These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, ¹  but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners ²  on the earth.

He ¹  exercised all the ruling authority ²  of the first beast on his behalf, ³  and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed.

From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. ¹  He ²  will rule ³  them with an iron rod, ⁴  and he stomps the winepress ⁵  of the furious ⁶  wrath of God, the All-Powerful. ⁷ 

He said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!” ¹  They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River ²  opposite Moab, ³  and did not let anyone cross.

The Lord’s spirit empowered ¹  him and he tore the lion ²  in two with his bare hands ³  as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes ¹  and gave them ²  to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. ³ 

When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered ¹  him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in ²  fire, and they ³  melted away from his hands.

The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel, ¹  where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, ¹  knelt ²  with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David.

So the palace supervisor, ¹  the city commissioner, ²  the leaders, ³  and the guardians sent this message to Jehu, “We are your subjects! ⁴  Whatever you say, we will do. We will not make anyone king. Do what you consider proper.” ⁵ 

Josiah also got rid of ¹  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ²  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ³  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ⁴  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.

David assembled in Jerusalem ¹  all the officials of Israel, including the commanders of the tribes, the commanders of the army divisions that served the king, the commanders of units of a thousand and a hundred, the officials who were in charge of all the property and livestock of the king and his sons, the eunuchs, and the warriors, including the most skilled of them.

He passed his sons through the fire ¹  in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. ²  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. ³ 

so that he may initiate a search of the records ¹  of his predecessors ²  and discover in those records ³  that this city is rebellious ⁴  and injurious to both kings and provinces, producing internal revolts ⁵  from long ago. ⁶  It is for this very reason that this city was destroyed.

Who has ascended into heaven, and then descended? ¹  Who has gathered up the winds in his fists? ²  Who has bound up the waters in his cloak? ³  Who has established all the ends of the earth? ⁴  What is his name, and what is his son’s name? ⁵  – if you know!

But they rebelled against me, and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols, ¹  nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out ²  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations (the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out ¹  my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them. ² 

“‘But the children ¹  rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys ²  them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out ³  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness.

Shortly after his rise to power, ¹  his kingdom will be broken up and distributed toward the four winds of the sky ²  – but not to his posterity or with the authority he exercised, for his kingdom will be uprooted and distributed to others besides these.

His intention ¹  will be to come with the strength of his entire kingdom, and he will form alliances. ²  He will give the king of the south ³  a daughter ⁴  in marriage in order to destroy the kingdom, but it will not turn out to his advantage.