David felt ashamed after he had counted the people and said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I did! Lord, I beg you, forgive me for my sin. I have been very foolish.”
Shimei said to the king, “My lord, don’t think about the wrong things I did. My lord and king, don’t remember the bad things I did when you left Jerusalem.
Listen! There is a group that belongs to Satan. They say they are Jews, but they are liars. They are not true Jews. I will make them come before you and bow at your feet. They will know that you are the people I have loved.
They said to him, “Jeremiah, please listen to what we ask. Pray to the Lord your God for all those who are survivors from the family of Judah. Jeremiah, you can see that there are not many of us left. At one time there were many of us.
The eyes of the Lord go around looking in all the earth for people who are faithful to him so that he can make them strong. Asa, you did a foolish thing. So from now on you will have wars.”
Then King Jeroboam said to the man of God, “Please pray to the Lord your God for me. Ask him to heal my arm.” So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s arm was healed, as it was before.
All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for us, your servants. Don’t let us die! We have sinned many times. And now we have added to these sins—we have asked for a king.”
“The Lord, the God of Israel, promised that your father’s family would serve him forever. But now the Lord says, ‘That will never be! I will honor people who honor me, but bad things will happen to those who refuse to respect me.