So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ¹  and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ²  They will make all the stones of the altars ³  like crushed limestone, and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ⁴ 

Do any of the worthless idols ¹  of the nations cause rain to fall? Do the skies themselves send showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ²  So we put our hopes in you ³  because you alone do all this.”

But ¹  listen to what the Lord has to say, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. The Lord says, ‘I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, “As surely as the Lord God lives….” ² 

“From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed. It has never been taken into exile. Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs, never poured out from one jar to another. They are like wine which tastes like it always did, whose aroma has remained unchanged. ¹ 

“All Israel has broken ¹  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ²  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ³  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ⁴ 

So know and understand: From the issuing of the command ¹  to restore and rebuild Jerusalem ²  until an anointed one, a prince arrives, ³  there will be a period of seven weeks ⁴  and sixty-two weeks. It will again be built, ⁵  with plaza and moat, but in distressful times.

So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, ¹ 

“So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ¹  – do not regard as inconsequential ²  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day!

So let my lord the king now listen to the words of his servant. If the Lord has incited you against me, may he take delight in ¹  an offering. But if men have instigated this, ²  may they be cursed before the Lord! For they have driven me away this day from being united with the Lord’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go on, serve other gods!’

Now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, ‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, ¹  provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.’ ² 

Now, O Lord God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, ‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, ¹  provided that your descendants watch their step and obey my law as you have done.’ ² 

So now take ¹  seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede ²  for you, and I will respect him, ³  so that I do not deal with you ⁴  according to your folly, ⁵  because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.” ⁶ 

She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ¹  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ² 

“These men are at peace with us. So let them live in the land and travel freely in it, for the land is wide enough ¹  for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. ² 

Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ¹  in the land. There ²  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, ¹  they must be made ²  into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”

Our leaders and all who live in our land told us, ‘Take provisions for your journey and go meet them. Tell them, “We are willing to be your subjects. ¹  Make a treaty with us.”’

Simeon’s assigned land was taken from Judah’s allotted portion, for Judah’s territory was too large for them; so Simeon was assigned land within Judah. ¹ 

So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves from them back to their stalls.

Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.”