May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed.”

愿多民侍奉你，多国跪拜你。愿你作你弟兄的主；你母亲的儿子向你跪拜。凡咒诅你的，愿他受咒诅；为你祝福的，愿他蒙福。”

愿万民事奉你，万族向你下拜。愿你作你弟兄的主，你母亲的儿子向你下拜。诅咒你的，愿他受诅咒；祝福你的，愿他蒙祝福。”

愿万民事奉你，万族向你下拜。愿你作你弟兄的主，你母亲的儿子向你下拜。诅咒你的，愿他受诅咒；祝福你的，愿他蒙祝福。”

愿万民都臣服于你，万国都向你下拜。愿你成为你弟兄的主人，愿你母亲的儿子向你下拜。咒诅你的，愿他受咒诅；祝福你的，愿他蒙祝福。”

愿万民服事你，愿万族向你下拜，愿你作你兄弟的主人，愿你母亲的子孙向你下拜。咒诅你的，愿他受咒诅；给你祝福的，愿他蒙福。”

愿万民服事你，万族向你下拜；愿你成为你兄弟们的主人，你母亲的儿子们向你下拜。诅咒你的人，愿他受诅咒；祝福你的人，愿他蒙祝福。”

願多民事奉你，多國跪拜你。願你作你弟兄的主；你母親的兒子向你跪拜。凡咒詛你的，願他受咒詛；為你祝福的，願他蒙福。

願萬民事奉你，萬族向你下拜。願你作你弟兄的主，你母親的兒子向你下拜。詛咒你的，願他受詛咒；祝福你的，願他蒙祝福。」

願萬民事奉你，萬族向你下拜。願你作你弟兄的主，你母親的兒子向你下拜。詛咒你的，願他受詛咒；祝福你的，願他蒙祝福。」

願萬民都臣服於你，萬國都向你下拜。願你成為你弟兄的主人，願你母親的兒子向你下拜。咒詛你的，願他受咒詛；祝福你的，願他蒙祝福。」

願萬民服事你，願萬族向你下拜，願你作你兄弟的主人，願你母親的子孫向你下拜。咒詛你的，願他受咒詛；給你祝福的，願他蒙福。”

願許多族之民服事你，願許多國之民向你下拜，願你做你弟兄的主，你母親的兒子向你下拜；凡咒詛你的、願他受咒詛；給你祝福的，願他受祝福。』

願萬民服事你，萬族向你下拜；願你成為你兄弟們的主人，你母親的兒子們向你下拜。詛咒你的人，願他受詛咒；祝福你的人，願他蒙祝福。」

兆民服役爾側、列國拜跪爾前、兄弟尊爾為主、同胞拜跪於爾、詛爾者必見詛、祝爾者必見祝、○

願兆民服役爾側、列國拜跪爾前、兄弟以爾為主、同母者無不稽首、詛爾者必見詛、祝爾者必見祝。○

列國服事爾、萬族拜跪爾、兄弟尊爾為主、與爾同母者、拜跪爾、詛爾者見詛、祝爾者見祝、

May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”

May nations serve you. May they bow down to you. Rule over your brothers. May the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed. And may those who bless you be blessed.”

Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

May peoples serve you and nations bow in worship to you. Be master over your relatives; may your mother’s sons bow in worship to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed.

May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.”

Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!”

Let peoples serve thee, And nations bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: Cursed be every one that curseth thee, And blessed be every one that blesseth thee:

May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers; may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed.

Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed[ be] every one that curseth thee, and blessed[ be] he that blesseth thee.

May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be lord over your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”

Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you.”

Like a lion, Israel crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to arouse her? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, O Israel, and cursed is everyone who curses you.”

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

Kings and queens will serve you and care for all your needs. They will bow to the earth before you and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”

he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told,“ Your older son will serve your younger son.”

