Now I am sending you Huram Abi, ¹  a skilled and capable man,

I did not send those prophets. Yet they were in a hurry to give their message. ¹  I did not tell them anything. Yet they prophesied anyway.

‘So pay attention to what I, the Lord, have said, ¹  all you exiles whom I have sent to Babylon from Jerusalem.’

Moreover, as for you, because of our covenant relationship secured with blood, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

Judah said, “Let her keep the things ¹  for herself. Otherwise we will appear to be dishonest. ²  I did indeed send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

For by now I could have stretched out ¹  my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed ²  from the earth.

Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send again and again ¹  to you to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?” ² 

The messengers came again and said, “This is what Ben Hadad says, ‘I sent this message to you, “You must give me your silver, gold, wives, and sons.”

This is what the Lord says, your protector, ¹  the Holy One of Israel: ²  “For your sake I send to Babylon and make them all fugitives, ³  turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ⁴ 

I will make up for the years ¹  that the ‘arbeh-locust ²  consumed your crops ³  – the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust – my great army ⁴  that I sent against you.

Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you so that my covenant ¹  may continue to be with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all.

“I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. ¹  See, I have sent you silver and gold as a present. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.” ² 

He brought the letter to king of Israel. It read: “This is a letter of introduction for my servant Naaman, ¹  whom I have sent to be cured of his skin disease.”

The Lord solemnly warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and all the seers, “Turn back from your evil ways; obey my commandments and rules that are recorded in the law. I ordered your ancestors to keep this law and sent my servants the prophets to remind you of its demands.” ¹ 

“I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. ¹  See, I have sent you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.” ² 

“I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say: ‘The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon ¹  are like those good figs. I consider them to be good.

For they have not paid attention to what I said to them through my servants the prophets whom I sent to them over and over again,’ ¹  says the Lord. ²  ‘And you exiles ³  have not paid any attention to them either,’ says the Lord. ⁴ 

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem ¹  to kill both people and animals!

He said to me, “Daniel, you are of great value. ¹  Understand the words that I am about to ²  speak to you. So stand up, ³  for I have now been sent to you.” When he said this ⁴  to me, I stood up shaking.

“I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ¹  I killed your young men with the sword, along with the horses you had captured. I made the stench from the corpses ²  rise up into your nostrils. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking!