He ordered, "Take them alive, no matter whether they are coming to fight or to ask for peace."

I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find that many men to ride them!

You are no match for even the lowest ranking Assyrian official, and yet you expect the Egyptians to send you chariots and cavalry!

In front of his companions and the Samaritan troops he said, "What do these miserable Jews think they're doing? Do they intend to rebuild the city? Do they think that by offering sacrifices they can finish the work in one day? Can they make building stones out of heaps of burnt rubble?"

I prayed, "Hear how they make fun of us, O God! Let their ridicule fall on their own heads. Let them be robbed of everything they have, and let them be taken as prisoners to a foreign land.

Be merciful to us, LORD, be merciful; we have been treated with so much contempt.

We have been mocked too long by the rich and scorned by proud oppressors.

There has been work and toil; often I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty; I have often been without enough food, shelter, or clothing.

When someone is weak, then I feel weak too; when someone is led into sin, I am filled with distress.

"No," answered Saul. "How could you fight him? You're just a boy, and he has been a soldier all his life!"

So Jesse sent for him. He was a handsome, healthy young man, and his eyes sparkled. The LORD said to Samuel, "This is the one---anoint him!"