But they did not obey ¹  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ²  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ³  their ancestors ⁴  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ⁵ 

Amasa was squirming in his own blood in the middle of the path, and this man had noticed that all the soldiers stopped. Having noticed that everyone who came across Amasa ¹  stopped, the man ²  pulled him ³  away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him.

“‘On that day I will assign Gog a grave in Israel. It will be the valley of those who travel east of the sea; it will block the way of the travelers. There they will bury Gog and all his horde; they will call it the valley of Hamon-Gog. ¹ 

When he drove ¹  the man out, he placed on the eastern side ²  of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries ³  who used the flame of a whirling sword ⁴  to guard the way to the tree of life.

And let me get ¹  a bit of food ²  so that you may refresh yourselves ³  since you have passed by your servant’s home. After that you may be on your way.” ⁴  “All right,” they replied, “you may do as you say.”

But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world ¹  did you find it so quickly, ²  my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” ³  he replied. ⁴ 

And as for you, ¹  lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it, so that ²  the Israelites may go through the middle of the sea on dry ground.

Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart ¹  by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided.

The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you because what you are doing ¹  is perverse before me. ² 

When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf; ¹  you had quickly turned aside from the way he ²  had commanded you!

As for the Lord your God, he is about to cross over before you; he will destroy these nations before you and dispossess them. As for Joshua, he is about to cross before you just as the Lord has said.

The Lord your God will drive them out from before you and remove them, ¹  so you can occupy ²  their land as the Lord your God promised ³  you.

Some time later, when he went back to marry ¹  her, he turned aside to see the lion’s remains. He saw ²  a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass, as well as some honey.

May he make us submissive, ¹  so we can follow all his instructions ²  and obey ³  the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors.

But they did not obey, ¹  and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.

He did what the Lord approved ¹  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ²  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Uzziah had done. ¹  (He did not, however, have the audacity to enter the temple.) ²  Yet the people were still sinning.

But Manasseh misled the people of ¹  Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

He did what the Lord approved ¹  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ²  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.