After them the Tekoites repaired another section, next to the great projecting tower, even as far as the wall of Ophel.

And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman, and said to her, Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel; do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead.

The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

Curse Meroz, said the Angel of Jehovah, curse its inhabitants bitterly, because they did not come to the help of Jehovah, to the help of Jehovah against the mighty.

So I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they do not know the way of Jehovah, nor the judgment of their God.

I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of Jehovah and the judgment of their God. But these have broken the yoke together and have torn off the bonds!

For you see your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many of nobility.

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be high-minded, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,

Thus says Jehovah to me, Make bonds and yokes for yourself, and put them on your neck,

And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says Jehovah, with the sword and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

For it shall come to pass in that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. And strangers shall no longer enslave him,

but they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest unto your souls.

Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?