The Lord attacked the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores.

“But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s army, and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

The Lord sent you on a campaign saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you have destroyed them.’

These men were very good to us. They did not insult us, nor did we sustain any loss during the entire time we were together in the field.

Riding on her donkey, she went down under cover of the mountain. David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she encountered them.

King David dedicated these things to the Lord, along with the dedicated silver and gold that he had taken from all the nations that he had subdued,

The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him from the ground, but he was unwilling, and refused to eat food with them.

But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it.

But Absalom, whom we anointed as our king, has died in battle. So now why do you hesitate to bring the king back?”

The priests and Levites carried the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy items in the tent.

and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the Lord made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

He gathered some men and organized a raiding band. When David tried to kill them, they went to Damascus, where they settled down and gained control of the city.

for this is what the Lord says, ‘You will not feel any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink.’

The messenger came and told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” Jehu said, “Stack them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.”

Jehoahaz asked for the Lord’s mercy and the Lord responded favorably, for he saw that Israel was oppressed by the king of Syria.

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, a horrible sin practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the Lord.

They were worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.

The Lord made an agreement with them and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

Were the nations whom my ancestors destroyed – the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar – rescued by their gods?