For from the top of the rocks I see them; ¹  from the hills I watch them. ²  Indeed, a nation that lives alone, and it will not be reckoned ³  among the nations.

So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding ¹  to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise ²  people.”

They have made me jealous ¹  with false gods, ²  enraging me with their worthless gods; ³  so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, ⁴  with a nation slow to learn ⁵  I will enrage them.

The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. All Israel crossed over on dry ground until the entire nation was on the other side. ¹ 

So give your servant a discerning mind ¹  so he can make judicial decisions for ²  your people and distinguish right from wrong. ³  Otherwise ⁴  no one is able ⁵  to make judicial decisions for ⁶  this great nation of yours.” ⁷ 

When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was very happy. He said, “The Lord is worthy of praise today because he ¹  has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise ¹  yourself so that people cannot recognize you are Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh; Ahijah the prophet, who told me I would rule over this nation, lives there. ² 

But each of these nations made ¹  its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria ²  had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived.

Now, Lord God, may your promise ¹  to my father David be realized, ²  for you have made me king over a great nation as numerous as the dust of the earth.

But if God ¹  is quiet, who can condemn ²  him? If he hides his face, then who can see him? Yet ³  he is over the individual and the nation alike, ⁴ 

I sent him ¹  against a godless ²  nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, ³  to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down ⁴  like dirt in the streets.

The least of you will multiply into ¹  a thousand; the smallest of you will become a large nation. When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” ² 

“I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; ¹  I appeared to those who did not look for me. ²  I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’ to a nation that did not invoke ³  my name.

Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, ¹  for a god that cannot help them at all! ² 

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Beware! An army ¹  is coming from a land in the north. A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.

So tell them: ‘This is a nation that has not obeyed the Lord their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore. ¹ 

So, mourn, ¹  you people of this nation. ²  Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the Lord has decided to reject ³  and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!’” ⁴ 

“‘But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation ¹  for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon ²  an everlasting ruin. ³  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁴ 

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says, ‘Disaster will soon come on one nation after another. ²  A mighty storm of military destruction ³  is rising up from the distant parts of the earth.’

The Lord is like a lion who has left his lair. ¹  So their lands will certainly ²  be laid waste by the warfare of the oppressive nation ³  and by the fierce anger of the Lord.”