The Lord thundered from the sky; the sovereign One shouted loudly.

The one who touches them must use an iron instrument or the wooden shaft of a spear. They are completely burned up right where they lie!”

Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”

If that happens even the bravest soldier – one who is lion-hearted – will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave.

Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored.