<p class="bodytext">When David&#8217;s<n id="1" /> oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry<n id="2" /> with David and said, &#8220;Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit!<n id="3" /> You have come down here to watch the battle!&#8221;p>

Absalom said to Joab, &#8220;Look, I sent a message to you saying, &#8216;Come here so that I can send you to the king with this message:<n id="1" /> &#8220;Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.&#8221;&#8217; Let me now see the face of the king. If I am at fault, let him put me to death!&#8221;p>

The men of Israel replied to the men of Judah, &#8220;We have ten shares in the king, and we have a greater claim on David than you do! Why do you want<n id="1" /> to curse us? Weren&#8217;t we the first to suggest bringing back our king?&#8221; But the comments of the men of Judah were more severe than those of the men of Israel.p>

The prophet<n id="1" /> visited the king of Israel and said, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8216;Because the Syrians said, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,&#8221; I will hand over to you this entire huge army.<n id="2" /> Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;p>

&#8220;Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast in my behalf. Don&#8217;t eat and don&#8217;t drink for three days, night or day. My female attendants and I<n id="1" /> will also fast in the same way. Afterward I will go to the king, even though it violates the law.<n id="2" /> If I perish, I perish!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">She said, &#8220;If the king is so inclined and if I have met with his approval and if the matter is agreeable to the king and if I am attractive to him, let an edict be written rescinding those recorded intentions of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite,<n id="1" /> which he wrote in order to destroy the Jews who are throughout all the king&#8217;s provinces.

<p class="poetry">A man who is all alone with no companion,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he has no children nor siblings;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">yet there is no end to all his toil,p> <p class="poetry">and he<n id="3" /> is never satisfied with riches.p> <p class="poetry">He laments,<n id="4" /> &#8220;For whom am I toiling and depriving myself<n id="5" /> of pleasure?&#8221;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">This also is futile and a burdensome task!<n id="7" />p>

Because he has done this,&#8221;<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. There will not be any of them left to experience the good things that I will do for my people. I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm it! For he counseled rebellion against the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc> &#8211; when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak,<n id="1" /> the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

Therefore speak to them and say to them, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the <sc>Lordsc> am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry.<n id="1" />

For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the <sc>Lordsc> am determined to answer him personally.

As surely as I live, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;As for you, son of man, this is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: &#8216;Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter<n id="1" /> which I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood.