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34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.(A)

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16 He replied, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.”(A) 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.(B) 18 When the Arameans[a] came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people, please, with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 6.18 Heb they

10 the one who gives victory to kings,
    who rescues his servant David.(A)

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51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it.

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.(A) 52 The troops of Israel and Judah rose up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath[a] and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 17.52 Gk Syr: Heb a valley

He struck them down hip and thigh with a massive defeat, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

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32 So he dispatched a man from his presence.

Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Are you aware that this murderer has sent someone to take off my head? When the messenger comes, see that you shut the door and hold it closed against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”(A)

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Then he was afraid;[a] he got up and fled for his life and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

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Footnotes

  1. 19.3 Gk: Heb he saw

15 But when the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. 16 Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the River, and they came to Helam, with Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer at their head.(A) 17 When it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to Helam. The Arameans arrayed themselves against David and fought with him. 18 The Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed of the Arameans seven hundred chariot teams and forty thousand horsemen and wounded Shobach the commander of their army, so that he died there.(B) 19 When all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites any more.(C)

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Then Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the three hundred who were with him, exhausted but still pursuing. So he said to the people of Succoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to my followers, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”(A) But the officials of Succoth said, “Do you already have in your possession the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna, that we should give bread to your army?”(B) Gideon replied, “Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will trample your flesh on the thorns of the wilderness and on briers.”(C) From there he went up to Penuel and made the same request of them, and the people of Penuel answered him as the people of Succoth had answered.(D) So he said to the people of Penuel, “When I come back victorious, I will break down this tower.”(E)

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the east, for one hundred twenty thousand men bearing arms had fallen.

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19 So Gideon and the hundred who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch, and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 So the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpets to blow, and they cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”(A) 21 Every man stood in his place all around the camp, and all the men in camp ran; they cried out and fled.(B) 22 When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army, and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah,[a] as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.(C) 23 And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after the Midianites.(D)

24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.(E) 25 They captured the two captains of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb, as they pursued the Midianites. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 7.22 Another reading is Zeredah

Suffering as a Christian

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

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but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power[a] is made perfect in weakness.” So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.(A) 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 12.9 Other ancient authorities read my power

The Fiery Furnace

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary 20 and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics,[a] their trousers,[b] their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. 22 Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” 25 He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the fourth has the appearance of a god.”[c] 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics[d] were not scorched, and not even the smell of fire came from them.(A) 28 Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 3.21 Meaning of Aram uncertain
  2. 3.21 Meaning of Aram uncertain
  3. 3.25 Aram a son of the gods
  4. 3.27 Meaning of Aram uncertain

24 But the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over into the hands of the people to be put to death.(A)

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When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.(A)

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12 you let people ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 66.12 Cn Compare Gk Syr Jerome Tg: Heb to a saturation

Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
    for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.(A)

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Job’s Fortunes Are Restored Twofold

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends, and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.(A)

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20 In famine he will redeem you from death
    and in war from the power of the sword.(A)

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Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death

20 Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed because of this and cried to heaven.(A) 21 And the Lord sent an angel who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned in disgrace to his own land. When he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword.(B) 22 So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of King Sennacherib of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies; he gave them rest[a] on every side.

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Footnotes

  1. 32.22 Gk Vg: Heb guided them

and said, “O Lord, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you.(A) Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham?(B) They have lived in it and in it have built you a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment,[a] or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.’(C) 10 See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and did not destroy,(D) 11 they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit.(E) 12 O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”(F)

13 Meanwhile, all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. 14 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the middle of the assembly.(G) 15 He said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you: Do not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.(H) 16 Tomorrow go down against them; they will come up by the ascent of Ziz; you will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”(I)

18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.(J) 19 And the Levites of the Kohathites and the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

20 They rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa, and as they went out Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God and you will be established; believe his prophets and you will succeed.”(K) 21 When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy splendor, as they went before the army, saying,

“Give thanks to the Lord,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.”(L)

22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.(M) 23 For the Ammonites and Moab attacked the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them utterly, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.(N)

24 When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; they were corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped. 25 When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil from them, they found livestock[b] in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They spent three days taking the spoil because of its abundance.

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Footnotes

  1. 20.9 Or the sword of judgment
  2. 20.25 Gk: Heb among them

Alliance with Aram Condemned

16 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, King Baasha of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah to prevent anyone from going out or coming into the territory of[a] King Asa of Judah.(A) Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who resided in Damascus, saying, “Let there be an alliance between me and you, like that between my father and your father; I am sending to you silver and gold; go, break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he may withdraw from me.” Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.(B) When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. Then King Asa brought all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built up Geba and Mizpah.

At that time the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped you.(C) Were not the Cushites and the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and cavalry? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.(D) For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth to strengthen those whose heart is true to him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 16.1 Heb lacks the territory of

11 Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is no difference for you between helping the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let no mortal prevail against you.”(A) 12 So the Lord defeated the Cushites before Asa and before Judah, and the Cushites fled.(B) 13 Asa and the army with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Cushites fell until no one remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The people of Judah[a] carried away a great quantity of spoil.(C) 14 They defeated all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was on them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 14.13 Heb They

Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs. Let them take it and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”(A)

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?” Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: Shall the shadow advance[a] ten intervals, or shall it retreat ten intervals?” 10 Hezekiah answered, “It is normal for the shadow to lengthen ten intervals; rather, let the shadow retreat ten intervals.” 11 The prophet Isaiah cried to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back the ten intervals, by which the sun[b] had declined on the dial of Ahaz.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 20.9 Gk Syr Tg: Heb the shadow has advanced
  2. 20.11 Heb it

16 Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze and who was fitted out with new weapons,[a] said he would kill David. 17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall not go out with us to battle any longer, so that you do not quench the lamp of Israel.”(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 21.16 Heb was belted anew