"Simeon and Levi are brothers. They use their weapons to commit violence.

A curse be on their anger, because it is so fierce, And on their fury, because it is so cruel. I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel. I will disperse them among its people.

And Joshua said, "Why have you brought such trouble on us? The LORD will now bring trouble on you!" All the people then stoned Achan to death; they also stoned and burned his family and possessions.

"I'm not the troublemaker," Elijah answered. "You are---you and your father. You are disobeying the LORD's commands and worshiping the idols of Baal.

Achan son of Carmi, one of Zerah's descendants, brought disaster on the people of Israel by keeping loot that had been devoted to God.

You do yourself a favor when you are kind. If you are cruel, you only hurt yourself.

Those who bring trouble on their families will have nothing at the end. Foolish people will always be servants to the wise.

Try to make a profit dishonestly, and you get your family in trouble. Don't take bribes and you will live longer.

They said to Moses and Aaron, "The LORD has seen what you have done and will punish you for making the king and his officers hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us."

All the Israelites were told that Saul had killed the Philistine commander and that the Philistines hated them. So the people answered the call to join Saul at Gilgal.

But Achish trusted David and said to himself, "He is hated so much by his own people the Israelites that he will have to serve me all his life."

King Hanun and the Ammonites realized that they had made David their enemy, so they paid nearly forty tons of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Upper Mesopotamia and from the Syrian states of Maacah and Zobah.

animal or bird,

"The LORD did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth.

You descendants of Jacob, God's servant, descendants of Israel, whom God chose, remember the miracles that God performed and the judgments that he gave.

God's people were few in number, strangers in the land of Canaan.

I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing.

When the Egyptians see you, they will assume that you are my wife, and so they will kill me and let you live.

And there was the LORD standing beside him. "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham and Isaac," he said. "I will give to you and to your descendants this land on which you are lying.

They will be as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth. They will extend their territory in all directions, and through you and your descendants I will bless all the nations.

"How can I do that?" Samuel asked. "If Saul hears about it, he will kill me!" The LORD answered, "Take a calf with you and say that you are there to offer a sacrifice to the LORD.

David said to himself, "One of these days Saul will kill me. The best thing for me to do is to escape to Philistia. Then Saul will give up looking for me in Israel, and I will be safe."

Abraham believed and hoped, even when there was no reason for hoping, and so became "the father of many nations." Just as the scripture says, "Your descendants will be as many as the stars."

His faith did not leave him, and he did not doubt God's promise; his faith filled him with power, and he gave praise to God.