1 Samuel 6:9

I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.

Yahweh said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, Yahweh?

Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.

Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom;

The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf.

But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

and the border turned about from Baalah westward to Mount Seir, and passed along to the side of Mount Jearim (also called Chesalon) on the north, and went down to Beth Shemesh, and passed along by Timnah;

Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me seriously for your sakes, for Yahweh’s hand has gone out against me.”

But Yahweh’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders.

For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;

The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?

before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you all around.

But if I by God’s finger cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come to you.

After many days, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep shearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite.

but indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth,

You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.

Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty.

Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Jutah,

Ain with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth Shemesh with its pasture lands: nine cities out of those two tribes.

Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.

The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.

Ashan with its pasture lands, and Beth Shemesh with its pasture lands;

Jeroboam didn’t recover strength again in the days of Abijah. Yahweh struck him, and he died.

but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Behold, my terror will not make you afraid, neither will my pressure be heavy on you.

Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.”

Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”

He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way.

I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.

You will come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land. It will happen in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I am sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.”

I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’

Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand:

a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.

but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.

When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.

Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities with their villages.

They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly panic throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there.

They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, don’t send it empty; but by all means return a trespass offering to him. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.”

Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his hand from you, from your gods, and from your land.

David said, “As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish.

The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.

When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.

and he said, “Listen, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, king Jehoshaphat. Yahweh says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed because of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

May all my enemies be ashamed and dismayed. They shall turn back, they shall be disgraced suddenly.

His ways are prosperous at all times. He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.

You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.

Unless Yahweh builds the house, they who build it labor in vain. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.

Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.

I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him.

I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”

Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?

Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?

Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!

Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let’s go into the fortified cities!’

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

“Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction.

“Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.

In every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters who were in all his realm.

The local governors, the deputies, and the governors, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies. The hair of their head wasn’t singed. Their pants weren’t changed, the smell of fire wasn’t even on them.

All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?”

“Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!

Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;

Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.

saying, “What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can’t deny it.

Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory. Then he was eaten by worms and died.

Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.

We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will,

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s finger;” but Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.

behold, Yahweh’s hand is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks with a very grievous pestilence.

About ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died.

The young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance on Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul was leaning on his spear; and behold, the chariots and the horsemen followed close behind him.

Then David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it.’ Encourage him.”

Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He answered him, “Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down quickly!’ ”

So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and also Gimzo and its villages; and they lived there.

For affliction doesn’t come out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;

For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.

For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.

I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.

They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil will won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine.

“I will set my glory among the nations. Then all the nations will see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them.

Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?

By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.