^8:1Then Solomon sent for all the responsible men of Israel, and all the chiefs of the tribes, and the heads of families of the children of Israel, to come to him in Jerusalem to take the ark of the Lord's agreement up out of the town of David, which is Zion. ^8:2And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, the seventh month. ^8:3And all the responsible men of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. ^8:4They took up the ark of the Lord, and the Tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels which were in the Tent; all these the priests and the Levites took up. ^8:5And King Solomon and all the men of Israel who had come together there, were with him before the ark, making offerings of sheep and oxen more than might be numbered. ^8:6And the priests took the ark of the agreement of the Lord and put it in its place in the inner room of the house, in the most holy place, under the wings of the winged ones. ^8:7For their wings were outstretched over the place where the ark was, covering the ark and its rods. ^8:8The rods were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place, in front of the inmost room; but they were not seen from outside: and there they are to this day. ^8:9There was nothing in the ark but the two flat stones which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made an agreement with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt. ^8:10Now when the priests had come out of the holy place, the house of the Lord was full of the cloud, ^8:11So that the priests were not able to keep their places to do their work because of the cloud, for the house of the Lord was full of the glory of the Lord. ^8:12Then Solomon said, O Lord, to the sun you have given the heaven for a living-place, but your living-place was not seen by men; ^8:13So I have made for you a living-place, a house in which you may be for ever present. ^8:14Then, turning his face about, the king gave a blessing to all the men of Israel; and they were all on their feet together. ^8:15And he said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who himself gave his word to David my father, and with his strong hand has made his word come true, saying, ^8:16From the day when I took my people Israel out of Egypt, no town in all the tribes of Israel has been marked out by me for the building of a house for the resting-place of my name; but I made selection of David to be king over my people Israel. ^8:17Now it was in the heart of David my father to put up a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ^8:18But the Lord said to David my father, You did well to have in your heart the desire to make a house for my name; ^8:19But you yourself will not be the builder of my house; but your son, the offspring of your body, he it is who will put up a house for my name. ^8:20And the Lord has made his word come true; for I have taken my father David's place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel, as the Lord gave his word; and I have made a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ^8:21In it I have made a place for the ark, in which is the agreement which the Lord made with our fathers, when he took them out of the land of Egypt. ^8:22Then Solomon took his place before the altar of the Lord, all the men of Israel being present, and stretching out his hands to heaven, ^8:23Said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on the earth; keeping faith and mercy unchanging for your servants, while they go in your ways with all their hearts. ^8:24And you have kept the word which you gave to your servant David, my father; with your mouth you said it and with your hand you have made it come true this day. ^8:25So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, let your word to your servant David, my father, come true, when you said, You will never be without a man to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel before me, if only your children give attention to their ways, walking before me as you have done. ^8:26So now, O God of Israel, it is my prayer that you will make your word come true which you said to your servant David, my father. ^8:27But is it truly possible that God may be housed on earth? see, heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be your resting-place; how much less this house which I have made! ^8:28Still, let your heart be turned to the prayer of your servant, O Lord God, and to his prayer for grace; give ear to the cry and the prayer which your servant sends up to you this day; ^8:29That your eyes may be open to this house night and day, to this place of which you have said, My name will be there; hearing the prayer which your servant may make, turning to this place. ^8:30Give ear to the prayers of your servant, and the prayers of your people Israel, when they make their prayers, turning to this place; give ear in heaven your living-place, and hearing, have mercy. ^8:31If a man does wrong to his neighbour, and has to take an oath, and comes before your altar to take his oath in this house: ^8:32Then let your ear be open in heaven, and be the judge of your servants, giving your decision against the wrongdoer, so that punishment for his sins may come on his head; and, by your decision, keeping from evil him who has done no wrong. ^8:33When your people Israel are overcome in war, because of their sin against you; if they are turned to you again, honouring your name, making prayers to you and requesting your grace in this house: ^8:34Then give ear in heaven, and let the sin of your people Israel have forgiveness, and take them back again into the land which you gave to their fathers. ^8:35When heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because of their sin against you; if they make prayers with