Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and every Israelite fled away from before the Philistines. And they fell slain upon Mount Gilboa.

When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

David and the whole Israelite army advanced to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus). (The Jebusites, the land's original inhabitants, lived there.)

All these men were warriors who were ready to march. They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel by acclamation; all the rest of the Israelites also were in agreement that David should become king.

David said to the whole Israelite assembly, "If you so desire and the Lord our God approves, let's spread the word to our brothers who remain in all the regions of Israel, and to the priests and Levites in their cities, so they may join us.

So the Israelites went up to Baal-perazim, and David defeated the Philistines there. Then David said, “Like a bursting flood, God has used me to burst out against my enemies.” Therefore, they named that place the Lord Bursts Out.

Then he distributed to each and every Israelite, both men and women, a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake.

So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.

This is the list of the sons (descendants) of Israel, the heads of fathers’ households, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and their officers who served the king in all matters of the divisions which came in and went out month by month throughout the year, each division numbering 24,000:

The officers of the Israelite tribes: Eliezer son of Zikri was the leader of the Reubenites, Shephatiah son of Maacah led the Simeonites,

Azarel son of Jeroham led Dan. These were the commanders of the Israelite tribes.

The leaders of the families, the leaders of the Israelite tribes, the commanders of units of a thousand and a hundred, and the supervisors of the king's work contributed willingly.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the Israelites, in Jerusalem to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the City of David, which is Zion.

Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets [of the Ten Commandments] which Moses put there at Mount Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of Egypt.

Then the king turned around and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there.

And I have there the ark [in] which [is] the covenant of Yahweh that he {made} with the {Israelites}."

When all the {Israelites} saw the fire come down and the glory of Yahweh upon the house, they knelt down [with their] faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to Yahweh, for [he is] good, for his loyal love [is] everlasting.

that he built and fortified the cities which Huram (Hiram) had given to him, and settled the Israelites there.

Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

but were descendants of those who were left in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed—Solomon brought them up as forced laborers to this day.

But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites for his work; they were men of war, his chief captains, and commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.

But as for the Israelites who lived in Judah’s cities, Rehoboam ruled over them.

Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, and the Israelites stoned him and he died. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his [royal] chariot to escape to Jerusalem.

"Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah and to all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin,

Those among all the Israelite tribes who were determined to worship the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors.

Behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests [are here] with their signal trumpets to sound an alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”

And the sons of Israel fled before Judah, and God handed over the sons of Israel to them.

Abijah and his army thoroughly defeated them; 500,000 well-trained Israelite men fell dead.

Thus the sons of Israel were subdued (humbled) at that time, and the sons of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers.

but instead sought the God of his ancestors and obeyed his commands, unlike the Israelites.

Jehoshaphat also appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites and priests and some of the heads of the Israelite families for deciding the Lord’s will and for settling disputes of the residents of Jerusalem.

They traveled throughout Judah and assembled the Levites from all the cities of Judah, as well as the Israelite family leaders. They came to Jerusalem,

He hired 100,000 Israelite warriors for a hundred talents of silver.

But a prophet visited him and said: "O king, the Israelite troops must not go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel or any of the Ephraimites.

Amaziah asked the prophet: "But what should I do about the hundred talents of silver I paid the Israelite troops?" The prophet replied, "The Lord is capable of giving you more than that."

And he burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his sons [as an offering], in accordance with the repulsive acts of the [pagan] nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons (descendants) of Israel.

And the sons of Israel led away captive 200,000 of their kinsmen [of Judah]—women, sons, and daughters—and they also took a great quantity of spoil from them and brought it to Samaria.

Then the men who were designated by name took charge of the captives and provided clothes for their naked ones from the plunder. They clothed them, gave them sandals, food and drink, dressed their wounds, and provided donkeys for all the feeble. The Israelites brought them to Jericho, the City of Palms, among their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.

So the runners went throughout Israel and Judah with the letters from the hand of the king and his officials, in accordance with the command of the king, saying, “O sons (descendants) of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), so that He will return to those of you who escaped and are left from the hand (power) of the kings of Assyria.

The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests praised the Lord day after day, singing to the Lord with loud instruments.

Now when all of this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and smashed the [pagan] pillars (obelisks, memorial stones) in pieces, cut down the Asherim (wooden symbols of a female deity), and tore down the high places and the altars [of idolatry] throughout all Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons (descendants) of Israel returned to their own cities, each to his own property.

As soon as the king’s order spread, the Israelites gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, [olive] oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in the tithe of everything abundantly.

As for the Israelites and Judahites who lived in the cities of Judah, they also brought a tenth of the cattle and sheep, and a tenth of the dedicated things that were consecrated to the Lord their God. They gathered them into large piles.

But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the repulsive acts of the [pagan] nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons (descendants) of Israel.

