‘The Lord will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you from one direction but flee from you in seven directions.
The prince who is among them will lift his bags to his shoulder in the dark and go out. They will dig through the wall to bring him out through it. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes.
David slaughtered them from twilight until the evening of the next day. None of them escaped, except four hundred young men who got on camels and fled.
Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, there will be terror; the young man and the young woman will be killed, the infant and the grey-haired man.
‘But no one can consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, whether an animal from the herd or flock, to the Lord, because a firstborn already belongs to the Lord.
But if one is too poor to pay the assessment, he is to present the person before the priest and the priest will set a value for him. The priest will set a value for him according to what the one making the vow can afford.
If we say, “Let’s go into the city,” we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s surrender to the Arameans’ camp. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.’
for the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army. The Arameans had said to each other, ‘The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us.’