This is what the Lord says:“ You will rule the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans. They will come to you with all their merchandise, and it will all be yours. They will follow you as prisoners in chains. They will fall to their knees in front of you and say,‘ God is with you, and he is the only God. There is no other.’”

Then he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham:“ May Canaan be cursed! May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.”Then Noah said,“ May the Lord, the God of Shem, be blessed, and may Canaan be his servant!

His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed— all because you have obeyed me.”

But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it.“ Why is this happening to me?” she asked.And the Lord told her,“ The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.”

Isaac said to Esau,“ I have made Jacob your master and have declared that all his brothers will be his servants. I have guaranteed him an abundance of grain and wine— what is left for me to give you, my son?”

Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength?“ It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation! It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save!”Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes?“ I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. Their blood has stained my clothes.For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors.I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm, and my wrath sustained me.I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground, spilling their blood upon the earth.”

Years before, David had defeated Edom. Joab, his army commander, had stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who had died in battle. While there, they killed every male in Edom.Joab and the army of Israel had stayed there for six months, killing them.

After this, David defeated and subdued the Philistines by conquering Gath, their largest town.David also conquered the land of Moab. He made the people lie down on the ground in a row, and he measured them off in groups with a length of rope. He measured off two groups to be executed for every one group to be spared. The Moabites who were spared became David’s subjects and paid him tribute money.David also destroyed the forces of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when Hadadezer marched out to strengthen his control along the Euphrates River.David captured 1,000 chariots, 7,000 charioteers, and 20,000 foot soldiers. He crippled all the chariot horses except enough for 100 chariots.When Arameans from Damascus arrived to help King Hadadezer, David killed 22,000 of them.Then he placed several army garrisons in Damascus, the Aramean capital, and the Arameans became David’s subjects and paid him tribute money. So the Lord made David victorious wherever he went.David brought the gold shields of Hadadezer’s officers to Jerusalem,along with a large amount of bronze from Hadadezer’s towns of Tebah and Berothai.When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had destroyed the entire army of Hadadezer,he sent his son Joram to congratulate King David for his successful campaign. Hadadezer and Toi had been enemies and were often at war. Joram presented David with many gifts of silver, gold, and bronze.King David dedicated all these gifts to the Lord, as he did with the silver and gold from the other nations he had defeated—from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek— and from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.So David became even more famous when he returned from destroying 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.He placed army garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. In fact, the Lord made David victorious wherever he went.So David reigned over all Israel and did what was just and right for all his people.Joab son of Zeruiah was commander of the army. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the royal historian.Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were the priests. Seraiah was the court secretary.Benaiah son of Jehoiada was captain of the king’s bodyguard. And David’s sons served as priestly leaders.

But how can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I condemn those whom the Lord has not condemned?

The Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers:“ Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the Lord, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

“ During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain.”

Some time after this, King Nahash of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king.David said,“ I am going to show loyalty to Hanun just as his father, Nahash, was always loyal to me.” So David sent ambassadors to express sympathy to Hanun about his father’s death. But when David’s ambassadors arrived in the land of Ammon,the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun, their master,“ Do you really think these men are coming here to honor your father? No! David has sent them to spy out the city so they can come in and conquer it!”So Hanun seized David’s ambassadors and shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their robes at the buttocks, and sent them back to David in shame.When David heard what had happened, he sent messengers to tell the men,“ Stay at Jericho until your beards grow out, and then come back.” For they felt deep shame because of their appearance.When the people of Ammon realized how seriously they had angered David, they sent and hired 20,000 Aramean foot soldiers from the lands of Beth rehob and Zobah, 1,000 from the king of Maacah, and 12,000 from the land of Tob.When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all his warriors to fight them.The Ammonite troops came out and drew up their battle lines at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans from Zobah and Rehob and the men from Tob and Maacah positioned themselves to fight in the open fields.When Joab saw that he would have to fight on both the front and the rear, he chose some of Israel’s elite troops and placed them under his personal command to fight the Arameans in the fields.He left the rest of the army under the command of his brother Abishai, who was to attack the Ammonites.“ If the Arameans are too strong for me, then come over and help me,” Joab told his brother.“ And if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come and help you.Be courageous! Let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. May the Lord’s will be done.”When Joab and his troops attacked, the Arameans began to run away.And when the Ammonites saw the Arameans running, they ran from Abishai and retreated into the city. After the battle was over, Joab returned to Jerusalem.The Arameans now realized that they were no match for Israel. So when they regrouped,they were joined by additional Aramean troops summoned by Hadadezer from the other side of the Euphrates River. These troops arrived at Helam under the command of Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer’s forces.When David heard what was happening, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and led the army to Helam. The Arameans positioned themselves in battle formation and fought against David.But again the Arameans fled from the Israelites. This time David’s forces killed 700 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers, including Shobach, the commander of their army.When all the kings allied with Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they surrendered to Israel and became their subjects. After that, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites.

