimonies by which you have solemnly admonished them.

(10:1) ¹  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ²  in written form; ³  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ⁴  on the sealed document.”

Not only that, ¹  but I have seen the wicked approaching ²  and entering the temple, ³  and as they left the holy temple, ⁴  they boasted ⁵  in the city that they had done so. This also is an enigma. ⁶ 

At that time ¹  you will say: “Praise the Lord! Ask him for help! ²  Publicize his mighty acts among the nations! Make it known that he is unique! ³ 

For this is what the master, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: “If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered; ¹  if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength, ²  but you are unwilling.

The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you ¹  and carry them out!

But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’” ¹ 

For the honor of your name, ¹  do not treat Jerusalem ²  with contempt. Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. ³  Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it! ⁴ 

I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces. ¹  I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence. ² 

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ¹  for despising my oath and breaking my covenant!

I also swore ¹  to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them to the land I had given them – a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.

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 

And the king will answer them, ¹  ‘I tell you the truth, ²  just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters ³  of mine, you did it for me.’

Then he will answer them, ¹  ‘I tell you the truth, ²  just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’