their faces turned to this place, honouring your name and turning away from their sin when you send trouble on them: ^8:36Then give ear in heaven, so that the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, may have forgiveness, when you make clear to them the good way in which they are to go; and send rain on your land which you have given to your people for their heritage. ^8:37If there is no food in the land, or if there is disease, or if the fruits of the earth are damaged through heat or water, locust or worm; if their towns are shut in by their attackers; whatever trouble, whatever disease there may be: ^8:38Whatever prayer or request for your grace is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, whatever his trouble may be, whose hands are stretched out to this house: ^8:39Give ear in heaven your living-place, acting in mercy; and give to every man whose secret heart is open to you, the reward of all his ways; for you, and you only, have knowledge of the hearts of all the children of men: ^8:40So that they may give you worship all the days of their life in the land which you gave to our fathers. ^8:41And as for the man from a strange land, who is not of your people Israel; when he comes from a far country because of the glory of your name: ^8:42(For they will have news of your great name and your strong hand and your out-stretched arm;) when he comes to make his prayer, turning to this house: ^8:43Give ear in heaven your living-place, and give him his desire, whatever it may be; so that all the peoples of the earth may have knowledge of your name, worshipping you as do your people Israel, and that they may see that this house which I have put up is truly named by your name. ^8:44If your people go out to war against their attackers, by whatever way you may send them, if they make their prayer to the Lord, turning their faces to this town of yours and to this house which I have made for your name: ^8:45Give ear in heaven to their prayer and their cry for grace, and see right done to them. ^8:46If they do wrong against you, (for no man is without sin,) and you are angry with them and give them up into the power of those who are fighting against them, so that they take them away as prisoners into a strange land, far off or near; ^8:47And if they take thought, in the land where they are prisoners, and are turned again to you, crying out in prayer to you in that land, and saying, We are sinners, we have done wrong, we have done evil; ^8:48And with all their heart and soul are turned again to you, in the land of those who took them prisoners, and make their prayer to you, turning their eyes to this land which you gave to their fathers, and to the town which you took for yourself, and the house which I made for your name: ^8:49Then give ear to their prayer and to their cry in heaven your living-place, and see right done to them; ^8:50Answering with forgiveness the people who have done wrong against you, and overlooking the evil which they have done against you; let those who made them prisoners be moved with pity for them, and have pity on them; ^8:51For they are your people and your heritage, which you took out of Egypt, out of the iron fireplace; ^8:52Let your eyes be open to your servant's prayer for grace and to the prayer of your people Israel, hearing them when their cry comes to you. ^8:53For you made them separate from all the peoples of the earth, to be your heritage, as you said by Moses your servant, when you took our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God. ^8:54Then Solomon, after making all these prayers and requests for grace to the Lord, got up from his knees before the altar of the Lord, where his hands had been stretched out in prayer to heaven; ^8:55And, getting on his feet, he gave a blessing to all the men of Israel, saying with a loud voice, ^8:56Praise be to the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, as he gave them his word to do; every word of all his oath, which he gave by the hand of Moses his servant, has come true. ^8:57Now may the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; let him never go away from us or give us up; ^8:58Turning our hearts to himself, guiding us to go in all his ways, to keep his orders and his laws and his decisions, which he gave to our fathers. ^8:59And may these my words, the words of my prayer to the Lord, be before the Lord our God day and night, so that he may see right done to his servant and to his people Israel, day by day as we have need. ^8:60So that all the peoples of the earth may see that the Lord is God, and there is no other. ^8:61Then let your hearts be without sin before the Lord our God, walking in his laws and keeping his orders as at this day. ^8:62Now the king, and all Israel with him, were making offerings before the Lord. ^8:63And Solomon gave to the Lord for peace-offerings, twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel kept the feast of the opening of the Lord's house. ^8:64The same day the king made holy the middle of the open square in front of the house of the Lord, offering there the burned offering and the meal offering and the fat of the peace-offerings; for there was not room on the brass altar of the Lord for the burned offerings and the meal offerings and the fat of the peace-offerings. ^8:65So Solomon and all Israel with him, a very great meeting, (for the people had come together from the way into Hamath to the river of Egypt,) kept the feast at that time before the Lord our God, for two weeks, even fourteen days. ^8:66And on the eighth day he sent the people away, and, blessing the king, they went to their tents full of joy and glad in their hearts, because of all the good which the Lord had done to David his servant and to Israel his people.

