Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Saul said to Samuel, &#8220;But I have obeyed<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>! I went on the campaign<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

<p class="bodytext">Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward, shouting a battle cry.<n id="1" /> They chased the Philistines to the valley<n id="2" /> and to the very gates of Ekron. The Philistine corpses lay fallen along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies,<n id="1" /> and they direct their prayers to the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" /> toward his chosen city and this temple I built for your honor,<n id="3" />

At that time, when Jeroboam had left Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road; the two of them were alone in the open country. Ahijah<n id="1" /> was wearing a brand new robe,

For the <sc>Lordsc> gave me strict orders,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Do not eat or drink<n id="2" /> there; do not go back the way you came.&#8217;&#8221;

Some men came by<n id="1" /> and saw the corpse lying in the road with the lion standing beside it.<n id="2" /> They went and reported what they had seen<n id="3" /> in the city where the old prophet lived.

He went and found the corpse lying in the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside it;<n id="1" /> the lion had neither eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey.

&#8220;I raised you up<n id="1" /> from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. Yet you followed in Jeroboam&#8217;s footsteps<n id="2" /> and encouraged my people Israel to sin; their sins have made me angry.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">He went up from there to Bethel.<n id="1" /> As he was traveling up the road, some young boys<n id="2" /> came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, &#8220;Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies,<n id="1" /> and they direct their prayers to you toward this chosen city and this temple I built for your honor,<n id="2" />

but have instead followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. You encouraged the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the <sc>Lordsc>, just as the family of Ahab does in Israel.<n id="1" /> You also killed your brothers, members of your father&#8217;s family,<n id="2" /> who were better than you.

I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy<n id="1" /> along the way, because we had said to the king, &#8220;The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger<n id="2" /> is against everyone who forsakes him.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">and they are afraid of heights and the dangers<n id="1" /> in the street;p> <p class="poetry">the almond blossoms<n id="2" /> grow white,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and the grasshopper<n id="4" /> drags itself along,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">and the caper berry<n id="6" /> shrivels up<n id="7" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">because man goes to his eternal home,<n id="8" />p> <p class="poetry">and the mourners go about in the streets &#8211;p>

<p class="bodytext">So<n id="1" /> here is what the sovereign master, the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, says: &#8220;My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will guide them down paths they have never traveled.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,p> <p class="poetry">and level out the rough ground.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">This is what I will do for them.p> <p class="poetry">I will not abandon them.p>

<p class="poetry">They will come back shedding tears of contrition.p> <p class="poetry">I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will lead them besides streams of water,p> <p class="poetry">along smooth paths where they will never stumble.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will do this because I am Israel&#8217;s father;p> <p class="poetry">Ephraim<n id="3" /> is my firstborn son.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I killed your young men with the sword,p> <p class="poetry">along with the horses you had captured.p> <p class="poetry">I made the stench from the corpses<n id="2" /> rise up into your nostrils.p> <p class="poetry">Still you did not come back to me.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is speaking!p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Look, today I am about to die.<n id="1" /> You know with all your heart and being<n id="2" /> that not even one of all the faithful promises the <sc>Lordsc> your God made to you is left unfulfilled; every one was realized &#8211; not one promise is unfulfilled!<n id="3" />