<p class="bodytext">The cities that the Philistines had captured from Israel were returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territory from the control<n id="1" /> of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.

This very day the <sc>Lordsc> will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God

Joab replied, &#8220;May the <sc>Lordsc> make his army<n id="1" /> a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Now the Ammonites, Moabites, and men from Mount Seir are coming!<n id="1" /> When Israel came from the land of Egypt, you did not allow them to invade these lands.<n id="2" /> They bypassed them and did not destroy them.

<p class="bodytext">So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest,<n id="1" /> and said to him, &#8220;Why have you not made<n id="2" /> the Levites collect<n id="3" /> from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant and by the assembly of Israel at the tent containing the tablets of the law?&#8221;<n id="4" />

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, &#8220;You have no right<n id="1" /> to help us build the temple of our God. We will build it by ourselves for the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel, just as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.&#8221;

They responded to us in the following way: &#8216;We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king<n id="1" /> of Israel built it and completed it.

Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam,<n id="1" /> addressed Ezra:p> <p class="bodytext">&#8220;We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying<n id="2" /> foreign women from the local peoples.<n id="3" /> Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard.<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">You people of this generation,p> <p class="poetry">listen to what the <sc>Lordsc> says.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?p> <p class="poetry">Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Why then do you<n id="2" /> say, &#8216;We are free to wander.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">We will not come to you any more?&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">They will come back shedding tears of contrition.p> <p class="poetry">I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will lead them besides streams of water,p> <p class="poetry">along smooth paths where they will never stumble.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will do this because I am Israel&#8217;s father;p> <p class="poetry">Ephraim<n id="3" /> is my firstborn son.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke about the Ammonites.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining?p> <p class="poetry">Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land?p> <p class="poetry">Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities?<n id="3" />p>