The Lord told Joshua, "Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you." So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.

They told him, "Your subjects have come from a very distant land because of the reputation of the Lord your God, for we have heard the news about all he did in Egypt

Our leaders and all who live in our land told us, 'Take provisions for your journey and go meet them. Tell them, "We are willing to be your subjects. Make a treaty with us."'

but all the leaders told the whole community, "We swore an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. So now we can't hurt them!

The Lord told Joshua, "Don't be afraid of them, for I am handing them over to you. Not one of them can resist you."

Joshua was told, "The five kings have been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah."

The Lord told Joshua, "Don't be afraid of them, for about this time tomorrow I will cause all of them to lie dead before Israel. You must hamstring their horses and burn their chariots."

Moses the Lord's servant passed on the Lord's commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses.

When Joshua was very old, the Lord told him, "You are very old, and a great deal of land remains to be conquered.

They went before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, "The Lord told Moses to assign us land among our relatives." So Joshua assigned them land among their uncles, as the Lord had commanded.

When the men started out, Joshua told those going to map out the land, "Go, walk through the land, map it out, and return to me. Then I will draw lots for you before the Lord here in Shiloh."

"Have the Israelites select the cities of refuge that I told you about through Moses.

in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, "The Lord told Moses to assign us cities in which to live along with the grazing areas for our cattle."

and told them: "You have carried out all the instructions of Moses the Lord's servant, and you have obeyed all I have told you.

So Joshua summoned all Israel, including the elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and told them: "I am very old.

Joshua told all the people, "Here is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'In the distant past your ancestors lived beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. They worshiped other gods,

Gideon said to him, "Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, 'Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian."

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father's family and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime.

After Abimelech's death, Tola son of Puah, grandson of Dodo, from the tribe of Issachar, rose up to deliver Israel. He lived in Shamir in the Ephraimite hill country.

The woman ran at once and told her husband, "Come quickly, the man who visited me the other day has appeared to me!"

The Lord's messenger told Manoah, "Your wife should pay attention to everything I told her.

When he got home, he told his father and mother, "A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. Now get her for my wife."

So Samson's bride cried on his shoulder and said, "You must hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men a riddle, but you have not told me the solution." He said to her, "Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?"

She cried on his shoulder until the party was almost over. Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle.

The Philistines asked, "Who did this?" They were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because the Timnite took Samson's bride and gave her to his best man." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.

The Gazites were told, "Samson has come here!" So they surrounded the town and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. They relaxed all night, thinking, "He will not leave until morning comes; then we will kill him!"

Delilah said to Samson, "Look, you deceived me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued."

Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued." He said to her, "If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man."

She said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you will not share your secret with me? Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong."

Finally he told her his secret. He said to her, "My hair has never been cut, for I have been dedicated to God from the time I was conceived. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men."

When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, she sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying, "Come up here again, for he has told me his secret." So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands.

He told them what Micah had done for him, saying, "He hired me and I became his priest."

When she got up to gather grain, Boaz told his male servants, "Let her gather grain even among the bundles! Don't chase her off!

Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded!" So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz."

Ruth the Moabite replied, "He even told me, 'You may go along beside my servants until they have finished gathering all my harvest!'"

Ruth replied to Naomi, "I will do everything you have told me to do."

and she returned to her mother-in-law.When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did things turn out for you, my daughter?" Ruth told her about all the man had done for her.

but Hannah did not go up with them. Instead she told her husband, "Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him and appear before the Lord, and he will remain there from then on."

So Samuel told him everything. He did not hold back anything from him. Eli said, "The Lord will do what he pleases."

When Eli heard the outcry, he said, "What is this commotion?" The man quickly came and told Eli.

Now the day before Saul arrived, the Lord had told Samuel:

When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, "Here is the man that I told you about! He will rule over my people."

Now Saul was walking behind the oxen as he came from the field. Saul asked, "What has happened to the people? Why are they weeping?" So they told him about the men of Jabesh.

They said to the messengers who had come, "Here's what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: 'Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.'" When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy.

So Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." Jonathan told him, "I used the end of the staff that was in my hand to taste a little honey. I must die!"

"I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I told him to do." Samuel became angry and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

Samuel did what the Lord told him. When he arrived in Bethlehem, the elders of the city were afraid to meet him. They said, "Do you come in peace?"

