Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul,

Now ¹  the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On ²  their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, ³  and their faces looked like men’s ⁴  faces.

They had breastplates ¹  like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle.

‘Call judgment down on ¹  Meroz,’ says the Lord’s angelic ²  messenger; ‘Be sure ³  to call judgment down on ⁴  those who live there, because they did not come to help in the Lord’s battle, ⁵  to help in the Lord’s battle against the warriors.’ ⁶ 

So David got up early in the morning and entrusted the flock to someone else who would watch over it. ¹  After loading up, he went just as Jesse had instructed him. He arrived at the camp ²  as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting its battle cry.

But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said ¹  to him, “Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don’t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become ²  our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men? ³ 

“You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me – how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. ¹  During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle; ²  when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet. ³ 

Sound your battle cry ¹  against the wild beast of the reeds, ²  and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls! ³  They humble themselves ⁴  and offer gold and silver as tribute. ⁵  God ⁶  scatters ⁷  the nations that like to do battle.

One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; ¹  at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, ²  until the remaining few are as isolated ³  as a flagpole on a mountaintop or a signal flag on a hill.”

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 

Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met ¹ 

So God brought the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea, ¹  and the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt prepared for battle. ² 

But the Israelites ¹  defeated him in battle ²  and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strongly defended.

Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces ¹  marched out against them to do battle at Edrei.

“You must exact ¹  a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of five hundred, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep.

At that time I instructed you as follows: “The Lord your God has given you this land for your possession. You warriors are to cross over before your fellow Israelites ¹  equipped for battle.

Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, ¹  “Who among you ²  has built a new house and not dedicated ³  it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else ⁴  dedicate it.

Or who among you ¹  has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.”

Your wives, children and cattle may stay in the land that Moses assigned to you east of the Jordan River. But all you warriors must cross over armed for battle ahead of your brothers. ¹  You must help them

When you hear the signal from the ram’s horn, ¹  have the whole army give a loud battle cry. ²  Then the city wall will collapse ³  and the warriors should charge straight ahead.” ⁴