Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. From the east I will bring your descendants; from the west I will gather you.

I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ¹  Come back to me, for I protect ²  you.”

The Lord commanded the enemy, ¹  “March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. ²  But do not destroy them completely. Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the Lord. ³ 

He made me walk all around among them. ¹  I realized ²  there were a great many bones in the valley and they were very dry.

Ephraim will be like a bird; what they value ¹  will fly away. They will not bear children – they will not enjoy pregnancy – they will not even conceive! ² 

You pierce the heads of his warriors ¹  with a spear. ²  They storm forward to scatter us; ³  they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition. ⁴ 

While ¹  they were going, some ²  of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened.

Many spread their cloaks on the road and others spread branches they had cut in the fields.

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 

The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up ¹  and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.

But if you repent ¹  and obey ²  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ³  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

that sends messengers by sea, who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus. Go, you swift messengers, to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people, ¹  to a people that are feared far and wide, ²  to a nation strong and victorious, ³  whose land rivers divide. ⁴ 

At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies, by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned, a people that are feared far and wide, a nation strong and victorious, whose land rivers divide. ¹  The tribute ²  will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion. ³ 

They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. ¹  These are things they ²  adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, ³  from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people ⁴  will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. ⁵ 

Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you. I will rescue the lame sheep ¹  and gather together the scattered sheep. I will take away their humiliation and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ² 

So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, Moses threw it into the air, and it caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals.

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 David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines. He took away their cattle and thoroughly defeated them. ¹  David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. ¹  He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there.

Each one struck down an enemy soldier; ¹  the Syrians fled and Israel chased them. King Ben Hadad of Syria escaped on horseback with some horsemen.