²² But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked.

⁹ (In those days if people wanted a message from God, they would say, “Let’s go and ask the seer,” for prophets used to be called seers.)

³¹ For when you offer gifts to them and give your little children to be burned as sacrifices,^[a] you continue to pollute yourselves with idols to this day. Should I allow you to ask for a message from me, O people of Israel? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will tell you nothing.

⁸ Then David asked the Lord, “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?”

And the Lord told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!”

⁶ He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots^[a] or by the prophets.

²² So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?”

And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.”

³⁷ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am ready to hear Israel’s prayers and to increase their numbers like a flock.

¹⁵ This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! May the king not accuse me and my family in this matter, for I knew nothing at all of any plot against you.”