Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you ¹  about our common salvation, I now feel compelled ²  instead to write to encourage ³  you to contend earnestly ⁴  for the faith ⁵  that was once for all ⁶  entrusted to the saints. ⁷ 

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 

Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ¹  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ²  your very breath and all your ways!

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there.

You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow ¹  after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness. ² 

But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow or a sheep or a goat; they are holy. You must splash ¹  their blood on the altar and burn their fat for an offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Again, however, pay very careful attention, ¹  lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.

It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, ¹  that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he ²  made on oath to your ancestors, ³  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he ¹  chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites ²  in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. ³ 

his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury ¹  him that same day, for the one who is left exposed ²  on a tree is cursed by God. ³  You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, ¹  “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this. ²  Now ³  you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s judgment.” ⁴ 

The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. ¹  They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites ²  living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.

But they did not obey ¹  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ²  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ³  their ancestors ⁴  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ⁵ 

But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No! ¹  Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”

David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?”

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.” ¹ 

David replied to Michal, “It was before the Lord! I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family ¹  and appointed me as leader over the Lord’s people Israel.

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning ¹  and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time. ² 

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.’”

If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, ¹  their loyalty could shift to their former master, ²  King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”