But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he chased after the Israelites. Now the Israelites were going out defiantly. ¹ 

His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay with him for three days, and they ate and drank together, and spent the night there.

When he got home, he took a knife, grabbed his concubine, and carved her up into twelve pieces. ¹  Then he sent the pieces throughout Israel. ² 

¹ David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. ² 

Omri’s supporters were stronger than those who supported Tibni son of Ginath. Tibni died; Omri became king.

While Elisha was watching, he was crying out, “My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!” ¹  Then he could no longer see him. He grabbed his clothes and tore them in two.

Adjacent to him Ezer son of Jeshua, head of Mizpah, worked on another section, opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress.

At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been ill and had recovered.

The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages ¹  the one who pounds on the anvil. He approves the quality of the welding, ²  and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites from his land.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel ²  because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight.

The men refused to listen to him, so the Levite ¹  grabbed his concubine and made her go outside. ²  They raped ³  her and abused her all night long until morning. They let her go at dawn.

Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his ¹  mule, it ²  went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, ³  while the mule he had been riding kept going.

But the king’s edict stood, despite the objections of ¹  Joab and the leaders of the army. So Joab and the leaders of the army left the king’s presence in order to muster the Israelite army.

When the news reached Joab (for Joab had supported ¹  Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom), he ²  ran to the tent of the Lord and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. ³ 

Hezekiah ¹  energetically rebuilt ²  every broken wall. He erected towers and an outer wall, ³  and fortified the terrace of the City of David. ⁴  He made many weapons and shields.

He launched a military campaign ¹  against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. That year the Ammonites paid him 100 talents ²  of silver, 10,000 kors ³  of wheat, and 10,000 kors ⁴  of barley. The Ammonites also paid this same amount of annual tribute the next two years. ⁵