When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Should I strike them down, my master?”

Then the local people began to discourage the people of Judah and to dishearten them from building.

They contacted me four times in this way, and I responded the same way each time.

For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; he did not overlook their cry for help

You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away; the wind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the Lord; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

No, a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding. Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.’

But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands and to their own country.

I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them firmly in the land.’

The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile away from its land.

“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all of their heads will be shaved bald.

When the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still, and when they rose up, the wheels rose up with them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

Yet I had pity on them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.

I am the Lord your God; follow my statutes, observe my regulations, and carry them out.

I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing.

You will present them before the Lord, and the priests will scatter salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord.

Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, all of its service and all that will be done in it.

Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!”

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.