Isaiah ordered, “Get a fig cake.” So they did as he ordered and placed it on the ulcerated sore, and he recovered.

“Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must not build me a house in which to live.

Jehoshaphat was afraid, so he decided to seek the Lord’s advice. He decreed that all Judah should observe a fast.

Jehoiada then drew up a covenant stipulating that he, all the people, and the king should be loyal to the Lord.

But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon, King Cyrus enacted a decree to rebuild this temple of God.

However, due to your abundant mercy you did not do away with them altogether; you did not abandon them. For you are a merciful and compassionate God.

But Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Indeed, a man will give up all that he has to save his life!

My brothers have been as treacherous as a seasonal stream, and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams that flow away.

You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my leanness has risen up against me and testifies against me.

Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief.

but from my youth I raised the orphan like a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow!

“Be patient with me a little longer and I will instruct you, for I still have words to speak on God’s behalf.

From the fruit of a person’s mouth his stomach is satisfied, with the product of his lips is he satisfied.

There is desirable treasure and olive oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish person devours all he has.

As the crucible is for silver and the furnace is for gold, so a person is proved by the praise he receives.

I cry out until morning; like a lion he shatters all my bones; you turn day into night and end my life.

So take warning, Jerusalem, or I will abandon you in disgust and make you desolate, a place where no one can live.”

There at home they will say, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is just a big noise! He has let the most opportune moment pass by.’

“Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that receives no rain or showers in the day of my anger.’

“‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will kill every person and every animal.