Then Joshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! ¹  Be strong and brave, for the Lord will do the same thing to all your enemies you fight.

for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses. ¹ 

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel ²  because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

The men ¹  who were chosen ²  took supplies ³  and their trumpets. Gideon ⁴  sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; ⁵  he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites ⁶  were camped down below ⁷  in the valley.

He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother ¹  who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them. ² 

Samson called to the Lord, “O Master, Lord, ¹  remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge ²  against the Philistines for my two eyes!”

The men refused to listen to him, so the Levite ¹  grabbed his concubine and made her go outside. ²  They raped ³  her and abused her all night long until morning. They let her go at dawn.

David was very upset, for the men ¹  were thinking of stoning him; ²  each man grieved bitterly ³  over his sons and daughters. But David drew strength from the Lord his God.

May his blood whirl over ¹  the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! ²  May the males of Joab’s house ³  never cease to have ⁴  someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle ⁵  or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk ¹  and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” ² 

Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ¹  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ² 

Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his ¹  mule, it ²  went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, ³  while the mule he had been riding kept going.

But the king’s edict stood, despite the objections of ¹  Joab and the leaders of the army. So Joab and the leaders of the army left the king’s presence in order to muster the Israelite army.

When the news reached Joab (for Joab had supported ¹  Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom), he ²  ran to the tent of the Lord and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. ³ 

Others will then answer, ¹  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors ²  out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ³  That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

The prophet ¹  visited the king of Israel and instructed him, “Go, fortify your defenses. ²  Determine ³  what you must do, for in the spring ⁴  the king of Syria will attack ⁵  you.”

Muster an army like the one you lost, with the same number of horses and chariots. ¹  Then we will fight them in the plains; we will certainly overpower them.” He approved their plan and did as they advised. ² 

When the king of Moab realized he was losing the battle, ¹  he and 700 swordsmen tried to break through and attack ²  the king of Edom, but they failed.

One day Elisha traveled to Shunem, where a prominent ¹  woman lived. She insisted that he stop for a meal. ²  So whenever he was passing through, he would stop in there for a meal. ³ 

But when she reached the prophet on the mountain, she grabbed hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the prophet said, “Leave her alone, for she is very upset. ¹  The Lord has kept the matter hidden from me; he didn’t tell me about it.”