Then Amaziah summoned his courage and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where they killed 10,000 Edomite troops from Seir.They captured another 10,000 and took them to the top of a cliff and threw them off, dashing them to pieces on the rocks below.Meanwhile, the hired troops that Amaziah had sent home raided several of the towns of Judah between Samaria and Beth horon. They killed 3,000 people and carried off great quantities of plunder.When King Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought with him idols taken from the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down in front of them, and offered sacrifices to them!

“ We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”

But Jacob said,“ First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.

For the Lord declares,“ I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.”The king proclaims the Lord’s decree:“ The Lord said to me,‘ You are my son. Today I have become your Father.Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.’”

“ I have always loved you,” says the Lord. But you retort,“ Really? How have you loved us?” And the Lord replies,“ This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob,but I rejected his brother, Esau, and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau’s inheritance into a desert for jackals.”Esau’s descendants in Edom may say,“ We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins.” But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies replies,“ They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again. Their country will be known as‘ The Land of Wickedness,’ and their people will be called‘ The People with Whom the Lord Is Forever Angry.’When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say,‘ Truly, the Lord’s greatness reaches far beyond Israel’s borders!’”

May he reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

‘ Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt, and they cover the face of the earth. Come and curse these people for me. Then perhaps I will be able to stand up to them and drive them from the land.’”But God told Balaam,“ Do not go with them. You are not to curse these people, for they have been blessed!”

You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses. You have been angry with us; now restore us to your favor.You have shaken our land and split it open. Seal the cracks, for the land trembles.You have been very hard on us, making us drink wine that sent us reeling.But you have raised a banner for those who fear you— a rallying point in the face of attack. InterludeNow rescue your beloved people. Answer and save us by your power.God has promised this by his holiness:“ I will divide up Shechem with joy. I will measure out the valley of Succoth.Gilead is mine, and Manasseh, too. Ephraim, my helmet, will produce my warriors, and Judah, my scepter, will produce my kings.But Moab, my washbasin, will become my servant, and I will wipe my feet on Edom and shout in triumph over Philistia.”Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will bring me victory over Edom?Have you rejected us, O God? Will you no longer march with our armies?Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless.With God’s help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes.

( There was no king in Edom at that time, only a deputy.)

“ Judah, your brothers will praise you. You will grasp your enemies by the neck. All your relatives will bow before you.Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness— who dares to rouse him?The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.

The descendants of Judah became the most powerful tribe and provided a ruler for the nation, but the birthright belonged to Joseph.

Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River in the north to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt in the south. The conquered peoples of those lands sent tribute money to Solomon and continued to serve him throughout his lifetime.

“ I have heard the taunts of the Moabites and the insults of the Ammonites, mocking my people and invading their borders.Now, as surely as I live,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,“ Moab and Ammon will be destroyed— destroyed as completely as Sodom and Gomorrah. Their land will become a place of stinging nettles, salt pits, and eternal desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them and take their land.”

On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

“ And the King will say,‘ I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

“ And he will answer,‘ I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’