אֲדָמָה

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”

On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head arrived from Saul’s camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him homage.

You and your sons and servants are to work the ground for him and bring in the harvest, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”

When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head.

Then we will attack David wherever we find him, and we will descend on him like dew on the ground. And of all the men with him, not even one will remain.

The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.

…then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.

…so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

…then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all peoples.

And this was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its extermination and destruction from the face of the earth.

For the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that He gave their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.

…for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’”

After a long time, in the third year of the drought, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.”

“If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much soil as a pair of mules can carry. For your servant will never again make a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other god but the LORD.

Finally, the LORD removed Israel from His presence, as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their homeland into Assyria, where they are to this day.

I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they are careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole Law that My servant Moses commanded them.”

There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.

Ezri son of Chelub was in charge of the workers in the fields who tilled the soil.

The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredah.

…then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to them and their fathers.

…so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

…then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.

I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to leave the land that I assigned to your fathers, if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses—all the laws, statutes, and judgments.”

On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.

They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.

We will also bring the firstfruits of our land and of every fruit tree to the house of the LORD year by year.

Moreover, we will bring to the priests at the storerooms of the house of our God the firstfruits of our dough, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees, and of our new wine and oil. A tenth of our produce belongs to the Levites, so that they shall receive tithes in all the towns where we labor.

For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

…if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,

Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes.

…who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.

When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.

They devoured every plant in their land and consumed the produce of their soil.

How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land?

When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.

The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.

The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.

Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,

For before the boy knows enough to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.

The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.

The waters of Dimon are full of blood, but I will bring more upon Dimon—a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.

The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble over what the LORD of Hosts has planned against it.

And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.

Does the plowman plow for planting every day? Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil?