Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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The Israelite Plan for Defense
1 The people of Judah heard what
Holofernes, the commander of
King Nebuchadnezzar's armies, had
done to the other nations. They
heard how he had looted and destroyed
all their temples,
2 and they
were terrified of him and afraid of
what he might do to Jerusalem and
to the Temple of the Lord their God.
3 They had only recently returned
home to Judah from exile and had
just rededicated the Temple and its
utensils and its altar after they had
been defiled.
4 So they sent a warning
to the whole region of Samaria
and to the towns of Kona, Beth Horon,
Belmain, Jericho, Choba, and
Aesora, and to Salem Valley.
5 They
immediately occupied the mountaintops,
fortified the villages on the
mountains, and stored up food in
preparation for war. It was fortunate
that they had recently harvested
their fields.
6 The High Priest Joakim, who
was in Jerusalem at that time, wrote
to the people in the towns of Bethulia
and Betomesthaim, which face
Jezreel Valley near Dothan.
7 He ordered
them to occupy the mountain
passes which led into the land of Judah,
where it would be easy to withstand
an attack, since the approach
was only wide enough for two men
at a time to pass.
8 The Israelites carried
out the orders given to them by
the High Priest Joakim and the
Council which met in Jerusalem.
Prayer before the War
9 The men of Israel prayed earnestly
to God and fasted.
10 They put
on sackcloth—they and their wives,
their children, their livestock, and
every resident foreigner, every slave
and hired laborer.
11
12 They also covered
the altar with sackcloth. Then
all the men, women, and children in
Jerusalem lay face down on the
ground in front of the Temple; they
lay there in the Lord's presence, all
in sackcloth, their heads covered
with ashes. They joined together in
earnest prayer to the God of Israel,
begging him not to let their children
be captured, their wives carried off,
or their home towns destroyed. They
pleaded with him not to give the
Gentiles the satisfaction of destroying
the Temple and dishonoring it. note
13 The Lord heard their prayers and
saw their distress. For many days
the people of Judah and Jerusalem
continued their fast in front of the
Temple of the Lord Almighty. note
14 The
High Priest Joakim, the priests, and
all the others who served in the
Lord's Temple, wore sackcloth when
they offered the daily burnt offering,
the freewill offerings of the people,
and the offerings made to fulfill a
vow. note
15 They put ashes on their turbans
and cried out in prayer to the
Lord, begging him to have mercy on
the whole nation.
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Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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