so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today.

The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!”

The Lord said to him, “Ah, but I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.”

Nathan replied to the king, “You should go and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.”

After all, they are your people and your special possession whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace.

Nathan said to David, “You should do whatever you have in mind, for God is with you.”

in using gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Get up and begin the work! May the Lord be with you!”

Do you fix your eye on such a one? And do you bring me before you for judgment?

“Look now at Behemoth, which I made as I made you; it eats grass like the ox.

Deliver your people! Empower the nation that belongs to you! Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms at all times!

Listen, O princess! Observe and pay attention! Forget your homeland and your family!

Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will continually thank you. We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts.

O Lord God, invincible warrior! How long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you?

Your people willingly follow you when you go into battle. On the holy hills at sunrise the dew of your youth belongs to you.

The Maidens to the Beloved: Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned? Tell us, that we may seek him with you.

“As for you, son of man, turn toward the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. Prophesy against them

“Yet your people say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their behavior that is not right.

When your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what these things mean?’

You stumble day and night, and the false prophets stumble with you; You have destroyed your own people!

Your warriors will be like women in your midst; the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies; fire will consume the bars of your gates.