Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior ¹  and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! ²  Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die.

“This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die ¹  by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.

“‘They must not come near a dead person or they will be defiled; ¹  however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister, they may defile themselves.

“Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ¹  and your sons and daughters will die violently. ²  Your land will be given to others ³  and you will die in a foreign ⁴  land. Israel will certainly be carried into exile ⁵  away from its land.’”

As for that prophet or dreamer, ¹  he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. ² 

you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated ¹  his neighbor’s fiancée; ²  in this way you will purge ³  evil from among you.

Then the king said to the messengers ¹  who were stationed beside him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, for they too have sided ²  with David! They knew he was fleeing, but they did not inform me.” But the king’s servants refused to harm ³  the priests of the Lord.

When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, “Praised be the Lord who has vindicated me and avenged the insult that I suffered from Nabal! ¹  The Lord has kept his servant from doing evil, and he has repaid Nabal for his evil deeds.” ²  Then David sent word to Abigail and asked her to become his wife.

Now the entire family has risen up against your servant, saying, ‘Turn over the one who struck down his brother, so that we can execute him and avenge the death ¹  of his brother whom he killed. In so doing we will also destroy the heir.’ They want to extinguish my remaining coal, ²  leaving no one on the face of the earth to carry on the name of my husband.”

Absalom said to Joab, “Look, I sent a message to you saying, ‘Come here so that I can send you to the king with this message: ¹  “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.”’ Let me now see the face of the king. If I am at fault, let him put me to death!”

But the soldiers replied, ¹  “You should not do this! ²  For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won’t be too concerned about us. ³  Even if half of us should die, they won’t be too concerned about us. But you ⁴  are like ten thousand of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support.”

The king then told Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your property ¹  in Anathoth. You deserve to die, ²  but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.” ³ 

While Gehazi ¹  was telling the king how Elisha ²  had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. ³  Gehazi said, “My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!”

So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ¹  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ²  This ³  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ⁴ 

I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go ¹  and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle ²  or perish from starvation. People of every class ³  will die in war or from starvation. They will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. ⁴ 

“All the servants of the king and the people of the king’s provinces know that there is only one law applicable ¹  to any man or woman who comes uninvited to the king in the inner court – that person will be put to death, unless the king extends to him the gold scepter, permitting him to be spared. ²  Now I have not been invited to come to the king for some thirty days!”