²² He answered, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive ^(A)with your sword and with your bow? ^(B)Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”

²⁰ To the contrary, ^(A)“if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

²² Moreover, I have given to ^(A)you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope^[a] that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.”

¹⁸ And ^(A)I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And ^(B)I will abolish^[a] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in ^(C)safety.

⁸ The men of Israel took captive 200,000 ^(A)of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^(B)was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage ^(C)that has reached up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? ¹¹ Now hear me, and send back the captives ^(D)from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

¹² Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war ¹³ and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” ¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. ¹⁵ And ^(E)the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, ^(F)provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, ^(G)the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹¹ And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. ¹² But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, ^(A)you shall put all its males to the sword, ^14 (B)but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you ^(C)shall take as plunder for yourselves. And ^(D)you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵ Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. ¹⁶ But ^(E)in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,

⁴⁴ But I say to you, ^(A)Love your enemies and ^(B)pray for those who persecute you,

⁷ But ^(A)I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I ^(B)will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”