for both of you<n id="1" /> rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect<n id="2" /> among the Israelites.

Now, assign me this hill country which the <sc>Lordsc> promised me at that time! No doubt you heard at that time that the Anakites live there in large, fortified cities.<n id="1" /> But, assuming the <sc>Lordsc> is with me, I will conquer<n id="2" /> them, as the <sc>Lordsc> promised.&#8221;

He approached the men of Succoth and said, &#8220;Look what I have!<n id="1" /> Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, &#8216;You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, &#8220;All right!<n id="1" /> If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the <sc>Lordsc> gives them to me,<n id="2" /> I will be your leader.&#8221;<n id="3" />

The Levite<n id="1" /> said to him, &#8220;We are traveling from Bethlehem<n id="2" /> in Judah to the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. That&#8217;s where I&#8217;m from. I had business in Bethlehem in Judah, but now I&#8217;m heading home.<n id="3" /> But no one has invited me into their home.

Haman said, &#8220;Furthermore, Queen Esther invited<n id="1" /> only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared! And also tomorrow I am invited<n id="2" /> along with the king.

Isaiah said to them, &#8220;Tell your master this: &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid because of the things you have heard &#8211; these insults the king of Assyria&#8217;s servants have hurled against me.<n id="1" />

&#8220;So then, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> when your people<n id="2" /> ask, &#8216;Why has the <sc>Lordsc> our God done all this to us?&#8217; tell them, &#8216;It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So<n id="3" /> you must serve foreigners<n id="4" /> in a land that does not belong to you.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">If people want to boast, they should boast about this:p> <p class="poetry">They should boast that they understand and know me.p> <p class="poetry">They should boast that they know and understandp> <p class="poetry">that I, the <sc>Lordsc>, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earthp> <p class="poetry">and that I desire people to do these things,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

Then tell them that the <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;It is because your ancestors<n id="2" /> rejected me and paid allegiance to<n id="3" /> other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law.<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">But the <sc>Lordsc> is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me.p> <p class="poetry">They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed.p> <p class="poetry">Their disgrace will never be forgotten.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me.<n id="1" /> For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;For<n id="3" /> I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.&#8221;p>

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize<n id="1" /> how I was crushed by their unfaithful<n id="2" /> heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves<n id="3" /> because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me.

So now, look, the <sc>Lordsc> has preserved my life, just as he promised, these past forty-five years since the <sc>Lordsc> spoke these words to Moses, during which Israel traveled through the wilderness. Now look, I am today eighty-five years old.