<p class="bodytext">Then Joab said to the Cushite, &#8220;Go and tell the king what you have seen.&#8221; After bowing to Joab, the Cushite ran off.

The <sc>Lordsc> struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled,

<p class="poetry">&#8220;You<n id="1" /> Ethiopians<n id="2" /> will also die by my sword!&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against<n id="2" /> Moses because of the Cushite<n id="3" /> woman he had married<n id="4" /> (for he had married an Ethiopian woman).

<p class="bodytext">Then the Cushite arrived and said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;May my lord the king now receive the good news! The <sc>Lordsc> has vindicated you today and delivered you from the hand of all who have rebelled against you!&#8221;<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> stirred up against Jehoram the Philistines<n id="1" /> and the Arabs who lived beside the Cushites.

<p class="poetry">But there is little hope for you ever doing good,p> <p class="poetry">you who are so accustomed to doing evil.p> <p class="poetry">Can an Ethiopian<n id="1" /> change the color of his skin?p> <p class="poetry">Can a leopard remove its spots?<n id="2" />p>

He will have control over the hidden stores of gold and silver, as well as all the treasures of Egypt. Libyans and Ethiopians<n id="1" /> will submit to him.<n id="2" />

The king asked the Cushite, &#8220;How is the young man Absalom?&#8221; The Cushite replied, &#8220;May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you<n id="1" /> be like that young man!&#8221;p>

But he said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Whatever happens, I want to go!&#8221; So Joab<n id="2" /> said to him, &#8220;Then go!&#8221; So Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Jordan plain, and he passed the Cushite.p>

He had 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and an innumerable number of soldiers who accompanied him from Egypt, including Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

Zerah the Cushite marched against them with an army of 1,000,000<n id="1" /> men and 300 chariots. He arrived at Mareshah,

Did not the Cushites and Libyans have a huge army with chariots and a very large number of horsemen? But when you relied on the <sc>Lordsc>, he handed them over to you!

Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again spoke to Joab, &#8220;Whatever happens, let me go after the Cushite.&#8221; But Joab said, &#8220;Why is it that you want to go, my son? You have no good news that will bring you a reward.&#8221;

and Asa and his army chased them as far as Gerar. The Cushites were wiped out;<n id="1" /> they were shattered before the <sc>Lordsc> and his army. The men of Judah<n id="2" /> carried off a huge amount of plunder.

<t /><p class="bodytext">An Ethiopian, Ebed Melech,<n id="1" /> a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put<n id="2" /> in the cistern. While the king was holding court<n id="3" /> at the Benjamin Gate,

Then the king gave Ebed Melech the Ethiopian the following order: &#8220;Take thirty<n id="1" /> men with you from here and go pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.&#8221;

Ebed Melech<n id="1" /> called down to Jeremiah, &#8220;Put these rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes.<n id="2" /> Jeremiah did as Ebed Melech instructed.<n id="3" />

&#8220;Go<n id="1" /> and tell Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all says, &#8220;I will carry out against this city what I promised. It will mean disaster and not good fortune for it.<n id="2" /> When that disaster happens, you will be there to see it.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,p> <p class="poetry">but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor<n id="2" /> and the Arameans from Kir.<n id="3" />p>