Naaman said, “If not, then please give your servant a load of dirt, enough for a pair of mules to carry, ¹  for your servant will never again offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to a god other than the Lord. ² 

One of his advisers said, “No, my master, O king. The prophet Elisha who lives in Israel keeps telling the king of Israel the things you say in your bedroom.”

Now the Lord makes this announcement: “Within exactly three years ¹  Moab’s splendor will disappear, along with all her many people; there will be just a few, insignificant survivors left.” ² 

You people of this generation, listen to what the Lord says. “Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel? Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? ¹  Why then do you ²  say, ‘We are free to wander. ³  We will not come to you any more?’

“Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. ¹  Tell them, ‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. ²  For I am merciful,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not be angry with you forever.

I have listened to them very carefully, ¹  but they do not speak honestly. None of them regrets the evil he has done. None of them says, “I have done wrong!” ²  All of them persist in their own wayward course ³  like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

This will happen to them because they have done what is shameful ¹  in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken lies while claiming my authority. ²  They have spoken words that I did not command them to speak. I know what they have done. I have been a witness to it,’ says the Lord.” ³ 

ל (Lamed) Is it nothing to you, ¹  all you who pass by on the road? ²  Look and see! Is there any pain like mine? The Lord ³  has afflicted me, ⁴  he ⁵  has inflicted it on me when ⁶  he burned with anger. ⁷