15
There bitter fountains were made sweet for them to drink, and for forty years they received food from heaven.
16
Wheresoever they went in without bow and arrow, and without shield and sword, their God fought for them and overcame.
17
And there was no one that triumphed over this people, but when they departed from the worship of the Lord their God.
18
But as often as beside their own God, they worshipped any other, they were given to spoil, and to the sword, and to reproach.
19
And as often as they were penitent for having revolted from the worship of their God, the God of heaven gave them power to resist.
20
So they overthrew the king of the Chanaanites, and of the Jebusites, and of the Pherezites, and of the Hethites, and of the Hevites, and of the Amorrhites, and all the mighty ones in Hesebon, and they possessed their lands, and their cities:
21
And as long as they sinned not in the sight of their God, it was well with them: for their God hateth iniquity.
22
And even some years ago when they had revolted from the way which God had given them to walk therein, they were destroyed in battles by many nations, and very many of them were led away captive into a strange land.
23
But of late returning to the Lord their God, from the different places wherein they were scattered, they are come together and are gone up into all these mountains, and possess Jerusalem again, where their holies are
24
Now therefore, my lord, search if there be any iniquity of theirs in the sight of their God: let us go up to them, because their God will surely deliver them to thee, and they shall be brought under the yoke of thy power:
25
But if there be no offense of this people in the sight of their God, we can not resist them, because their God will defend them: and we shall be a reproach to the whole earth.