But if you ever turn away and make alliances with these nations that remain near you, and intermarry with them and establish friendly relations with them,

the spies spotted a man leaving the city. They said to him, “If you show us a secret entrance into the city, we will reward you.”

He moved to Hittite country and built a city. He named it Luz, and it has kept that name to this very day.

God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed.

The Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,

The Lord’s angelic messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are infertile and childless, but you will conceive and have a son.

But we can’t allow our daughters to marry them, for the Israelites took an oath, saying, ‘Whoever gives a woman to a Benjaminite will be destroyed!’

After some time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, thinking, “I asked the Lord for him.

A man who was from there replied, “And who is their father?” Therefore this became a proverb: “Is even Saul among the prophets?”

The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What have you seen?” The woman replied to Saul, “I have seen one like a god coming up from the ground!”

The Lord has done exactly as I prophesied! The Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David!

As the Lord is with my master the king, so may he be with Solomon, and may he make him an even greater king than my master King David!”

For the Lord gave me strict orders, ‘Do not eat or drink there and do not go home the way you came.’”

Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him the road the prophet from Judah had taken.

Elijah replied, “I have not brought disaster on Israel. But you and your father’s dynasty have, by abandoning the Lord’s commandments and following the Baals.

Then fire from the Lord fell from the sky. It consumed the offering, the wood, the stones, and the dirt, and licked up the water in the trench.

He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down, and when she hit the ground, her blood splattered against the wall and the horses, and Jehu drove his chariot over her.

(The silver collected in conjunction with reparation offerings and sin offerings was not brought to the Lord’s temple; it belonged to the priests.)

Pay attention, Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, Lord, and observe! Listen to the message Sennacherib sent and how he taunts the living God!

They found fertile and rich pasture; the land was very broad, undisturbed and peaceful. Indeed some Hamites had been living there prior to that.