Nehemiah son of Azbuk, head of a half-district of Beth Zur, worked after him as far as the tombs of David and the artificial pool and the House of the Warriors.

So look, I am about to open up Moab’s flank, ¹  eliminating the cities, ²  including its frontier cities, ³  the beauty of the land – Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim.

The roar of battle will rise against your people; all your fortresses will be devastated, just as Shalman devastated ¹  Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.

It crossed to the slope in front of the Arabah to the north and descended into the Arabah.

ב (Bet) How can a young person ¹  maintain a pure life? ²  By guarding it according to your instructions! ³ 

He said, “Capture them alive!” So they captured them alive and then executed all forty-two of them in the cistern at Beth Eked. He left no survivors.

“Run for safety, people of Benjamin! Get out of Jerusalem! ¹  Sound the trumpet ²  in Tekoa! Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem! For disaster lurks ³  out of the north; it will bring great destruction. ⁴ 

Although you, O Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty! Do not journey to Gilgal! Do not go up to Beth Aven! ¹  Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives!”

The inhabitants ¹  of Samaria will lament ²  over the calf idol ³  of Beth Aven. ⁴  Its people will mourn over it; its idolatrous priests will wail ⁵  over it, ⁶  because its splendor will be taken from them ⁷  into exile.

Residents ¹  of Shaphir, ²  pass by in nakedness and humiliation! ³  The residents of Zaanan can’t leave their city. ⁴  Beth Ezel ⁵  mourns, ⁶  “He takes from you what he desires.” ⁷ 

Hashabiah son of Kemuel led the Levites, Zadok led the descendants of Aaron,

The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, the clans of the linen workers at Beth-Ashbea,

As they fled from Israel on the slope leading down from ¹  Beth Horon, the Lord threw down on them large hailstones from the sky, ²  all the way to Azekah. They died – in fact, more died from the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.

Within Issachar’s and Asher’s territory Manasseh was assigned Beth Shean, Ibleam, the residents of Dor, En Dor, the residents of Taanach, the residents of Megiddo, ¹  the three of Napheth, ²  and the towns surrounding all these cities. ³ 

The descendants of Joseph said, “The whole hill country ¹  is inadequate for us, and the Canaanites living down in the valley in Beth Shean and its surrounding towns and in the Valley of Jezreel have chariots with iron-rimmed wheels.” ² 

It then turned on the west side southward from the hill near Beth Horon on the south and extended to Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a city belonging to the tribe ¹  of Judah. This is the western border. ² 

The men of Manasseh did not conquer Beth Shan, Taanach, or their surrounding towns. Nor did they conquer the people living in Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo ¹  or their surrounding towns. ²  The Canaanites managed ³  to remain in those areas. ⁴ 

But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”

The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, which contained the gold objects. They placed them near the big stone. At that time the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord.

But the Lord ¹  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.