Indeed,<n id="1" /> you had little before I arrived,<n id="2" /> but now your possessions have increased many times over.<n id="3" /> The <sc>Lordsc> has blessed you wherever I worked.<n id="4" /> But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

But then he drew back his hand, and his brother came out before him.<n id="1" /> She said, &#8220;How you have broken out of the womb!&#8221;<n id="2" /> So he was named Perez.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now the boy Samuel continued serving the <sc>Lordsc> under Eli&#8217;s supervision.<n id="1" /> Word from the <sc>Lordsc> was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.p>

But Nabal responded to David&#8217;s servants, &#8220;Who is David, and who is this son of Jesse? This is a time when many servants are breaking away from their masters!

<p class="bodytext">But he refused, saying, &#8220;I won&#8217;t eat!&#8221; Both his servants and the woman urged<n id="1" /> him to eat, so he gave in.<n id="2" /> He got up from the ground and sat down on the bed.

<p class="bodytext">David was angry because the <sc>Lordsc> attacked<n id="1" /> Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah,<n id="2" /> which remains its name to this very day.

<p class="bodytext">David was angry because the <sc>Lordsc> attacked Uzzah;<n id="1" /> so he called that place Perez Uzzah,<n id="2" /> which remains its name to this very day.

He wisely placed some of his many sons throughout the regions of Judah and Benjamin in the various fortified cities.<n id="1" /> He supplied them with abundant provisions and acquired many wives for them.<n id="2" />p>

(Wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into God&#8217;s temple and used all the holy items of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple in their worship of the Baals.)

<p class="bodytext">Uzziah attacked<n id="1" /> the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities in the region of Ashdod and throughout Philistine territory.<n id="2" />

When the edict was issued,<n id="1" /> the Israelites freely contributed<n id="2" /> the initial portion of their grain, wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a tenth of everything, which added up to a huge amount.

<p class="bodytext">They said to me, &#8220;The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable<n id="1" /> adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was close by, said, &#8220;If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!&#8221;p>

Have you<n id="1" /> not made a hedge<n id="2" /> around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed<n id="3" /> the work of his hands, and his livestock<n id="4" /> have increased<n id="5" /> in the land.

<p class="poetry">Now I will inform youp> <p class="poetry">what I am about to do to my vineyard:p> <p class="poetry">I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there.<n id="2" />p>

The <sc>Lordsc> said to him, &#8220;Go, get down, and come up, and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the <sc>Lordsc>, lest he break through against them.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.&#8221; So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">But the king said to Absalom, &#8220;No, my son. We shouldn&#8217;t all go. We shouldn&#8217;t burden you in that way.&#8221; Though Absalom<n id="1" /> pressed<n id="2" /> him, the king<n id="3" /> was not willing to go. Instead, David<n id="4" /> blessed him.p>

Naaman said, &#8220;Please accept two talents of silver.<n id="1" /> He insisted, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, along with two suits of clothes. He gave them to two of his servants and they carried them for Gehazi.<n id="2" />

King Jehoash of Israel captured King Amaziah of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, in Beth Shemesh. He<n id="1" /> attacked<n id="2" /> Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate &#8211; a distance of about six hundred feet.<n id="3" />