2
They were especially terrified of his coming and were anxious about the safety of Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord their God.
3
They had just recently returned from captivity in exile. All the people of Judea had only just gathered together again, and the temple together with its altar and equipment had been newly dedicated to God after being polluted.
4
They sent word, therefore, to all the regions of Samaria and to Kona, Beth-horon, Belmain, Jericho, and to Choba, Aesora, and the Salem Valley.
5
Preparing for war, they occupied all the high hilltops, reinforced the villages on them, and stockpiled the food recently harvested from their fields.
6
Then Joakim, the high priest in Jerusalem at that time, wrote to the residents of Bethulia and Betomasthaim, which is opposite Esdraelon, facing the plain near Dothan,