Nevertheless, the former governors before me placed a heavy burden on the people. They received food and wine, plus a tax of 40 shekels of silver. Even their young men took advantage of the people, but I never did so because I feared God.

Of the Priests: Descendants of Habaiah, Koz, and Barzillai, who married one of the daughters of Barzillai from Gilead and took that name.

"You took note of the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and listened to their cry at the Red Sea.

You led them during the day by a pillar of cloud, and by a pillar of fire at night to provide light for them on the path they took.

You, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not leave them in daylight, in order to provide light for them on the path they took. Nor did the pillar of fire abandon them at night, in order to provide light for them and lead them on the path they took.

You gave them kingdoms and nations, apportioning them as frontier boundaries. They took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan.

So their descendants entered and took possession of the land. Before their eyes you subdued those living in the land the Canaanites putting them under their control, along with their kings and the nations of the land, so they could do with them as they pleased.