I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from the land where I stationed your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses—all the law, statutes, and judgments.”

So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to sin, by doing more evil than the [pagan] nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Josiah removed all the [pagan] repulsive things from all the lands belonging to the sons (descendants) of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers.

Thus the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

No Passover had been observed like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present in Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

The number of the Israelite men included:

The following are those who came from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer but were unable to prove that their families and ancestry were Israelite:

When the seventh month came and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.

And all Israel—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the [former] exiles—celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

For the dedication of God’s house they offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, and 400 lambs, as well as 12 male goats as a sin offering for all Israel—one for each Israelite tribe.

The Passover was eaten by the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob) who returned from exile and by all those who had separated themselves from the [ceremonial] uncleanness of the nations of the land to join them, in order to seek the Lord God of Israel.

Some of the sons of Israel, with some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants also went up [from Babylon] to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

I issue a decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including their priests and Levites, who want to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.

and who has shown favor to me before the king, his counselors, and all his powerful officers. So I took courage because I was strengthened by Yahweh my God, and I gathered Israelite leaders to return with me.

I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the articles—the contribution for the house of our God that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites who were present had offered.

Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the Lord’s house before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families in Jerusalem.”

When these things were completed, the officials came to me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, but have committed the repulsive acts of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

While Ezra prayed and confessed, weeping and falling facedown before the house of God, an extremely large assembly of Israelite men, women, and children gathered around him. The people also wept bitterly.

The Israelites:

Parosh’s descendants: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah;

please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You, day and night, on behalf of Your servants, the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob), confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have committed against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.

When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard this, it caused them great displeasure that someone had come to see about the welfare and prosperity of the Israelites.

They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah.

The number of the Israelite men included:

The following are those who came from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but were unable to prove that their families and ancestors were Israelite:

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their cities. When the seventh month came, the {Israelites} [were] in their cities.

They found written in the Law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should live in booths (huts) during the feast of the seventh month.

The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. Indeed since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that very day, the Israelites had not done so. And there was great rejoicing and celebration.

Ezra read out of the book of the law of God every day, from the first day to the last. The Israelites celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly, according to the ordinance.

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with dirt on their heads.

The descendants of Israel (Jacob) separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the wrongdoings of their fathers.

“Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
Against all his servants and all the people of his land;
For You knew that they behaved arrogantly toward them (the Israelites),
And You made a name for Yourself, as it is to this day.

For the Israelites and the sons of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the chambers; the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers, and the singers are there. In this manner, we will not neglect the house of our God.

These are the heads of the provinces who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah everyone lived on his property in their cities—the Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon’s servants.

And the rest of the Israelites, with the priests and the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each on his own property.

because they did not meet the Israelites with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. Yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.

For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been terrified.

The Lord revealed his faithful acts to Moses, his deeds to the Israelites.

The Israelites asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

He has raised up a horn for His people,
resulting in praise to all His godly ones,
to the Israelites, the people close to Him.
Hallelujah!

After that time shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and mighty, and the fruit of the earth shall be fair and pleasant for those Israelites that shall spring thereof.

Syria from the east, and the Philistines from the west, they gobbled up Israelite territory. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

And thus shall he make a way for his people, that remaineth from the Assyrians, like as it happened to the Israelites, what time they departed out of the land of Egypt.

The fortress disappears from Ephraim,
and a kingdom from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

On that day their strong cities will be
like the abandoned woods and mountaintops
that were abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.

So the inhabitants of this coastland [the Israelites and their neighbors] will say in that day, ‘Look what has happened to those in whom we hoped and trusted and to whom we fled for help to be spared from the king of Assyria! But we, how will we escape [captivity and exile]?’”

Like the striking by Him who has struck them, has He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?

On that day
the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River
as far as the Wadi of Egypt,
and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.

Return to the One the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.

And men from strange countries will be your herdsmen, and those who are not Israelites will be your ploughmen and vine-keepers.

They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.

{Therefore} look, days [are] coming,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and it will no longer be said, "{As Yahweh lives}, who led up the {Israelites} from the land of Egypt,"

{but only} "{As Yahweh lives}, who led up the {Israelites} from [the] land of [the] north, and from all the lands where he had driven them," for I will bring them back to their ground that I gave to their ancestors.

"{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "when they will no longer say, '{As Yahweh lives}, who led up the {Israelites} from the land of Egypt,'

From their youth, the Israelites and Judeans have done nothing but what is evil in My sight! They have done nothing but provoke Me to anger by the work of their hands”—this is the Lord’s declaration—

“From the day that they built it [during the reign of Solomon], even to this day, this city has been such a provocation of My anger and My wrath, that I must remove it from My sight,

because of all the evil the Israelites and Judeans have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem.