He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. ¹  So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. ²  For the child will be dedicated ³  to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

The Benjaminites attacked ¹  the army, leaving the city unguarded. ²  They began to strike down their enemy ³  just as they had done before. On the main roads (one leads to Bethel, ⁴  the other to Gibeah) and in the field, they struck down ⁵  about thirty Israelites.

His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant and close to giving birth. When she heard that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she doubled over and gave birth. But her labor pains were too much for her.

Saul said to the Kenites, “Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away ¹  with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.” ¹ 

he ¹  went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan ²  from the leaders ³  of Jabesh Gilead. (They had secretly taken ⁴  them from the plaza at Beth Shan. It was there that Philistines ⁵  publicly exposed their corpses ⁶  after ⁷  they ⁸  had killed Saul at Gilboa.)

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 

“Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew ¹  who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear ²  from another source, ³  while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be ⁴  that you have achieved royal status ⁵  for such a time as this!”

God gives a man riches, property, and wealth so that he lacks nothing that his heart ¹  desires, ²  yet God does not enable ³  him to enjoy ⁴  the fruit of his labor ⁵  – instead, someone else ⁶  enjoys ⁷  it! ⁸  This is fruitless and a grave misfortune. ⁹ 

I opened for my beloved, but my lover had already turned ¹  and gone away. ²  I fell into despair ³  when he departed. ⁴  I looked for him but did not find him; I called him but he did not answer me.

I predestine you to die by the sword, ¹  all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, ²  because I called to you, and you did not respond, I spoke and you did not listen. You did evil before me; ³  you chose to do what displeases me.”

“I thought to myself, ¹  ‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! ²  What a joy it would be for me to give ³  you a pleasant land, the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ ⁴  I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ ⁵  and would never cease being loyal to me. ⁶ 

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!”

I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, ¹  I am tired of trying to hold it in.” The Lord answered, ²  “Vent it, then, ³  on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, ⁴  as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem ¹  and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. ²  For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” ³ 

But you, Lord, know all their plots to kill me. Do not pardon their crimes! Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them! ¹  Let them be brought down in defeat before you! Deal with them while you are still angry! ² 

For the Lord says, ‘I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. ¹  You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. ²  I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.

So ¹  the Lord has this to say about Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah: People will not mourn for him, saying, “This makes me sad, my brother! This makes me sad, my sister!” They will not mourn for him, saying, “Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!” ² 

So I, the Lord, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. ¹  Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom ²  to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the Lord, affirm it! ³  I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you. ⁴ 

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