¹⁷ And Jehoiada ^(A)made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord's people, and also ^(B)between the king and the people.

³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, ^(A)and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron ^(B)before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

^12 (A)And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, ¹³ but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(B)should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. ¹⁴ They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns.

³¹ And the king ^(A)stood in his place ^(B)and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

²⁵ So Joshua ^(A)made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place ^(B)statutes and rules for them at Shechem.

³ Therefore ^(A)let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and ^(B)their children, according to the counsel of my lord^[a] and of ^(C)those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done ^(D)according to the Law.

¹⁰ Now ^(A)it is in my heart ^(B)to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us.

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people ^(A)the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home.

⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they ^(A)gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

Submission to the Authorities

13 Let every person ^(A)be subject to the governing authorities. For ^(B)there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you ^(C)will receive his approval, ⁴ for ^(D)he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, ^(E)an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also ^(F)for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.