So leave this place and go to Paddan Aram. Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Laban, your mother’s brother, lives there. Marry one of his daughters.
Next, there was Eleazar son of Dodai [148] from Ahoah. Eleazar was one of the Three Heroes that were with David at the time they challenged the Philistines. They had gathered for a battle, but the Israelite soldiers had run away.
Don’t worry if a person asks for bad things to happen to you. If you did nothing wrong, nothing bad will happen. That person’s words are like birds that fly past you and never stop.
Then people will sing songs about you.\par People will sing this sad song:\par ‘We are ruined!\par The Lord took away our land.\par And gave it to other people.\par Yes, he took my land away from me.\par The Lord has divided our fields\par \{among our enemies\}.\par
But soon enough, all of those people will laugh at him. They will tell stories about his defeat. They will laugh and say, ‘It’s too bad that the man who took so many things will not get to keep them! He made himself rich collecting debts.’
This is the message: A new nation of people has come out of Egypt. There are so many people that they cover the land. So, come and speak against these people. Then maybe I will be able to fight them and force them to leave my land.”
Then Jesus told the people another story: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman mixes into a big bowl of flour to make bread. The yeast makes all the dough (bread) rise.”
These Jewish leaders heard this story that Jesus told. They knew that this story was about them. So they wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus. But they were afraid of the people. So the Jewish leaders left Jesus and went away.
Why? Because the Ammonites and Moabites refused to give you bread and water on your trip at the time you came from Egypt. They also tried to hire Balaam to curse you. (Balaam was the son of Beor from the city of Pethor in Mesopotamia.)
I killed a lion and a bear like that! And I will kill that foreigner, [155] Goliath, just like them! Goliath will die because he made fun of the army of the living God.
David said to the Philistine (Goliath), “You come to me using sword, spear, and javelin. [160] But I come to you in the name of the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the armies of Israel! You have said bad things about him.