He met<n id="1" /> Asa and told him, &#8220;Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The <sc>Lordsc> is with you when you are loyal to him.<n id="2" /> If you seek him, he will respond to you,<n id="3" /> but if you reject him, he will reject you.

God&#8217;s Spirit energized<n id="1" /> Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said to them, &#8220;This is what God says: &#8216;Why are you violating the commands of the <sc>Lordsc>? You will not be prosperous! Because you have rejected the <sc>Lordsc>, he has rejected you!&#8217;&#8221;

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="bodytext">That is why<n id="1" /> a man leaves<n id="2" /> his father and mother and unites with<n id="3" /> his wife, and they become a new family.<n id="4" />

all Joseph&#8217;s household, his brothers, and his father&#8217;s household. But they left their little children and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen.

He said<n id="1" /> to his daughters, &#8220;So where is he?<n id="2" /> Why in the world<n id="3" /> did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat<n id="4" /> a meal<n id="5" /> with us.&#8221;p>

but those<n id="1" /> who did not take<n id="2" /> the word of the <sc>Lordsc> seriously left their servants and their cattle<n id="3" /> in the field.p>

You must not pick your vineyard bare,<n id="1" /> and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the <sc>Lordsc> your God.p>

Moses<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Do not leave us,<n id="2" /> because you know places for us to camp in the wilderness, and you could be our guide.<n id="3" />

Then people will say, &#8220;Because they abandoned the covenant of the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the <sc>Lordsc> your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you!&#8221;

The <sc>Lordsc> is indeed going before you &#8211; he will be with you; he will not fail you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> will judge his people,p> <p class="poetry">and will change his plans concerning<n id="1" /> his servants;p> <p class="poetry">when he sees that their power has disappeared,p> <p class="poetry">and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.p>

No one will be able to resist you<n id="1" /> all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone.

No men were left in Ai or Bethel;<n id="1" /> they all went out after Israel.<n id="2" /> They left the city wide open and chased Israel.p>

You have not abandoned your fellow Israelites<n id="1" /> this entire time,<n id="2" /> right up to this very day. You have completed the task given you by the <sc>Lordsc> your God.<n id="3" />

If<n id="1" /> you abandon the <sc>Lordsc> and worship<n id="2" /> foreign gods, he will turn against you;<n id="3" /> he will bring disaster on you and destroy you,<n id="4" /> though he once treated you well.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died.

<p class="bodytext">The Israelites cried out for help to the <sc>Lordsc>: &#8220;We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped<n id="1" /> the Baals.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">So the king and all the members of his royal court<n id="1" /> set out on foot, though the king left behind ten concubines<n id="2" /> to attend to the palace.