Joab and his family are responsible for this, and all his family are to be blamed. I hope many troubles will come to Joab’s family. I hope the people in his family will be sick with leprosy, and crippled, and killed in war, and not have enough food to eat!”
The Lord caused King Azariah to become sick with leprosy. [171] He was a leper until the day he died. Azariah lived in a separate house. Jotham, the king’s son, took care of the king’s house and judged the people.
Uzziah the king was a leper. {\cf2\super [307]} He could not enter the Lord’s temple. Uzziah’s son Jotham controlled the king’s house and became governor for the people.
Jerusalem once was a city full of people.\par But now the city is so deserted!\par Jerusalem was one of the greatest cities\par in the world.\par But now she {\cf2\super [1]} has become like a widow.\par She was once a princess among cities.\par But now she has been made a slave.\par
Jerusalem sinned very badly.\par Because Jerusalem sinned,\par she became a ruined city\par that people shake their heads about.\par In the past people respected her.\par Now those people hate her.\par They hate her because they abused her.\par Jerusalem groans.\par She turns away.\par
People shouted,\par “Go away!\par Go away!\par Don’t touch us.”\par Those people wandered around\par and had no home.\par People in other nations said,\par “We don’t want them to live with us.”\par
Then give this man to Satan (the Devil), so that his sinful self {\cf2\super [28]} will be destroyed. Then his spirit can be saved on the day of the Lord.
If any person does not obey what we tell you in this letter, then remember who that person is. Don’t associate with them. Then maybe they will feel ashamed.
Brothers and sisters, by the authority (power) of our Lord Jesus Christ we command you to stay away from any believer who refuses to work. People who refuse to work are not following the teaching that we gave them.
They are always making trouble, because they are people whose thinking has been confused. They have lost their understanding of the truth. They think that serving God is a way to get rich.
Outside the city are the dogs (bad people), people who do evil magic, people who sin sexually, people who murder, people who worship idols, {\cf2\super [175]} and people who love lies and tell lies.