¹² That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies;^(A) they turn their backs^(B) and run^(C) because they have been made liable to destruction.^(D) I will not be with you anymore^(E) unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

¹³ “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves^(A) in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

⁵ Then the prophet Shemaiah^(A) came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon^(B) you to Shishak.’”

⁶ The leaders of Israel and the king humbled^(C) themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”^(D)

⁷ When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance.^(E) My wrath^(F) will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. ⁸ They will, however, become subject^(G) to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”

²³ At the turn of the year,^[a] the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people.^(A) They sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus.

²⁴ Although the Aramean army had come with only a few men,^(A) the Lord delivered into their hands a much larger army.^(B) Because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, judgment was executed on Joash.