It was some time after this when the Ammonites fought with Israel.

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, “Pretend to be in mourning and put on garments for mourning. Don’t anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time.

You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, it would be all right with you.

he went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the leaders of Jabesh Gilead. (They had secretly taken them from the plaza at Beth Shan. It was there that Philistines publicly exposed their corpses after they had killed Saul at Gilboa.)

Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem for forty years.

They observed a time of fasting and put Naboth in front of the people.

“Even today my complaint is still bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning.

The Lord will deliver the king; he will answer us when we call to him for help!

They experience his favor; their descendants inherit the land.

Walk around Zion! Encircle it! Count its towers!

For I am aware of my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin.

Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.

Their priests fell by the sword, but their widows did not weep.

I will satisfy him with long life, and will let him see my salvation.

I learned long ago that you ordained your rules to last.

For at the window of my house through my window lattice I looked out

From eternity I was appointed, from the beginning, from before the world existed.

A fool’s annoyance is known at once, but the prudent overlooks an insult.

for their hearts contemplate violence, and their lips speak harm.

Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors to keep when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace. I said at that time, “Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement exactly as I commanded you. If you do, you will be my people and I will be your God.