^9:1Now when Solomon came to the end of building the house of the Lord and the king's house, and all Solomon's desires, which he had in mind were effected; ^9:2The Lord came to him again in a vision, as he had done at Gibeon; ^9:3And the Lord said to him, Your prayers and your requests for grace have come to my ears: I have made holy this house which you have made, and I have put my name there for ever; my eyes and my heart will be there at all times. ^9:4As for you, if you will go on your way before me, as David your father did, uprightly and with a true heart, doing what I have given you orders to do, keeping my laws and my decisions; ^9:5Then I will make the seat of your rule over Israel certain for ever, as I gave my word to David your father, saying, You will never be without a man to be king in Israel. ^9:6But if you are turned from my ways, you or your children, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods and give them worship: ^9:7Then I will have Israel cut off from the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for myself, I will put away from before my eyes; and Israel will be a public example, and a word of shame among all peoples. ^9:8And this house will become a mass of broken walls, and everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder at it and make whistling sounds; and they will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land and to this house? ^9:9And their answer will be, Because they were turned away from the Lord their God, who took their fathers out of the land of Egypt; they took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why the Lord has sent all this evil on them. ^9:10Now at the end of twenty years, in which time Solomon had put up the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house, ^9:11(Hiram, king of Tyre, had given Solomon cedar-trees and cypress-trees and gold, as much as he had need of,) King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. ^9:12But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns which Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. ^9:13And he said, What sort of towns are these which you have given me, my brother? So they were named the land of Cabul, to this day. ^9:14And Hiram sent the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold. ^9:15Now, this was the way of Solomon's system of forced work for the building of the Lord's house and of the king's house, and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Megiddo and Gezer. ... ^9:16Pharaoh, king of Egypt, came and took Gezer, burning it down and putting to death the Canaanites living in the town, and he gave it for a bride-offering to his daughter, Solomon's wife. ... ^9:17... and Solomon was the builder of Gezer and Beth-horon the lower, ^9:18And Baalath and Tamar in the waste land, in that land; ^9:19And all the store-towns and the towns which Solomon had for his war-carriages and for his horsemen, and everything which it was his pleasure to put up in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land under his rule. ^9:20As for the rest of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not children of Israel; ^9:21Their children who were still in the land, and whom the children of Israel had not been able to put to complete destruction, them did Solomon put to forced work, to this day. ^9:22But Solomon did not put the children of Israel to forced work; they were the men of war, his servants, his captains, and his chiefs, captains of his war-carriages and of his horsemen. ^9:23These were the chiefs of the overseers of Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, in authority over the people who did the work. ^9:24At that time Solomon made Pharaoh's daughter come up from the town of David to the house which he had made for her: then he made the Millo. ^9:25Three times in the year it was Solomon's way to give burned offerings and peace-offerings on the altar he had made to the Lord, causing his fire-offering to go up on the altar before the Lord. ^9:26And King Solomon made a sea-force of ships in Ezion-geber, by Eloth, on the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ^9:27Hiram sent his servants, who were experienced seamen, in the sea-force with Solomon's men. ^9:28And they came to Ophir, where they got four hundred and twenty talents of gold, and took it back to King Solomon.

^10:1Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions. ^10:2And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels weighted down with spices, and stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind. ^10:3And Solomon gave her answers to all her questions; there was no secret which the king did not make clear to her. ^10:4And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had made, ^10:5And the food at his table, and all his servants seated there, and those who were waiting on him in their places, and their robes, and his wine-servants, and the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. ^10:6And she said to the king, The account which was given to me in my country of your acts and your wisdom was true. ^10:7But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself; and now I see that it was not half the story; your wisdom and your wealth are much greater than they said. ^10:8Happy are your wives, happy are these your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom. ^10:9May the Lord your God be praised, whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of the kingdom of Israel; because the Lord's love for Israel is eternal, he has made you king, to be their judge in righteousness. ^10:10And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels: never again was such a wealth of spices seen as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon. ^10:11And the sea-force of Hiram, in addition to gold from Ophir, came back with much sandal-wood and jewels. ^10:12And from the sandal-wood the king made pillars for the house of the Lord, and for the king's house, and instruments of music for the makers of melody: never has such sandal-wood been seen to this day. ^10:13And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she made request for, in addition to what he gave her freely from the impulse of his heart. So she went back to her country, she and her servants. ^10:14Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents; ^10:15In addition to what came to him from the business of the traders, and from all the kings of the Arabians, and from the rulers of the country. ^10:16And Solomon made two hundred body-covers of hammered gold, every one having six hundred shekels of gold in it. ^10:17And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, with three pounds of gold in every cover: and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon. ^10:18Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold. ^10:19There were six steps going up to it, and the top of it was round at the back, there were arms on the two sides of the seat, and two lions by the side of the arms; ^10:20And twelve lions were placed on the one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom. ^10:21And all King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold; not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon. ^10:22For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and monkeys and peacocks. ^10:23And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom. ^10:24And from all over the earth they came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ^10:25And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses, and beasts of transport, regularly year by year. ^10:26And Solomon got together war-carriages and horsemen; he had one thousand, four hundred carriages and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king at Jerusalem. ^10:27And the king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number. ^10:28And Solomon's horses came from Egypt and from Kue; the king's traders got them at a price from Kue. ^10:29A war-carriage might be got from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; they got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

