So the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom ¹  set out together. They wandered around on the road for seven days and finally ran out of water for the men and animals they had with them.

Samaria’s food supply ran out. ¹  They laid siege to it so long that ²  a donkey’s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver ³  and a quarter of a kab ⁴  of dove’s droppings ⁵  for five shekels of silver. ⁶ 

The Lord afflicted the king with an illness; he suffered from a skin disease ¹  until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters, ²  while his son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.

When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the army ¹  had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

Did not the Cushites and Libyans have a huge army with chariots and a very large number of horsemen? But when you relied on the Lord, he handed them over to you!

For he did not despise or detest the suffering ¹  of the oppressed; ²  he did not ignore him; ³  when he cried out to him, he responded. ⁴ 

I jumped to conclusions and said, ¹  “I am cut off from your presence!” ²  But you heard my plea for mercy when I cried out to you for help.

In my time of trouble I sought ¹  the Lord. I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ²  I ³  refused to be comforted.

Therefore my ¹  people will be deported ²  because of their lack of understanding. Their ³  leaders will have nothing to eat, ⁴  their ⁵  masses will have nothing to drink. ⁶ 

I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I ¹  am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly ²  return to me.’

“Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘The Lord has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. “Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie. ¹ 

When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his soldiers saw them, they tried to escape. They departed from the city during the night. They took a path through the king’s garden and passed out through the gate between the two walls. ¹  Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

ז (Zayin) The Lord ¹  rejected ²  his altar and abhorred his temple. ³  He handed over to the enemy ⁴  her palace walls; the enemy ⁵  shouted ⁶  in the Lord’s temple as if it were a feast day. ⁷ 

When the living beings moved, the wheels moved, and when they stopped moving, the wheels stopped. ¹  When they rose up from the ground, the wheels rose up from the ground; the wheels rose up beside them because the spirit of the living being was in the wheel.

When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings – it was like the sound of rushing waters, or the voice of the Almighty, ¹  or the tumult ²  of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

When the cherubim ¹  stood still, the wheels ²  stood still, and when they rose up, the wheels ³  rose up with them, for the spirit ⁴  of the living beings ⁵  was in the wheels. ⁶ 

The water made it grow; underground springs made it grow tall. Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted, while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field. ¹ 

He led me out by way of the north gate and brought me around the outside of the outer gate that faces toward the east; I noticed ¹  that the water was trickling out from the south side.

So Arioch quickly ushered Daniel into the king’s presence, saying to him, “I ¹  have found a man from the captives of Judah who can make known the interpretation to the king.”

Disaster will be inescapable, ¹  as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear, then escaped ²  into a house, leaned his hand against the wall, and was bitten by a poisonous snake.