‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, ¹  not ²  one of the men twenty years old and upward ³  who came from Egypt will see the land that I swore to give ⁴  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

For all of you have conspired against me! No one informs me ¹  when my own son makes an agreement with this son of Jesse! Not one of you feels sorry for me or informs me that my own son has commissioned my own servant to hide in ambush against me, as is the case today!”

A Passover like this had not been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had observed a Passover like the one celebrated by Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all the people of Judah and Israel who were there, and the residents of Jerusalem.

Tell me! Present the evidence! ¹  Let them consult with one another! Who predicted this in the past? Who announced it beforehand? Was it not I, the Lord? I have no peer, there is no God but me, a God who vindicates and delivers; ²  there is none but me.

Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die.

You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning.

At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them ¹  under divine judgment, ²  including even the women and children; we left no survivors.

Now you are condemned to perpetual servitude as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” ¹ 

They annihilated everyone who lived there with the sword ¹  – no one who breathed remained – and burned ²  Hazor.

The Israelites had taken an oath in Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will allow his daughter to marry a Benjaminite.”

But Elisha ¹  replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives (whom I serve), ²  I will take nothing from you.” Naaman ³  insisted that he take it, but he refused.

Now I was paying you close attention, ¹  yet ²  there was no one proving Job wrong, ³  not one of you was answering his statements!

Your teeth are like a flock of newly-shorn sheep coming up from the washing place; ¹  each of them has a twin, and not one of them is missing.

The cities of Aroer are abandoned. ¹  They will be used for herds, which will lie down there in peace. ² 

From this day forward I am he; no one can deliver from my power; ¹  I will act, and who can prevent it?”

See that no one pays back evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

See to it, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that none of you has ³  an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes ⁴  the living God. ⁵ 

Therefore we must be wary ¹  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

For this time I will send all my plagues ¹  on your very self ²  and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

I will grant peace in the land so that ¹  you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. ²  I will remove harmful animals ³  from the land, and no sword of war ⁴  will pass through your land.