The soldiers told him what had been promised, saying, "This is what will be done for the man who can strike him down."

Now Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David. When they told Saul about this, it pleased him.

So his servants told David these things and David agreed to become the king's son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired

Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul's son Jonathan liked David very much.

So Jonathan told David, "My father Saul is trying to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning. Find a hiding place and stay in seclusion.

Then Jonathan called David and told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he had done formerly.

Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David's wife Michal told him, "If you do not save yourself tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!"

Now David had run away and escaped. He went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.

David replied to Ahimelech the priest, "The king instructed me to do something, but he said to me, 'Don't let anyone know the reason I am sending you or the instructions I have given you.' I have told my soldiers to wait at a certain place.

Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord.

They told David, "The Philistines are fighting in Keilah and are looting the threshing floors."

When Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he has boxed himself into a corner by entering a city with two barred gates."

When David realized that Saul was planning to harm him, he told Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod!"

So David and his men, who numbered about six hundred, set out and left Keilah; they moved around from one place to another. When told that David had escaped from Keilah, Saul called a halt to his expedition.

Go and make further arrangements. Determine precisely where he is and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning.

When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him, "Look, David is in the desert of En Gedi."

Today your own eyes see how the Lord delivered you -- this very day -- into my hands in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I had pity on you and said, 'I will not extend my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's chosen one.'

So David's servants went on their way. When they had returned, they came and told David all these things.

But one of the servants told Nabal's wife Abigail, "David sent messengers from the desert to greet our lord, but he screamed at them.

When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing until morning's light.

In the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these matters. He had a stroke and was paralyzed.

When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, "Your servant has done what you asked. I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me.

He asked me, 'Who are you?' I told him, 'I'm an Amalekite.'

David said to the young man who told this to him, "Where are you from?" He replied, "I am an Amalekite, the son of a resident foreigner."

Afterward David inquired of the Lord, "Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?" The Lord told him, "Go up." David asked, "Where should I go?" The Lord replied, "To Hebron."

The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people of Judah. David was told, "The people of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul."

So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, "May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness to your lord Saul by burying him.

When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, Joab was told: "Abner the son of Ner came to the king; he sent him away, and he left in peace!"

when someone told me that Saul was dead -- even though he thought he was bringing good news -- I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him!

David was told, "The Lord has blessed the family of Obed-Edom and everything he owns because of the ark of God." So David went and joyfully brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David.

That night the Lord told Nathan,

Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him.

for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told your servant, 'I will build you a dynastic house.' That is why your servant has had the courage to pray this prayer to you.

The king asked him, "Where is he?" Ziba told the king, "He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.

Messengers told David what had happened, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, "Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again; then you may come back."

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning and put on garments for mourning. Don't anoint yourself with oil. Instead, act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for some time.

Go to the king and speak to him in the following fashion." Then Joab told her what to say.

Then the king told the woman, "Go to your home. I will give instructions concerning your situation."

Now David had been told, "Ahithophel has sided with the conspirators who are with Absalom. So David prayed, "Make the advice of Ahithophel foolish, O Lord!"

Joab was told, "The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom."

When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine, had done,

The king told Joab, the general in command of his army, "Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba and muster the army, so I may know the size of the army."

Gad went to David and told him, "Shall seven years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemy with him in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide what I should tell the one who sent me."

When the angel extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was killing the people, "That's enough! Stop now!" (Now the Lord's angel was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

So Gad went to David that day and told him, "Go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

Araunah told David, "My lord the king may take whatever he wishes and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges and harnesses for wood.

I, the servant of my lord the king, give it all to the king!" Araunah also told the king, "May the Lord your God show you favor!"

The king was told, "Nathan the prophet is here." Nathan entered and bowed before the king with his face to the floor.

and he told them, "Take your master's servants with you, put my son Solomon on my mule, and lead him down to Gihon.

Solomon was told, "Look, Adonijah fears you; see, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'May King Solomon solemnly promise me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.'"

King Solomon sent men to bring him down from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon told him, "Go home."

When David was close to death, he told Solomon his son:

The king then told Abiathar the priest, "Go back to your property in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times."