For some time ago ¹  Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He ²  was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and nothing came of it. ³ 

Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man ran back home. ¹ 

The Israelites fled from before the Judahite army, ¹  and God handed them over to the men of Judah. ² 

Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man ran back home. ¹ 

Terrors ¹  frighten him on all sides and dog ²  his every step.

The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, ¹  and gathers the exiles of Israel.

So the word of the Lord was spreading ¹  through the entire region.

Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled ¹  the city and spread salt over it. ² 

The battle there was spread out over the whole area, and the forest consumed more soldiers than the sword devoured that day.

He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah pole, and filled those shrines ¹  with human bones.

When ¹  he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, ²  like sheep without a shepherd.

“A sower went out to sow ¹  his seed. ²  And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds ³  devoured it.

They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. ¹  These are things they ²  adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, ³  from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people ⁴  will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. ⁵ 

I, the Lord, tell ¹  you not to be afraid, you descendants of Jacob, my servant, for I am with you. Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will indeed discipline you but only in due measure. I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.” ² 

“You are righteous, ¹  O Lord, but we are humiliated this day ²  – the people ³  of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you.

Indeed, I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not take heed to the sheep headed to slaughter, will not seek the scattered, and will not heal the injured. ¹  Moreover, he will not nourish the one that is healthy but instead will eat the meat of the fat sheep ²  and tear off their hooves.

So the Lord delivered Israel that day, and the battle shifted over to Beth Aven. ¹ 

I grind them as fine as the dust of the ground; I crush them and stomp on them like clay ¹  in the streets.

All of Adonijah’s guests panicked; ¹  they jumped up and rushed off their separate ways.

Now the city was spread out ¹  and large, and there were not a lot of people in it. ²  At that time houses had not been rebuilt.