³ Do what the Lord your God tells you to do. Live in a way that pleases him. Obey his rules, commands and laws that Moses has written down in his books of God's Law. Then everything that you do will go well, wherever you go. ⁴ The Lord will also do what he has promised me that he will do. He promised this to me:

“Your descendants must be careful in how they live. They must serve me faithfully with all their mind and strength. If they do that, one of your descendants will always rule Israel as king.”

⁵ Do not forget what Zeruiah's son Joab did to me. He killed the two leaders of Israel's armies, Ner's son Abner^[a] and Jether's son Amasa.^[b] Joab killed them as if they were his enemies in a war. But there was no war. So he is guilty of their deaths when they had done nothing wrong. Their blood is on his belt and on his shoes.