Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves ¹  with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, ² 

See to it, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that none of you has ³  an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes ⁴  the living God. ⁵ 

As it says, ¹  “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! ²  Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” ³ 

Early in the morning Abraham took ¹  some food ²  and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, ³  and sent her away. So she went wandering ⁴  aimlessly through the wilderness ⁵  of Beer Sheba.

Moses said, “This is what ¹  the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept ²  for generations to come, ³  so that they may see ⁴  the food I fed you in the desert when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’”

Remember the whole way by which he ¹  has brought you these forty years through the desert ²  so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

Otherwise the people of the land ¹  from which you brought us will say, “The Lord was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.” ² 

When Israel had finished killing all the men ¹  of Ai who had chased them toward the desert ²  (they all fell by the sword), ³  all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it.

Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah, ¹  located in the Negev. ²  They went and lived with the people of Judah. ³ 

When David’s ¹  oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry ²  with David and said, “Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! ³  You have come down here to watch the battle!”

The king asked Ziba, “Why did you bring these things?” ¹  Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s family to ride on, the loaves of bread ²  and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.” ³ 

Some of the Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the desert. They were warriors who were trained for battle; they carried shields and spears. They were as fierce as lions and could run as quickly as gazelles across the hills. ¹ 

Early the next morning they marched out to the Desert of Tekoa. When they were ready to march, Jehoshaphat stood up and said: “Listen to me, you people of Judah ¹  and residents of Jerusalem! Trust in the Lord your God and you will be safe! ²  Trust in the message of his prophets and you will win.”

You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness. In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. ¹  No one can hold her back when she is in heat. None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her. At mating time she is easy to find. ² 

You people of this generation, listen to what the Lord says. “Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel? Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? ¹  Why then do you ²  say, ‘We are free to wander. ³  We will not come to you any more?’

I said, ¹  “I will weep and mourn ²  for the grasslands on the mountains, ³  I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness because they are so scorched no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard there. Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields have fled and are gone.”

Their camels will be taken as plunder. Their vast herds will be taken as spoil. I will scatter to the four winds those desert peoples who cut their hair short at the temples. ¹  I will bring disaster against them from every direction,” says the Lord. ² 

“‘But the children ¹  rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys ²  them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out ³  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness.

Flocks and herds ¹  will lie down in the middle of it, as well as every kind of wild animal. ²  Owls ³  will sleep in the tops of its support pillars; they will hoot through the windows. ⁴  Rubble will cover the thresholds; ⁵  even the cedar work ⁶  will be exposed to the elements. ⁷ 

But as the man ¹  went out he began to announce it publicly and spread the story widely, so that Jesus ²  was no longer able to enter any town openly but stayed outside in remote places. Still ³  they kept coming ⁴  to him from everywhere.