Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly<n id="1" /> to God, and everyone<n id="2" /> must turn from their<n id="3" /> evil way of living<n id="4" /> and from the violence that they do.<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">If a lying windbag should come and say,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I&#8217;ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he would be just the right preacher for these people!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Each will sit under his own grapevinep> <p class="poetry">or under his own fig tree without any fear.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies has decreed it.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">Though all the nations follow their respective gods,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">we will follow<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> our God forever.p>

<p class="poetry">Faithful men have disappeared<n id="1" /> from the land;p> <p class="poetry">there are no godly men left.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">they hunt their own brother with a net.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">For a son thinks his father is a fool,p> <p class="poetry">a daughter challenges<n id="1" /> her mother,p> <p class="poetry">and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;p> <p class="poetry">a man&#8217;s enemies are his own servants.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will terrify them,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">for<n id="2" /> he will weaken<n id="3" /> all the gods of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">All the distant nations will worship the <sc>Lordsc> in their own lands.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;I destroyed<n id="1" /> nations;p> <p class="poetry">their walled cities<n id="2" /> are in ruins.p> <p class="poetry">I turned their streets into ruins;p> <p class="poetry">no one passes through them.p> <p class="poetry">Their cities are desolate;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no one lives there.<n id="4" />p>

I will overthrow royal thrones and shatter the might of earthly kingdoms.<n id="1" /> I will overthrow chariots and those who ride them, and horses and their riders will fall as people kill one another.<n id="2" />

In that day,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, &#8216;everyone will invite his friend to fellowship under his vine and under his fig tree.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Then say to him, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says, &#8220;Look &#8211; here is the man whose name is Branch,<n id="1" /> who will sprout up from his place and build the temple of the <sc>Lordsc>.

&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all said, &#8216;Exercise true judgment and show brotherhood and compassion to each other.

These are the things you must do: Speak the truth, each of you, to one another. Practice true and righteous judgment in your courts.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Therefore, on that day each prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies and will no longer wear the hairy garment<n id="1" /> of a prophet to deceive the people.<n id="2" />

On that day there will be great confusion from the <sc>Lordsc> among them; they will seize each other and attack one another violently.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Do we not all have one father?<n id="1" /> Did not one God create us? Why do we betray one another, in this way making light of the covenant of our ancestors?

<p class="bodytext">Then those who respected<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to one another, and the <sc>Lordsc> took notice.<n id="2" /> A scroll<n id="3" /> was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the <sc>Lordsc> and honored his name.

But all the evil and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, &#8220;Since they didn&#8217;t go with us,<n id="1" /> we won&#8217;t give them any of the loot we retrieved! They may take only their wives and children. Let them lead them away and be gone!&#8221;p>

They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, &#8220;Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The <sc>Lordsc> has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against<n id="1" /> Saul and his descendants!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them,<n id="1" /> they<n id="2" /> sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah,<n id="3" /> in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish-tob.<n id="4" />p>