² and asked him for letters ^(A)to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to ^(B)the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Herod Kills the Children

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was ^(A)filled with fury, and the expression of his face ^(B)was changed against ^(C)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.

^12 (A)Then the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king's ^(B)satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, ^(C)to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written ^(D)in the name of King Ahasuerus ^(E)and sealed with the king's signet ring. ¹³ Letters were sent ^(F)by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction ^(G)to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, ^(H)in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, ^(I)and to plunder their goods.

³⁰ But if the Lord creates something new, and ^(A)the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they ^(B)go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

^31 (C)And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. ³² And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and ^(D)all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. ³³ So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and ^(E)they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴ And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!”