Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led off all the people who had been left alive at Mizpah. They had rescued them from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after he killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. They led off the men, women, children, soldiers, and court officials whom they had brought away from Gibeon.

Wail, you people in Heshbon, because Ai in Ammon is destroyed. Cry out in anguish, you people in the villages surrounding ¹  Rabbah. Put on sackcloth and cry out in mourning. Run about covered with gashes. ²  For your god Milcom will go into exile along with his priests and officials. ³ 

To all the supervisors of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, counselors, and governors it seemed like a good idea for a royal edict to be issued and an interdict to be enforced. For the next thirty days anyone who prays ¹  to any god or human other than you, O king, should be thrown into a den of lions.

Then ¹  I, the Lord, promise that ²  I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’

Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. ¹  We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven ²  just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles. ³ 

Early in the morning ¹  Abimelech summoned ²  all his servants. When he told them about all these things, ³  they ⁴  were terrified.

Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

“You must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see ¹  and subverts the words of the righteous.

Then, when the officers have finished speaking, ¹  they must appoint unit commanders ²  to lead the troops.

The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders ¹  of the Israelite clans:

Then Absalom went to the king and said, “My shearers have begun their work. ¹  Let the king and his servants go with me.”

Azariah son of Nathan was supervisor of ¹  the district governors. Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to ²  the king.

besides 3,300 ¹  officials who supervised the workers. ² 

His servants took his body ¹  back to Jerusalem ²  and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David.

He looked up at the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three ¹  eunuchs looked down at him.

His servants conspired against him ¹  and murdered Joash at Beth-Millo, on the road that goes down to Silla. ² 

When he had secured control of the kingdom, ¹  he executed the servants who had assassinated his father. ² 

‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father ¹  will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

When he had secured control of the kingdom, ¹  he executed the servants who had assassinated his father. ² 

They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth.