The Lord said, ¹  “Go up and down ²  through the streets of Jerusalem. ³  Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares. See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. ⁴  If you can, ⁵  then I will not punish this city. ⁶ 

The Lord said to his people: ¹  “You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ²  Ask where the old, reliable paths ³  are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ⁴  and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls.” But they said, “We will not follow it!”

I will make myself available to you,’ ¹  says the Lord. ²  ‘Then I will reverse your plight ³  and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,’ says the Lord. ⁴  ‘I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.’

Ishmael also killed all the Judeans ¹  who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Babylonian ²  soldiers who happened to be there. ³ 

But there were ten men among them who said ¹  to Ishmael, “Do not kill us. For we will give you the stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey we have hidden in a field. ²  So he spared their lives and did not kill ³  them along with the rest. ⁴ 

When that time comes, no guilt will be found in Israel. No sin will be found in Judah. ¹  For I will forgive those of them I have allowed to survive. ²  I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ³ 

“At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, ¹  will arise. ²  There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning ³  up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are ⁴  found written in the book, will escape.

Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch ¹  them; she will seek them, but she will not find them. ²  Then she will say, “I will go back ³  to my husband, ⁴  because I was better off then than I am now.” ⁵ 

Instead, Jonah immediately ¹  headed off to Tarshish ²  to escape ³  from the commission of the Lord. ⁴  He traveled ⁵  to Joppa ⁶  and found a merchant ship heading ⁷  to Tarshish. ⁸  So he paid the fare ⁹  and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord.

The Israelites who remain ¹  will not act deceitfully. They will not lie, and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth. Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep ²  and lie down; no one will terrify them.”

Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land,” says the Lord, “but instead I will turn every last person over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them.”

Then when ¹  many disasters and distresses overcome them ²  this song will testify against them, ³  for their ⁴  descendants will not forget it. ⁵  I know the ⁶  intentions they have in mind ⁷  today, even before I bring them ⁸  to the land I have promised.”

The leaders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the leaders of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me for quite some time? ¹  I have found no fault with him from the day of his defection until the present time!” ² 

So Achish summoned David and said to him, “As surely as the Lord lives, you are an honest man, and I am glad to have you ¹  serving ²  with me in the army. ³  I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion ⁴  of the leaders, you are not reliable. ⁵ 

These words of Ish-bosheth really angered Abner and he said, “Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah? This very day I am demonstrating ¹  loyalty to the house of Saul your father and to his relatives ²  and his friends! I have not betrayed you into the hand of David. Yet you have accused me of sinning with this woman today! ³ 

When he left there, he met ¹  Jehonadab, son of Rekab, who had been looking for him. ²  Jehu greeted him and asked, ³  “Are you as committed to me as I am to you?” ⁴  Jehonadab answered, “I am!” Jehu replied, “If so, give me your hand.” ⁵  So he offered his hand and Jehu ⁶  pulled him up into the chariot.

King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent it all ¹  to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew ²  from Jerusalem.

Hezekiah welcomed ¹  them and showed them his whole storehouse, with its silver, gold, spices, and high quality olive oil, as well as his armory and everything in his treasuries. Hezekiah showed them everything in his palace and in his whole kingdom. ² 

“Go, seek an oracle from ¹  the Lord for me and the people – for all Judah. Find out about ²  the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, ³  because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.” ⁴ 

Josiah also got rid of ¹  the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, ²  the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, ³  and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law ⁴  recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.