Yes! ¹  The king may ²  listen and deliver his female servant ³  from the hand of the man who seeks to remove ⁴  both me and my son from the inheritance God has given us!’ ⁵ 

But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it.

So I am ready to bring disaster ¹  on the dynasty ²  of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. ³  I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed. ⁴ 

So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it. ¹ 

They crossed the Jordan River ¹  in the first month, ²  when it was overflowing its banks, and routed those living in all the valleys to the east and west. ³ 

When those days ¹  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ²  banquet for all the people who were present ³  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ⁴  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

The wise man can see where he is going, ¹  but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that the same fate ²  happens to them both. ³ 

I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked; for there is an appropriate time for every activity, and there is a time of judgment ¹  for every deed.

Here is why this will be so: ¹  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ²  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ³ 

so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, both young and old. They will be in undergarments and barefoot, with the buttocks exposed; the Egyptians will be publicly humiliated. ¹ 

The Egyptians are mere humans, not God; their horses are made of flesh, not spirit. The Lord will strike with ¹  his hand; the one who helps will stumble and the one being helped will fall. Together they will perish. ² 

Both of these will come upon you suddenly, in one day! You will lose your children and be widowed. ¹  You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ²  despite ³  your many incantations and your numerous amulets. ⁴ 

You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt which have had lasting effect. By this means you gained both in Israel and among humankind a renown that lasts to this day. ¹ 

They will treat you with hatred, take away all you have labored for, ¹  and leave you naked and bare. Your nakedness will be exposed, just as when you engaged in prostitution and obscene conduct. ² 

These two kings, their minds ¹  filled with evil intentions, will trade ²  lies with one another at the same table. But it will not succeed, for there is still an end at the appointed time.

So then, exalted ¹  to the right hand ²  of God, and having received ³  the promise of the Holy Spirit ⁴  from the Father, he has poured out ⁵  what you both see and hear.

This same ¹  Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ ²  God sent as both ruler and deliverer ³  through the hand of the angel ⁴  who appeared to him in the bush.

For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to die, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.

For “physical exercise ¹  has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.”

It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain ¹  of the field.