"So be very diligent to love the LORD your God,

and went to present the tribute to King Eglon of Moab. Now Eglon happened to be a very obese man.

So Gideon built an altar right there to the LORD and called it "The LORD is peace." (To this very day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the descendants of Abiezer.)

Later that very night, the LORD told Gideon, "Take the bull that belongs to your father, along with a second bull that's seven years old. Then tear down the altar to Baal that your father owns, cut down the Asherah that's beside it,

So that very day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is, "Let Baal fight," since he had torn down his altar.

Then the woman went to tell her husband. She said, "A man of God appeared to me. He looked like what an angel of God would look like very frightening. I didn't ask him where he had come from and he didn't tell me his name.

They replied, "Let's get going and attack them. We've scouted out the land and look! it's a very good one. Why should we sit still? We can't wait to go back, invade, and take over the land.

So go on back, my daughters! Be on your way! I'm too old to remarry. If I were to say that I'm hoping for a husband tonight and then also bore sons this very night,

Meanwhile, Boaz approached the city gate and sat down there. Just then, the very same related redeemer whom Boaz had mentioned came by, so Boaz called out to him, "Come over and sit down here, my friend!" So the man came over and sat down.

Boaz continued, "On the very day you buy the field from Naomi, you're also "buying" Ruth the Moabite woman, the wife of her dead husband, so the family name may be continued as an inheritance."

Don't consider your maid servant a worthless woman. Rather, all this time I've been speaking because I'm very anxious and distressed."

By doing this, the sin of the young men was very serious in the LORD's sight because the men despised the LORD's offering.

Now Eli was very old, and he had heard everything that his sons were doing to the Israelis, and how they lay with the women who were serving regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; each of them fled to his own tent. It was a very great slaughter, and 30,000 soldiers of Israel died.

That very same day, a man who was a descendant of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh, with his garments torn and dirt on his head.

After they moved it, the LORD moved against the town, causing a very great panic. He struck the men of the town, from young to old with tumors of the groin.

When the five Philistine lords saw this, they returned to Ekron that very day.

Like all the things they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this very day, they have forsaken me and followed other gods. They're also doing the same thing to you.

When Saul heard these words, the Spirit of God came on him, and he was very angry.

Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled and went into battle. Now the swords of all the Philistines were against each other, and there was very great confusion.

That day they struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, and the army was very weary.

David went to Saul and began to serve him. Saul loved him very much, and he became his armor bearer.

When Saul and all the Israelis heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very frightened.

When all the Israelis saw the man, they fled from him and were very frightened.

This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I'll strike you down and remove your head from you. And this very day I'll give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel,

Saul was very angry and he did not like what the women sang. He told himself, "They have attributed tens of thousands to David, but to me they have attributed thousands. What else can he have but the kingdom?"

Saul told his son Jonathan and all his officials to kill David, but Saul's son Jonathan was very fond of David.

Jonathan spoke to his father Saul favorably about David. "The king shouldn't wrong his servant David because he has not wronged you and because what he has done has been very beneficial for you.

David took these words seriously, and he was very frightened of King Achish of Gath.

Go and again make sure, find out and investigate where he is and who has seen him there, for people tell me that he's very clever.

Look, this very day you saw with your own eyes that the LORD gave you into my control in the cave, and one of my men told me to kill you, but I had pity on you and responded, "I won't lift my hand against his majesty because he's the LORD's anointed.'

David got up and went down to the Wilderness of Paran. Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel of Judah, and the man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

The men were very good to us. They didn't harm us, and we didn't miss anything all the time we moved around with them when we were in the field.

Abigail returned to Nabal, and he was there in his house holding a festival like the festival of a king. Nabal's heart was glad, and he was very drunk, so she didn't tell him anything at all until morning.

Then Saul said, "I've wronged you. Return, my son David, for I won't harm you again because my life was precious to you today. Look, I've acted foolishly and have made a very great mistake."

David told Achish, "Very well, you will now see what your servant will do." Achish told David, "Very well, I'll appoint you as my permanent bodyguard."

