Ashkelon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be in great anguish, as will Ekron, for her hope will have been dried up. ¹  Gaza will lose her king, and Ashkelon will no longer be inhabited.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your king is coming to you: he is legitimate ¹  and victorious, ²  humble and riding on a donkey ³  – on a young donkey, the foal of a female donkey.

Then all who survive from all the nations that came to attack Jerusalem will go up annually to worship the King, the Lord who rules over all, and to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹ 

But if any of the nations anywhere on earth refuse to go up to Jerusalem ¹  to worship the King, the Lord who rules over all, they will get no rain.

The men of Israel replied to the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and we have a greater claim on David than you do! Why do you want ¹  to curse us? Weren’t we the first to suggest bringing back our king?” But the comments of the men of Judah were more severe than those of the men of Israel.

So Jehoshabeath, ¹  the daughter of King Jehoram, ²  took Ahaziah’s son Joash and sneaked him away ³  from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him.

After some years have passed, they ¹  will form an alliance. Then the daughter ²  of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement, but she will not retain her power, ³  nor will he continue ⁴  in his strength. ⁵  She, together with the one who brought her, her child, ⁶  and her benefactor will all be delivered over at that time. ⁷ 

“The elders ¹  will listen ²  to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met ³  with us. So now, let us go ⁴  three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice ⁵  to the Lord our God.’

Please let us pass through ¹  your country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King’s Highway; ²  we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.’” ³ 

“Let us ¹  pass through your land; ²  we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.”

And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.

So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “Now this mass of people ¹  will lick up everything around us, as the bull devours the grass of the field. Now Balak son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at this time.

The Lord, however, said to me, “Don’t be afraid of him because I have already given him, his whole army, ¹  and his land to you. You will do to him exactly what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon.”

Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaites. (It is noteworthy ¹  that his sarcophagus ²  was made of iron. ³  Does it not, indeed, still remain in Rabbath ⁴  of the Ammonites? It is thirteen and a half feet ⁵  long and six feet ⁶  wide according to standard measure.) ⁷ 

Rather it is because of his ¹  love ²  for you and his faithfulness to the promise ³  he solemnly vowed ⁴  to your ancestors ⁵  that the Lord brought you out with great power, ⁶  redeeming ⁷  you from the place of slavery, from the power ⁸  of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! ¹  Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! ²  See, I am handing over to you ³  the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.

When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. ¹  But he did not realize ²  men were hiding behind the city. ³ 

He hung the king of Ai on a tree, leaving him exposed until evening. ¹  At sunset Joshua ordered that his corpse be taken down from the tree. ²  They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and erected over it a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day). ³ 

King Sihon of the Amorites who lived ¹  in Heshbon and ruled from Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon Valley) – including the city in the middle of the valley ²  and half of Gilead – all the way to the Jabbok Valley bordering Ammonite territory.

It encompassed ¹  all the cities of the plain and the whole realm of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon. Moses defeated him and the Midianite leaders Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba (they were subjects of Sihon and lived in his territory). ²