But now plead for God’s favor ¹  that he might be gracious to us. ²  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

“My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me.

He taught what was true; ¹  sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.

So Joseph made it a statute, ¹  which is in effect ²  to this day throughout the land of Egypt: One-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

From Aroer, ¹  which is at the edge of Wadi Arnon (it is the city in the wadi), ²  all the way to Gilead there was not a town able to resist us – the Lord our God gave them all to us.

We captured all his cities at that time – there was not a town we did not take from them – sixty cities, all the region of Argob, ¹  the dominion of Og in Bashan.

for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses. ¹ 

So Hebron remains the assigned land of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this very day ¹  because he remained loyal to the Lord God of Israel.

The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed. ¹ 

The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from ¹  the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!”

So they assembled ¹  all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us ²  and our ³  people!” The terror ⁴  of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there. ⁵ 

At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, ¹  whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’

So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you insist on doing these things and have not kept the covenantal rules I gave you, ¹  I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

The king refused to listen to the people, because the Lord was instigating this turn of events ¹  so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made ²  through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

The rest of the events of Abijah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. ¹  Abijah and Jeroboam had been at war with each other.

The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River.

The king refused to listen to the people, because God was instigating this turn of events ¹  so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made ²  through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

They defeated all the cities surrounding Gerar, for the Lord caused them to panic. ¹  The men of Judah ²  looted all the cities, for they contained a huge amount of goods. ³ 

Then in the midst of the assembly, the Lord’s Spirit came upon Jachaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph.

God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall through his visit to Joram. ¹  When Ahaziah ²  arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had commissioned ³  to wipe out Ahab’s family. ⁴