But the Levites will not have an allotted portion among you, for their inheritance is to serve the Lord. ¹  Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their allotted land ²  east of the Jordan which Moses the Lord’s servant assigned them.”

Now the Lord your God has made your fellow Israelites secure, ¹  just as he promised them. So now you may turn around and go to your homes ²  in your own land ³  which Moses the Lord’s servant assigned to you east of the Jordan.

But if your own land ¹  is impure, ²  cross over to the Lord’s own land, ³  where the Lord himself lives, ⁴  and settle down among us. ⁵  But don’t rebel against the Lord or us ⁶  by building for yourselves an altar aside from the altar of the Lord our God.

We said, ‘If in the future they say such a thing ¹  to us or to our descendants, we will reply, “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors ²  made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you.”’ ³ 

Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, ¹  “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this. ²  Now ³  you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s judgment.” ⁴ 

The Lord’s angelic messenger ¹  went up from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land I had solemnly promised to give to your ancestors. ²  I said, ‘I will never break my agreement ³  with you,

But they did not obey ¹  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ²  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ³  their ancestors ⁴  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ⁵ 

The Lord’s angelic messenger ¹  came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon ²  was threshing ³  wheat in a winepress ⁴  so he could hide it from the Midianites. ⁵ 

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  They worshiped ²  the Baals and the Ashtars, ³  as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, ⁴  Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. ⁵  They abandoned the Lord and did not worship ⁶  him.

Year after year ¹  this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord’s priests.

Today your own eyes see how the Lord delivered you – this very day – into my hands in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I had pity ¹  on you and said, ‘I will not extend my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s chosen one.’ ² 

This failure on your part isn’t good! ¹  As surely as the Lord lives, you people who have not protected your lord, the Lord’s chosen one, are as good as dead! ²  Now look where the king’s spear and the jug of water that was by his head are!”

Now don’t let my blood fall to the ground away from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a flea the way one looks for a partridge ¹  in the hill country.”

Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations ¹  with my wife? As surely as you are alive, ²  I will not do this thing!”

Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s sight he will bring me back and enable me to see both it and his dwelling place again.

Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ¹  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

When the angel ¹  extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. ²  He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” ³  (Now the Lord’s angel was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

¹ Then Solomon convened in Jerusalem ²  Israel’s elders, all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families, so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David (that is, Zion). ³ 

That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the Lord’s temple. He offered there burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold all these offerings. ¹ 

May the Lord your God be praised because he favored ¹  you by placing you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he made you king so you could make just and right decisions.” ²