<t /><p class="bodytext">A long time<n id="1" /> passed after the <sc>Lordsc> made Israel secure from all their enemies,<n id="2" /> and Joshua was very old.<n id="3" />

In fact, days are coming when I will remove your strength<n id="1" /> and the strength<n id="2" /> of your father&#8217;s house. There will not be an old man in your house!

You will see trouble in my dwelling place!<n id="1" /> Israel will experience blessings,<n id="2" /> but there will not be an old man in your<n id="3" /> house for all time.<n id="4" />

But Barzillai was very old &#8211; eighty years old, in fact &#8211; and he had taken care of the king when he stayed in Mahanaim, for he was a very rich<n id="1" /> man.

<p class="bodytext">So Bathsheba visited the king in his private quarters.<n id="1" /> (The king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.)

<p class="poetry">It is like fine oil poured on the headp> <p class="poetry">which flows down the beard<n id="1" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">Aaron&#8217;s beard,p> <p class="poetry">and then flows down his garments.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">They went up to the temple,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the people of Dibon went up to the high places to lament.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba,<n id="3" /> Moab wails.p> <p class="poetry">Every head is shaved bare,p> <p class="poetry">every beard is trimmed off.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I was angry at my people;p> <p class="poetry">I defiled my special possessionp> <p class="poetry">and handed them over to you.p> <p class="poetry">You showed them no mercy;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you even placed a very heavy burden on old people.<n id="2" />p>

eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria.<n id="1" /> They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves to show they were mourning.<n id="2" /> They were carrying grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the <sc>Lordsc> in Jerusalem.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">For all of them will shave their heads in mourning.p> <p class="poetry">They will all cut off their beards to show their sorrow.p> <p class="poetry">They will all make gashes in their hands.p> <p class="poetry">They will all put on sackcloth.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field.<n id="1" /> The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah. (The residents of the town were Benjaminites.)<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel<n id="1" /> and how they used to have sex with<n id="2" /> the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

<p class="bodytext">When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli<n id="1" /> fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he<n id="2" /> was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.p>

<n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Now David was the son of this Ephrathite named Jesse from Bethlehem<n id="2" /> in Judah. He had eight sons, and in Saul&#8217;s days he was old and well advanced in years.<n id="3" />

He said to her, &#8220;What about his appearance?&#8221; She said, &#8220;An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down.

<p class="bodytext">Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel.<n id="1" /> When his sons came home, they told their father<n id="2" /> everything the prophet<n id="3" /> had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king.<n id="4" />

He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered<n id="1" /> their young men in their temple.<n id="2" /> He did not spare<n id="3" /> young men or women, or even the old and aging. God<n id="4" /> handed everyone over to him.

<p class="poetry">I am as full of anger as you are, <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I am tired of trying to hold it in.&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> answered,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Vent it, then,<n id="3" /> on the children who play in the streetp> <p class="poetry">and on the young men who are gathered together.p> <p class="poetry">Husbands and wives are to be included,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.p>

Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women &#8211; wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!&#8221; So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.p>

Letters were sent by the runners to all the king&#8217;s provinces stating that<n id="1" /> they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children,<n id="2" /> on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day<n id="3" /> of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.