Then the woman came to Saul and saw that he was very disturbed. She told him, "Look, your servant obeyed you. I put my life into your hands, and I listened to your words that you spoke to me.

David told Achish, "What have I done, and what have you found in your servant from the time I came before you until this very moment, that I shouldn't go out and fight the enemies of your majesty?"

Saul told his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised people will come and run me through and make sport of me." But his armor bearer did not want to do it because he was very frightened, so Saul took the sword and fell on it.

The battle was very violent that day, with Abner and the men of Israel being defeated in the presence of David's servants.

Everybody took note of this and was very pleased, just as everything else the king did pleased everyone.

You have prepared your people Israel to be your very own people for ever, and you, LORD, have become their God!

Late one afternoon about dusk, David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there he watched a woman taking a bath, and she was very beautiful to look at.

"This is what the LORD says: ""Listen very carefully! ""I'm raising up evil against you right out of your own household. ""I'm going to take your wives away from you right before your eyes. ""Then I'll give them to your neighbor. ""And then he's going to have sex with your wives in broad daylight!

After this, the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah's wife had born to David, and the child became very ill. David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground.

Meanwhile, Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, who was the son of David's brother Shimeah. Now Jonadab was a very shrewd man.

Afterwards, though, Amnon hated her very intensely. As a result, his hatred for her exceeded the love that he had previously for her. So Amnon told her, "Get up! Leave!"

The victory had become an occasion for the army to mourn, because on that very day the troops heard the announcement, "The king is grieving for his son!"

"The very same Absalom we anointed to rule just died in battle"!" "Now then, why remain silent about bringing the king back"?"

Now Barzillai was a very old man at the age of 80 years. A very wealthy man, Barzillai had provided for king David during his sojourn in Mahanaim.

Later on, there was another battle at Gath, where there was a very tall man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot 24 in number who had also been fathered by giants.

David composed the words of this song to the LORD the very day the LORD delivered him from the domination of all of his enemies, including from Saul's hands.

Later, David's conscience bothered him after he had numbered the army, so David told the LORD, "I have sinned greatly by what I did. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly."

So David replied to Gad, "This is a very difficult choice for me to make! Let me now please fall into the hand of the LORD, since his mercy is very great, but may I never fall into human hands!"

That very morning, the LORD sent a pestilence to Israel until the conclusion of the time designated, and 70,000 men died from Dan to Beer-sheba.

That very day, Gad approached David and told him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor that belongs to Araunah the Jebusite."

When David had grown very old, they covered him with blankets, but he could not keep warm,

The young woman was absolutely beautiful. She served the king and was very useful to him. The king was not sexually involved with her.

His father had never challenged him at any time during his life by asking him, "Why are you acting like this?" Adonijah was very handsome and had been born after Absalom.

So Bathsheba went to the king in his private room. Now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was attending to him.

"Furthermore, you're aware of what Zeruiah's son Joab did to me and to those two commanders of the armies of Israel, Ner's son Abner and Jether's son Amasa, whom he killed, and how he shed the blood of wartime during times of peace, staining the very belt he wears around his waist and the sandals he wears on his feet.

but instead you returned to eat and drink in the very place that he told you "Eat no food and drink no water," your body will not be buried in the same grave as your ancestors.'"

because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: "That jar of flour will not run out, nor will that bottle of oil become empty until the very day that the LORD sends rain on the surface of the ground.'"

Ahab called for Obadiah, his household supervisor. This man, who feared the LORD very much,

"I've been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies," he replied. "The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I that's right, just me! am the only one left. Now they're seeking my life, to get rid of me!"

"I've been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies," he replied. "The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I that's right, just me! am the only one left. Now they're seeking my life, to get rid of me!"

The very next day, about the time of the morning offering, water suddenly appeared, coming from the direction of Edom, and the land overflowed with water!

"No, sir! Please, as a godly man, don't mislead your servant!" But the woman did conceive and did bear a son at that very same time the next year, just as Elisha had told her.

