Turn away from evil and do good; strive for peace with all your heart.

They make evil plans as they lie in bed; nothing they do is good, and they never reject anything evil.

Turn away from evil and do good, and your descendants will always live in the land;

The LORD loves those who hate evil; he protects the lives of his people; he rescues them from the power of the wicked.

I gain wisdom from your laws, and so I hate all bad conduct.

O LORD, how I hate those who hate you! How I despise those who rebel against you!

I hate them with a total hatred; I regard them as my enemies.

I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate.

Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right.

My inner being delights in the law of God.

And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it.

Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good.

Put all things to the test: keep what is good

and avoid every kind of evil.

My dear friend, do not imitate what is bad, but imitate what is good. Whoever does good belongs to God; whoever does what is bad has not seen God.

You people hate anyone who challenges injustice and speaks the whole truth in court.

Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.

Do horses gallop on rocks? Does anyone plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison, and right into wrong.

and instructed them: "Be careful in pronouncing judgment; you are not acting on human authority, but on the authority of the LORD, and he is with you when you pass sentence.

In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed Levites, priests, and some of the leading citizens as judges in cases involving a violation of the Law of the LORD or legal disputes between inhabitants of the city.

Whenever your fellow citizens from any of the cities bring before you a case of homicide or any other violation of a law or commandment, you must instruct them carefully how to conduct themselves during the trial, so that they do not become guilty of sinning against the LORD. Unless you do, you and your fellow citizens will feel the force of the LORD's anger. But if you do your duty, you will not be guilty.

"You must stop judging unjustly; you must no longer be partial to the wicked!

Rescue them from the power of evil people.

"Change the way you are living and stop doing the things you are doing. Be fair in your treatment of one another.

If you change, I will let you go on living here in the land which I gave your ancestors as a permanent possession.

The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a terrible sin. But now I will again go up the mountain to the LORD; perhaps I can obtain forgiveness for your sin."

Perhaps the LORD will notice my misery and give me some blessings to take the place of his curse."

His officials went to him and said, "We have heard that the Israelite kings are merciful. Give us permission to go to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our necks, and maybe he will spare your life."

The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the LORD your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive."

Perhaps the LORD your God will change his mind and bless you with abundant crops. Then you can offer him grain and wine.

Perhaps God will change his mind; perhaps he will stop being angry, and we will not die!"

Go to the LORD, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out.

Jehoahaz had no armed forces left except fifty cavalry troops, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Syria had destroyed the rest, trampling them down like dust.

The LORD saw the terrible suffering of the Israelites; there was no one at all to help them.

But it was not the LORD's purpose to destroy Israel completely and forever, so he rescued them through King Jeroboam II.

It was while Pekah was king that Tiglath Pileser, the emperor of Assyria, captured the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor, and the territories of Gilead, Galilee, and Naphtali, and took the people to Assyria as prisoners.

The LORD says, "Sing with joy for Israel, the greatest of the nations. Sing your song of praise, 'The LORD has saved his people; he has rescued all who are left.'

"But I will gather you together, all you people of Israel that are left. I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold. Like a pasture full of sheep, your land will once again be filled with many people."

So the LORD will abandon his people to their enemies until the woman who is to give birth has her son. Then those Israelites who are in exile will be reunited with their own people.

The people of Israel who survive will be like refreshing dew sent by the LORD for many nations, like showers on growing plants. They will depend on God, not people.

Those who are left among the nations will be like a lion hunting for food in a forest or a pasture: it gets in among the sheep, pounces on them, and tears them to pieces---and there is no hope of rescue.