&#8220;No longer will your name be Jacob,&#8221; the man told him,<n id="1" /> &#8220;but Israel,<n id="2" /> because you have fought<n id="3" /> with God and with men and have prevailed.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth<n id="1" /> and with his mouth,<n id="2" /> and I will teach you both<n id="3" /> what you must do.<n id="4" />

So if you have shown loyalty and integrity to Jerub-Baal and his family<n id="1" /> today, then may Abimelech bring you happiness and may you bring him happiness!<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses<n id="1" /> and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">Do not drag me away with evil men,p> <p class="poetry">with those who behave wickedly,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">who talk so friendly to their neighbors,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">while they plan to harm them!<n id="3" />p>

Neither he nor the officials who served him nor the people of Judah paid any attention to what the <sc>Lordsc> said through the prophet Jeremiah.<n id="1" />p>

But this one from Israel&#8217;s royal family<n id="1" /> rebelled against the king of Babylon<n id="2" /> by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?p>

Then the king of the north will advance and will build siege mounds and capture a well-fortified city.<n id="1" /> The forces of the south will not prevail, not even his finest contingents.<n id="2" /> They will have no strength to prevail.

<t /><p class="poetry"><v id="(12:1)" /><n id="1" /> Ephraim has surrounded me with lies;p> <p class="poetry">the house of Israel has surrounded me<n id="2" /> with deceit.p> <p class="poetry">But Judah still roams about with<n id="3" /> God;p> <p class="poetry">he remains faithful to the Holy One.p>

<p class="poetry">If an alarm sounds<n id="1" /> in a city, do people not fear?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">If disaster overtakes a<n id="3" /> city, is the <sc>Lordsc> not responsible?<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Hear the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s accusation, you mountains,p> <p class="poetry">you enduring foundations of the earth!p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> has a case against his people;p> <p class="poetry">he has a dispute with Israel!<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The king&#8217;s scribes were quickly<n id="1" /> summoned &#8211; in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day.<n id="2" /> They wrote out<n id="3" /> everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia<n id="4" /> &#8211; a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all &#8211; to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language.

Now swear to me right here in God&#8217;s name<n id="1" /> that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants.<n id="2" /> Show me, and the land<n id="3" /> where you are staying,<n id="4" /> the same loyalty<n id="5" /> that I have shown you.&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family,<n id="1" /> if you have properly repaid him<n id="2" /> &#8211;

<p class="bodytext">For the battle with Israel the Philistines had amassed 3,000<n id="1" /> chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven.

But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children.<n id="1" /> It used to<n id="2" /> eat his food,<n id="3" /> drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms.<n id="4" /> It was just like a daughter to him.p>

<p class="bodytext">The Gibeonites said to him, &#8220;We<n id="1" /> have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family,<n id="2" /> nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.&#8221; David asked,<n id="3" /> &#8220;What then are you asking me to do for you?&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Solomon accumulated<n id="1" /> chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Solomon accumulated<n id="1" /> chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem.<n id="2" />

May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation<n id="1" /> who reaches out<n id="2" /> to cause such change so as to destroy this temple of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given orders. Let them be carried out with precision!&#8221;p>