Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him; he protects him all the time, and the Lord ¹  places him on his chest. ² 

Then Rahab ¹  let them down by a rope ²  through the window. (Her ³  house was built as part of the city wall; she lived in the wall.) ⁴ 

The men of Asher did not conquer the people living in Acco or Sidon, ¹  nor did they conquer Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek, or Rehob. ² 

No one came to the rescue because the city ¹  was far from Sidon ²  and they had no dealings with anyone. ³  The city ⁴  was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites ⁵  rebuilt the city and occupied it.

In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite ¹  living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine ²  from Bethlehem ³  in Judah.

During the time of the judges ¹  there was a famine in the land of Judah. ²  So a man from Bethlehem ³  in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner ⁴  in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons. ⁵ 

The Lord attacked ¹  the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of ²  both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores. ³ 

Now the residents of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they were pleased at the sight.

The residents of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark ¹  go up from here?”

So they sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down here and take it back home with you.”

So David lived in the fortress and called it the City of David. David built all around it, from the terrace inwards.

Solomon built the terrace as soon as Pharaoh’s daughter moved up from the city of David ¹  to the palace Solomon built for her. ² 

¹ Jeroboam built up Shechem in the Ephraimite hill country and lived there. From there he went out and built up Penuel.

So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you ¹  deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.” ² 

So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. ¹  He taught them how to worship ²  the Lord.

At the same time they worshiped ¹  the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. ² 

These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read. ¹ 

By the ninth day of the fourth month ¹  the famine in the city was so severe the residents ²  had no food.

The residents of Jebus said to David, “You cannot invade this place!” But David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David).