³ And Joab answered, “May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?”

^11 (A)May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you ^(B)as He has promised you!

¹³ Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

¹⁶ And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, ^(A)who sinned and who made Israel sin.”

²⁴ No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress.

⁹ For ^(A)when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them. ^10 (B)So the Lord’s anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying,