The leaders ¹  of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered ²  four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers.

and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”

David praised the Lord before the entire assembly: ¹  “O Lord God of our father Israel, you deserve praise forevermore!

But the bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, was in front of the Lord’s tabernacle. ¹  Solomon and the entire assembly prayed to him ²  there.)

The assembly brought a total of 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs as burnt sacrifices to the Lord, ¹ 

A huge crowd assembled in Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. ¹ 

Because many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered ¹  the Passover lambs of all who were ceremonially unclean and could not consecrate their sacrifice to the Lord. ² 

Everyone who did not come within three days would thereby forfeit all his property, in keeping with the counsel of the officials and the elders. Furthermore, he himself would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.)

I have not failed to tell about your justice; ¹  I spoke about your reliability and deliverance; I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness. ² 

Then I will reply, ¹  ‘I will bring them back from the land of the north. I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth. Blind and lame people will come with them, so will pregnant women and women about to give birth. A vast throng of people will come back here.

י (Yod) An enemy grabbed ¹  all her valuables. ²  Indeed she watched in horror ³  as Gentiles ⁴  invaded her holy temple ⁵  – those whom you ⁶  had commanded: “They must not enter ⁷  your assembly place.” ⁸ 

Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ¹  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

They will attack ¹  you with weapons, ²  chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; ³  they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; ⁴  they will punish you according to their laws.

That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. ¹ 

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘I will throw my net over you ¹  in the assembly of many peoples; and they will haul you up in my dragnet.

Their ¹  graves are located in the remote slopes of the pit. ²  Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.

and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vast army.

Gather the people; sanctify an assembly! Gather the elders; gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom and the bride from her private quarters. ¹ 

The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died ¹  by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by ²  the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, ³  for you have brought us out into this desert to kill ⁴  this whole assembly with hunger!”