Take note of ¹  the field where the men ²  are harvesting and follow behind with the female workers. ³  I will tell the men ⁴  to leave you alone. ⁵  When you are thirsty, you may go to ⁶  the water jars ⁷  and drink some of the water ⁸  the servants draw.” ⁹ 

The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel, ¹  where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

But the servant said to him, “Look, there is a man of God in this town. He is highly respected. Everything that he says really happens. ¹  Now let’s go there. Perhaps he will tell us where we should go from here.” ² 

Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say ¹  to any of the leaders ²  whom I appointed to care for ³  my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

Solomon then woke up and realized it was a dream. ¹  He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, offered up burnt sacrifices, presented peace offerings, ²  and held a feast for all his servants.

You went back and ate and drank in this place, even though he said to you, “Do not eat or drink there.” ¹  Therefore ²  your corpse will not be buried in your ancestral tomb.’” ³ 

But he did not execute the sons of the assassins. He obeyed the Lord’s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, ¹  “Fathers must not be put to death for what their sons do, ²  and sons must not be put to death for what their fathers do. ³  A man must be put to death only for his own sin.” ⁴ 

He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. ¹  He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. ² 

So the God of Israel stirred up ¹  King Pul of Assyria (that is, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria), ²  and he carried away the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh and took them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this very day.

David and all Israel went up to Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim) in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, who sits enthroned between the cherubim – the ark that is called by his name. ¹ 

and built up Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to him, ¹  and all the cities where chariots and horses were kept. ²  He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, ³  Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom. ⁴ 

Solomon moved Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David ¹  to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

Then Ezra got up from in front of the temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he stayed ¹  there, he did not eat food or drink water, for he was in mourning over the infidelity of the exiles.

You will fall; while lying on the ground ¹  you will speak; from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. ²  Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; ³  from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. ⁴ 

This is a message ¹  about the animals in the Negev: Through a land of distress and danger, inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ²  by snakes and darting adders, ³  they transport ⁴  their wealth on the backs of donkeys, their riches on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot help them. ⁵ 

“Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: ¹  ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, ²  my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! ³ 

The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies ¹  just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars ²  and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’”

They will come back shedding tears of contrition. I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. ¹  I will lead them besides streams of water, along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ²  I will do this because I am Israel’s father; Ephraim ³  is my firstborn son.’”

The whole valley where dead bodies and sacrificial ashes are thrown ¹  and all the terraced fields ²  out to the Kidron Valley ³  on the east as far north ⁴  as the Horse Gate ⁵  will be included within this city that is sacred to the Lord. ⁶  The city will never again be torn down or destroyed.”

I took them to the Lord’s temple. I took them into the room where the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah stayed. ¹  That room was next to the one where the temple officers stayed and above the room where Maaseiah son of Shallum, one of the doorkeepers ²  of the temple, stayed.