Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: {be faint: or, fall down}

We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, {and} pain, as of a woman in travail.

For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, {O God}, strengthen my hands.

The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, {and} pangs as of a woman in travail.

Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

And I will come upon him while he {is} weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that {are} with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: {and to} Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. {slack: or, faint}

And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth {rib}, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. {quietly: or, peaceably}

And to {them} which {were} in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.