If your ax is dull and you don't sharpen it, you have to work harder to use it. It is smarter to plan ahead.

The LORD will cut them down as trees in the heart of the forest are cut down with an ax, as even the finest trees of Lebanon fall!

Early the next morning Elisha's servant got up, went out of the house, and saw the Syrian troops with their horses and chariots surrounding the town. He went back to Elisha and exclaimed, "We are doomed, sir! What shall we do?"

"We're done for!" King Joram exclaimed. "The LORD has put the three of us at the mercy of the king of Moab!"

They stand a long way off, because they are afraid of sharing in her suffering. They say, "How terrible! How awful! This great and mighty city Babylon! In just one hour you have been punished!"

and say, "How terrible! How awful for the great city! She used to dress herself in linen, purple, and scarlet, and cover herself with gold ornaments, precious stones, and pearls!

They threw dust on their heads, they cried and mourned, saying, "How terrible! How awful for the great city! She is the city where all who have ships sailing the seas became rich on her wealth! And in one hour she has lost everything!"

She went back to Elisha, the prophet, who said to her, "Sell the olive oil and pay all your debts, and there will be enough money left over for you and your sons to live on."

"If anyone borrows an animal from someone else and it is injured or dies when its owner is not present, he must pay for it.

But if that happens when the owner is present, he need not repay. If it is a rented animal, the loss is covered by the rental price.

The wicked borrow and never pay back, but good people are generous with their gifts.