“You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments.

Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant ¹  sins; do not allow such sins to control me. ²  Then I will be blameless, and innocent of blatant ³  rebellion.

I am ready to vindicate, ¹  I am ready to deliver, ²  I will establish justice among the nations. ³  The coastlands ⁴  wait patiently for me; they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ⁵ 

“How great are his signs! How mighty are his wonders! His kingdom will last forever, ¹  and his authority continues from one generation to the next.”

it is you, ¹  O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

Therefore say to the people: ¹  The Lord who rules over all ²  says, “Turn ³  to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will turn to you,” says the Lord who rules over all.

‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are in no way least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” ¹ 

But his citizens ¹  hated ²  him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man ³  to be king ⁴  over us!’

Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled ¹  forty years.

But we will not boast beyond certain limits, ¹  but will confine our boasting ²  according to the limits of the work to which God has appointed us, ³  that reaches even as far as you.

But the law is not based on faith, ¹  but the one who does the works of the law ²  will live by them. ³ 

He must manage his own household well and keep his children in control without losing his dignity. ¹ 

Remember your leaders, who spoke God’s message to you; reflect on the outcome of their lives and imitate their faith.

This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels; this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones, so that ¹  those who are alive may understand that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, ²  and he bestows them on whomever he wishes. He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.’

You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ¹  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. ¹  Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb ²  among the nations. Why should it be said ³  among the peoples, “Where is their God?”

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; ¹  he ²  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  Rehoboam’s ⁴  mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

God blessed ¹  them and said ²  to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! ³  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” ⁴ 

Is it not true ¹  that if you do what is right, you will be fine? ²  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching ³  at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.” ⁴ 

And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.