David felt guilty ¹  after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

“I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. ¹  See, I have sent you silver and gold as a present. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.” ² 

When the king passed by, he called out to the king, “Your servant went out into the heat ¹  of the battle, and then a man turned aside and brought me a prisoner. ²  He told me, ‘Guard this prisoner. If he ends up missing for any reason, ³  you will pay with your life or with a talent ⁴  of silver.’ ⁵ 

They tore down the cities and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered. ¹  They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left intact, ²  but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.

The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egypt to attack us!”

From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five ¹  of the king’s advisers ²  who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens ³  for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city.

The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Jibsam, ¹  and Samuel. ²  They were leaders of their families. ³  In the time of David there were 22,600 warriors listed in Tola’s genealogical records. ⁴ 

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a brave warrior from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab; ¹  he also went down and killed a lion inside a cistern on a snowy day.

So they marched against Baal Perazim and David defeated them there. David said, “Using me as his instrument, ¹  God has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So that place is called Baal Perazim. ² 

David said to God, “Was I not the one who decided to number the army? I am the one who sinned and committed this awful deed! ¹  As for these sheep – what have they done? O Lord my God, attack me and my family, ²  but remove the plague from your people!” ³ 

“I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. ¹  See, I have sent you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.” ² 

King Ahab of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to attack Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I will support you; my army is at your disposal and will support you in battle.” ¹ 

Joram ¹  returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians ²  in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. Ahaziah ³  son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he had been wounded. ⁴ 

The Lord sent a messenger ¹  and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib ²  returned home humiliated. ³  When he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons ⁴  struck him down with the sword.

The king thereby allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and to stand up for themselves – to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any army of whatever people or province that should become their adversaries, including their women and children, ¹  and to confiscate their property.

Seven women will grab hold of one man at that time. ¹  They will say, “We will provide ²  our own food, we will provide ³  our own clothes; but let us belong to you ⁴  – take away our shame!” ⁵ 

In fact, ¹  I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby. It is the cry of Daughter Zion ²  gasping for breath, reaching out for help, ³  saying, “I am done in! ⁴  My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

So these officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing ¹  the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. ²  This ³  man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” ⁴ 

I, the Lord, promise that ¹  I will hand Pharaoh Hophra ²  king of Egypt over to his enemies who are seeking to kill him. I will do that just as surely as I handed King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking to kill him.’”

For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations ¹  from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. ²  Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier ³  who does not return from the battle empty-handed. ⁴