<p class="poetry">He will arbitrate<n id="1" /> between many peoplesp> <p class="poetry">and settle disputes between many<n id="2" /> distant nations.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will beat their swords into plowshares,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and their spears into pruning hooks.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">Nations will not use weapons<n id="6" /> against other nations,p> <p class="poetry">and they will no longer train for war.p>

<p class="poetry">Twist and strain,<n id="1" /> Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!p> <p class="poetry">For you will leave the cityp> <p class="poetry">and live in the open field.p> <p class="poetry">You will go to Babylon,p> <p class="poetry">but there you will be rescued.p> <p class="poetry">There the <sc>Lordsc> will deliver<n id="2" /> youp> <p class="poetry">from the power<n id="3" /> of your enemies.p>

<p class="poetry">My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">how Balaam son of Beor responded to him.p> <p class="poetry">Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal,p> <p class="poetry">so you might acknowledge that the <sc>Lordsc> has treated you fairly.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;But all these nations will someday taunt him<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and ridicule him with proverbial sayings:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">(How long will this go on?)<n id="4" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">he who gets rich by extortion!&#8217;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore, as surely as I live,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, the God of Israel,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;be certain that Moab will become like Sodomp> <p class="poetry">and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.p> <p class="poetry">They will be overrun by weeds,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">filled with salt pits,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and permanently desolate.p> <p class="poetry">Those of my people who are left<n id="3" /> will plunder their belongings;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">those who are left in Judah<n id="5" /> will take possession of their land.&#8221;p>

The angel of the <sc>Lordsc> then asked, &#8220;<sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" /> how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and the other cities of Judah which you have been so angry with for these seventy years?&#8221;<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">Edom<n id="1" /> says, &#8220;Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.&#8221; So the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="2" /> responds, &#8220;They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as<n id="3" /> the land of evil, the people with whom the <sc>Lordsc> is permanently displeased.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;I<n id="1" /> will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises,<n id="2" /> and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans,<n id="3" /> who refuse to help<n id="4" /> the immigrant<n id="5" /> and in this way show they do not fear me,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse<n id="1" /> so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, &#8220;to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all.

In all cases of illegal possessions,<n id="1" /> whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says &#8216;This belongs to me,&#8217;<n id="2" /> the matter of the two of them will come before the judges,<n id="3" /> and the one whom<n id="4" /> the judges declare guilty<n id="5" /> must repay double to his neighbor.

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>

<p class="bodytext">When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the <sc>Lordsc> had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they<n id="1" /> crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites.<n id="2" />p>

Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the <sc>Lordsc>, died off.<n id="1" /> For the <sc>Lordsc> had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them,<n id="2" /> a land rich in<n id="3" /> milk and honey.

know for certain that the <sc>Lordsc> our God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. They will trap and ensnare you;<n id="1" /> they will be a whip that tears<n id="2" /> your sides and thorns that blind<n id="3" /> your eyes until you disappear<n id="4" /> from this good land the <sc>Lordsc> your God gave you.p>

But in the same way every faithful promise the <sc>Lordsc> your God made to you has been realized,<n id="1" /> it is just as certain, if you disobey, that the <sc>Lordsc> will bring on you every judgment<n id="2" /> until he destroys you from this good land which the <sc>Lordsc> your God gave you.

<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>

<p class="bodytext">So Achish summoned David and said to him, &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives, you are an honest man, and I am glad to have you<n id="1" /> serving<n id="2" /> with me in the army.<n id="3" /> I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion<n id="4" /> of the leaders, you are not reliable.<n id="5" />

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>

So get up now and go out and give some encouragement to<n id="1" /> your servants. For I swear by the <sc>Lordsc> that if you don&#8217;t go out there, not a single man will stay here with you tonight! This disaster will be worse for you than any disaster that has overtaken you from your youth right to the present time!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined<n id="1" /> the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba.<n id="2" /> He tore down the high place of the goat idols<n id="3" /> situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.