After all these things happened, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. [84] God said, “Abram, don’t be afraid. I will defend you. And I will give you a great reward.”
The Ammonite army saw that the army from Aram was running away, so they also ran away. They ran away from Abishai and his army. The Ammonites went back to their city, and Joab went back to Jerusalem.
Many Hagrite people were killed because God helped the people of Reuben win the war. Then those people from the family groups of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad lived in the land of the Hagrite people. They lived there until the time when the people of Israel were taken into captivity.
Don’t worry, I am with you.\par Don’t be afraid, I am your God.\par I will make you strong.\par I will help you.\par I will support you with my good\par right hand.\par
“People will make weapons to fight against you, but those weapons will not defeat you. Some people will say things against you. But every person that speaks against you will be shown to be wrong.”
Make your plans for the fight!\par Your plans will be defeated.\par Give orders to your armies!\par Your orders will be useless.\par Why? Because God is with us! {\cf2\super [101]} \par
All those people will fight against you,\par but they will not defeat you.\par Why? Because I am with you,\par and I will save you.”\par This message is from the Lord.\par
But the Lord is with me.\par The Lord is like a strong soldier.\par So the people that are chasing me will fall.\par Those people will not defeat me.\par Those people will fail.\par They will be disappointed.\par Those people will be ashamed.\par And people will never forget that shame.\par
Now you are afraid of the king of Babylon. But don’t be afraid of him. Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon,’ this is the message of the Lord, ‘because I am with you. I will save you. I will rescue you. He will not get his hands on you.
So don’t turn against the Lord! Don’t be afraid of the people in that land. We can defeat them. They have no protection, nothing to keep them safe. But we have the Lord with us. So don’t be afraid!”
“The virgin {\cf2\super [15]} will be pregnant and will give birth to a son. They will name him Immanuel.” {\cf2\super [16]} (Immanuel means, “God with us.”)
When we do wrong, that shows more clearly that God is right. So can we say that God does wrong when he punishes us? (I am using an idea that some people might have.)
Israel, you are blessed.
No other nation is like you.
The Lord saved you.
The Lord is like a strong shield protecting you.
The Lord is like a powerful sword.
Your enemies will be afraid of you.
And you will trample their holy places!”
My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them (the false teachers). Why? Because the One (God) who is in you is greater than the one (the devil) who is in \{the people of\} the world.
Jonathan said to his young helper who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s go to the camp of those foreigners. [129] Maybe the Lord will use us to defeat these people! Nothing can stop the Lord—it doesn’t matter if we have many soldiers or just a few soldiers.”