Now there happened to be four lepers who were at that very moment at the entrance to the city gate. As they were talking with one another, they said, "Why are we sitting here waiting to die?

But the very next day, Hazael grabbed a thick covering, soaked it in water, and spread it over the king's face, and he suffocated. Then Hazael succeeded Ben-hadad as king.

Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the LORD evicted from the land right in front of the Israelis.

To this very day, they still follow the former customs: they don't fear the LORD and they don't live in accordance with the statutes, ordinances, laws, or commandments that the LORD had given to the descendants of Jacob whom he renamed Israel

That very night, the angel of the LORD went out to the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 men. Early the next morning, when the army of Israel arose, all 185,000 soldiers were dead.

"Some of your descendants your very own seed, whom you will father will be carried away to become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

these people, enumerated by name, were leaders in their respective families, and their clans grew to be very abundant.

They discovered abundant and excellent grazing lands there, where the land was very broad, secure, and tranquil, because the former inhabitants there were descendants of Ham.

But his armor bearer did not want to do it because he was very frightened, so Saul took the sword and fell on it. When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died.

Because you didn't carry it from the very first, the LORD our God attacked us, since we didn't care for it appropriately."

On that very day, David composed this psalm of thanksgiving to the LORD just for Asaph and his companions:

When you were few in number very few, and strangers at that

You took your people Israel to be your very own people forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.

There was also a battle at Gath, where there was a very tall man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot for a total of 24 digits who was a descendant of the Rephaim.

David responded to God, "I sinned greatly by behaving this way. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly."

So David replied to Gad, "This is a very bad choice for me to make! Let me now please fall into the hand of the LORD, because his mercy is very great, but may I never fall into human hands!"

As David's son Solomon consolidated his administration, the LORD his God was with him to make him very successful.

That very night God appeared to Solomon and told him, "Ask what I am to give you."

Now I'm sending along Hiram-abi, a skilled craftsman, who is very creative.

At that time Solomon also held a week-long festival attended by all of Israel. The assembly was very large, and included people from as far away as Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.

Everybody in Judah was very glad to make their oath, because they had made their vow with all their heart and had sought him with all of their might, and they found him! The LORD also gave them rest in their surrounding lands.

Therefore the LORD secured Jehoshaphat's kingdom under his control, with all of Judah paying him tribute, and Jehoshaphat became very wealthy and greatly respected.

Descendants of Levi from the descendants of Kohath and from the descendants of Korah stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel in a very loud voice that ascended to heaven.

After the Arameans left him very sick, Joash's own servants conspired against him because Joash had murdered Jehoiada the priest's son, and they killed him on his sick bed.

The man of God answered, "The LORD has a lot more than that to give you!" So Amaziah sent the troops home who had arrived from Ephraim. They flew into a rage against Judah but left for home very angry.

He also had various siege engines built by skilled designers and placed them on the towers and on the corner ramparts that could fire arrows and very large stones. His reputation spread far and wide, and he was marvelously assisted until he grew very strong.

Many of the people gathered together in Jerusalem to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread during the second month. It was a very large assembly.

After this, the whole assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days, and so they did and they were very happy to do so!

Isn't this the very same Hezekiah who removed this god's high places and altars? Isn't this the same Hezekiah who issued this order to Judah and Jerusalem: "You are to worship in front of only one altar and burn your sacrifices only on it."?

"Go ask the LORD for me and for those who survive in Israel and in Judah about the words that we've read in this book that we found, because the wrath of the LORD that we deserve to have poured out on us is very great, since our ancestors haven't obeyed the command from the LORD that required us to do everything that is written in this book."

Now a number of the priests, the Levities, and the leading officials of the elders who were very elderly had seen the former Temple with their own eyes. When they observed the foundation of the Temple being laid, they wept with a loud voice, while the rest of them shouted for joy.

"Then this very same Sheshbazzar arrived and laid the foundations for the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Since that time until now the Temple has been under construction and is not yet completed."