You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, ¹  your elders, your officials, every Israelite man,

I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh – the blood of the slaughtered and captured, the chief ¹  of the enemy’s leaders!’”

At that time Joshua turned, captured Hazor, ¹  and struck down its king with the sword, for Hazor was at that time ²  the leader of all these kingdoms.

The leaders ¹  of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered ²  four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers.

David replied to Achish, “That being the case, you will come to know what your servant can do!” Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard ¹  from now on.” ² 

The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him from the ground, but he was unwilling, and refused to eat food with them.

Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? ¹  God will punish me severely, ²  if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard ¹  who protected the entrance to the royal palace.

Then Jehu killed all who were left of Ahab’s family in Jezreel, and all his nobles, close friends, and priests. He left no survivors.

The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence? ¹ 

Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn ¹  and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.

He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ¹  clothed in sackcloth, with this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down ¹  the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door.

Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it.

The musicians and Levite family leaders stayed in rooms at the sanctuary ¹  and were exempt from other duties, for day and night they had to carry out their assigned tasks.

Shelomith ¹  and his relatives were in charge of all the storehouses containing the consecrated items dedicated by King David, the family leaders who led units of a thousand and a hundred, and the army officers.

The leaders of the families, the leaders of the Israelite tribes, the commanders of units of a thousand and a hundred, and the supervisors of the king’s work contributed willingly.

They held a feast ¹  before the Lord that day and celebrated. ²  Then they designated Solomon, David’s son, as king a second time; ³  before the Lord they anointed him as ruler and Zadok as priest.

King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard ¹  who protected the entrance to the royal palace.

(Wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into God’s temple and used all the holy items of the Lord’s temple in their worship of the Baals.)