Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains, and a path for the rumble of thunder,

There is no one to plead your cause. There are no remedies for your wounds. ¹  There is no healing for you.

And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’ ¹ 

Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish,

for you may do so ¹  only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you. ² 

So David asked the Lord what he should do. ¹  This time ²  the Lord ³  said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees. ⁴ 

With the stones he constructed an altar for the Lord. ¹  Around the altar he made a trench large enough to contain two seahs ²  of seed.

So David again asked God what he should do. ¹  This time ²  God told him, “Don’t march up after them; circle around them and come against them in front of the trees. ³ 

If the anger ¹  of the ruler flares up ²  against you, do not resign ³  from your position, ⁴  for a calm ⁵  response ⁶  can undo ⁷  great offenses.

Mourn ¹  over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses ²  in the city filled with revelry. ³ 

Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, ¹  you dear poor people of Egypt. ²  But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; ³  there will be no healing for you.

You who have escaped the sword, ¹  go, do not delay. ²  Remember the Lord in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem. ³ 

Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky ¹  and fortifies her elevated stronghold, ²  I will send destroyers against her,” ³  says the Lord. ⁴ 

On that day, when Gog invades ¹  the land of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger.

if the king becomes angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the wall?

“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. The day after tomorrow ¹  you will go up to the Lord’s temple.

we will get all the timber you need from Lebanon ¹  and bring it ²  in raft-like bundles ³  by sea to Joppa. You can then haul it on up to Jerusalem.”

If the Egyptians will not do so, they will get no rain – instead there will be the kind of plague which the Lord inflicts on any nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.