Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, “What city are you from?” The person would answer, “I, your servant, ¹  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

The Lord ¹  said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Look, the Lord is ready to pass by.” A very powerful wind went before the Lord, digging into the mountain and causing landslides, ²  but the Lord was not in the wind. After the windstorm there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

‘If disaster comes on us in the form of military attack, ¹  judgment, plague, or famine, we will stand in front of this temple before you, for you are present in this temple. ²  We will cry out to you for help in our distress, so that you will ³  hear and deliver us.’

You will not fight in this battle. Take your positions, stand, and watch the Lord deliver you, ¹  O Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! ²  Tomorrow march out toward them; the Lord is with you!’”

The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!” “May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ¹  May your glorious name ²  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

The king thereby allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and to stand up for themselves – to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any army of whatever people or province that should become their adversaries, including their women and children, ¹  and to confiscate their property.

The Jews assembled themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out against those who were seeking their harm. No one was able to stand before them, for dread of them fell on all the peoples.

The rest of the Jews who were throughout the provinces of the king assembled in order to stand up for themselves and to have rest from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand ¹  of their adversaries, but they did not confiscate their property.

So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ¹  and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ²  They will make all the stones of the altars ³  like crushed limestone, and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ⁴ 

You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ¹  Let them take their stand – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions – let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ² 

I, the Lord, ¹  hereby promise to make you ²  as strong as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. You will be able to stand up against all who live in ³  the land, including the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and all the people of the land.

The Lord said, “Go stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. ¹  Speak out to all the people who are coming from the towns of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything I command you to tell them. Do not leave out a single word!

Even her mercenaries ¹  will prove to be like pampered, ²  well-fed calves. For they too will turn and run away. They will not stand their ground when ³  the time for them to be destroyed comes, the time for them to be punished.

In the shadows of the walls of Heshbon those trying to escape will stand helpless. For a fire will burst forth from Heshbon. Flames will shoot out from the former territory of Sihon. They will burn the foreheads of the people of Moab, the skulls of those war-loving people. ¹ 

then I will bring you down to bygone people, ¹  to be with those who descend to the pit. I will make you live in the lower parts of the earth, among ²  the primeval ruins, with those who descend to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited or stand ³  in the land of the living.

Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.

“‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok ¹  who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

The prince will enter by way of the porch of the gate from the outside, and will stand by the doorpost of the gate. The priests will provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he will bow down at the threshold of the gate and then go out. But the gate will not be closed until evening.

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.

“The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being, and a human mind ¹  was given to it. ²