“Did Joab put you up to this?” he asked her. She answered, “I swear by all that is sacred, Your Majesty, that there is no way to avoid answering your question. It was indeed your officer Joab who told me what to do and what to say.
I sent them to Iddo, head of the community at Casiphia, to ask him and his associates, the Temple workers, to send us people to serve God in the Temple.
I stretched out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations; I say to Jerusalem, ‘You are my people! I have given you my teaching, and I protect you with my hand.’”
And I make a covenant with you: I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours forever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendants to obey me for all time to come.”