Then tell them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says, &#8220;I will bring<n id="3" /> my servant<n id="4" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones which I<n id="5" /> have buried. He will pitch his royal tent<n id="6" /> over them.

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="poetry">&#8220;You descendants of Jacob, my servants,<n id="2" /> do not be afraid;p> <p class="poetry">do not be terrified, people of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">For I will rescue you and your descendantsp> <p class="poetry">from the faraway lands where you are captives.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.p> <p class="poetry">They will be secure and no one will terrify them.p>

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell<n id="1" /> you not to be afraid,p> <p class="poetry">you descendants of Jacob, my servant,p> <p class="poetry">for I am with you.p> <p class="poetry">Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you,p> <p class="poetry">I will not completely destroy you.p> <p class="poetry">I will indeed discipline you but only in due measure.p> <p class="poetry">I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power<n id="1" /> over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants<n id="1" /> the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days<n id="2" /> that I would bring you against them?

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;All Israel has broken<n id="1" /> your law and turned away by not obeying you.<n id="2" /> Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened<n id="3" /> in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you.<n id="4" />

How, sir, am I able to speak with you?<n id="1" /> My strength is gone,<n id="2" /> and I am breathless.&#8221;

On that day,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, &#8216;I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant,&#8217;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8216;and I will make you like a signet ring,<n id="3" /> for I have chosen you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers?<n id="1" /> Then they paid attention<n id="2" /> and confessed, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.&#8217;&#8221;p>

Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you<n id="1" /> are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch.<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects<n id="1" /> his master. If I am your<n id="2" /> father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, &#8216;How have we made light of your name?&#8217;

As for that prophet or dreamer,<n id="1" /> he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the <sc>Lordsc> your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the <sc>Lordsc> your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within.<n id="2" />p>

until the <sc>Lordsc> gives your brothers a place like yours to settle and they conquer the land the <sc>Lordsc> your God is ready to hand over to them. Then you may go back to your allotted land and occupy the land Moses the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant assigned you east of the Jordan.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

All the people,<n id="1" /> rulers,<n id="2" /> leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc>. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there.<n id="3" /> Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony.<n id="4" />

Then the king said to the messengers<n id="1" /> who were stationed beside him, &#8220;Turn and kill the priests of the <sc>Lordsc>, for they too have sided<n id="2" /> with David! They knew he was fleeing, but they did not inform me.&#8221; But the king&#8217;s servants refused to harm<n id="3" /> the priests of the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="bodytext">When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, &#8220;Praised be the <sc>Lordsc> who has vindicated me and avenged the insult that I suffered from Nabal!<n id="1" /> The <sc>Lordsc> has kept his servant from doing evil, and he has repaid Nabal for his evil deeds.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Then David sent word to Abigail and asked her to become his wife.p>

So let my lord the king now listen to the words of his servant. If the <sc>Lordsc> has incited you against me, may he take delight in<n id="1" /> an offering. But if men have instigated this,<n id="2" /> may they be cursed before the <sc>Lordsc>! For they have driven me away this day from being united with the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s inheritance, saying, &#8216;Go on, serve other gods!&#8217;

<p class="bodytext">The leaders of the Philistines asked, &#8220;What about these Hebrews?&#8221; Achish said to the leaders of the Philistines, &#8220;Isn&#8217;t this David, the servant of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me for quite some time?<n id="1" /> I have found no fault with him from the day of his defection until the present time!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Uriah replied to David, &#8220;The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord&#8217;s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations<n id="1" /> with my wife? As surely as you are alive,<n id="2" /> I will not do this thing!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, &#8220;While the child was still alive he would not listen to us<n id="1" /> when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>