^11:1Now a number of strange women were loved by Solomon, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: ^11:2The nations of which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you; or they will certainly make you go after their gods: to these Solomon was united in love. ^11:3He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives; and through his wives his heart was turned away. ^11:4For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been. ^11:5For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites. ^11:6And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did. ^11:7Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon. ^11:8And so he did for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods. ^11:9And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had twice come to him in a vision; ^11:10And had given him orders about this very thing, that he was not to go after other gods; but he did not keep the orders of the Lord. ^11:11So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and have not kept my agreement and my laws, which I gave you, I will take the kingdom away from you by force and will give it to your servant. ^11:12I will not do it in your life-time, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son. ^11:13Still I will not take all the kingdom from him; but I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection. ^11:14So the Lord sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon: he was of the king's seed in Edom. ^11:15And when David had sent destruction on Edom, and Joab, the captain of the army, had gone to put the dead into the earth, and had put to death every male in Edom; ^11:16(For Joab and all Israel were there six months till every male in Edom had been cut off;) ^11:17Hadad, being still a young boy, went in flight to Egypt, with certain Edomites, servants of his father; ^11:18And they went on from Midian and came to Paran; and, taking men from Paran with them, they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and gave orders for his food and gave him land. ^11:19Now Hadad was very pleasing to Pharaoh, so that he gave him the sister of his wife, Tahpenes the queen, for his wife. ^11:20And the sister of Tahpenes had a son by him, Genubath, whom Tahpenes took care of in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was living in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's sons. ^11:21Now when Hadad had news in Egypt that David had been put to rest with his fathers, and that Joab, the captain of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, Send me back to my country. ^11:22But Pharaoh said to him, What have you been short of while you have been with me, that you are desiring to go back to your country? And he said, Nothing; but even so, send me back. ^11:23And God sent another trouble-maker, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had gone in flight from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah: ^11:24He got some men together and made himself captain of a band of outlaws; and went to Damascus and became king there. ^11:25He was a trouble to Israel all through the days of Solomon. And this is the damage Hadad did: he was cruel to Israel while he was ruler over Edom. ^11:26And there was Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow; and his hand was lifted up against the king. ^11:27The way in which his hand came to be lifted up against the king was this: Solomon was building the Millo and making good the damaged parts of the town of his father David; ^11:28And Jeroboam was an able and responsible man; and Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph. ^11:29Now at that time, when Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite came across him on the road; now Ahijah had put on a new robe; and the two of them were by themselves in the open country. ^11:30And Ahijah took his new robe in his hands, parting it violently into twelve. ^11:31And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten of the parts, for this is what the Lord has said: See, I will take the kingdom away from Solomon by force, and will give ten tribes to you; ^11:32(But one tribe will be his, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town which, out of all the tribes of Israel, I have made mine,) ^11:33Because they are turned away from me to the worship of Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites; they have not been walking in my ways or doing what is right in my eyes or keeping my laws and my decisions as his father David did. ^11:34But I will not take the kingdom from him; I will let him be king all the days of his life, because of David my servant, in whom I took delight because he kept my orders and my laws. ^11:35But I will take the kingdom from his son, and give it to you. ^11:36And one tribe I will give to his son, so that David my servant may have a light for ever burning before me in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine to put my name there. ^11:37And you I will take, and you will be king over Israel, ruling over whatever is the desire of your soul. ^11:38And if you give attention to the orders I give you, walking in my ways and doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my laws and my orders as David my servant did; then I will be with you, building up for you a safe house, as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you. ^11:39(So that I may send trouble for this on the seed of David, but not for ever.) ^11:40And Solomon was looking for a chance to put Jeroboam to death; but he went in flight to Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the death of Solomon. ^11:41Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all he did, and his wisdom, are they not recorded in the book of the acts of Solomon? ^11:42And the time Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ^11:43And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father: and Solomon went to rest with his fathers and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

^12:1And Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had come together to make him king, ^12:2And, hearing of it, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who was still in Egypt, where he had gone in flight from Solomon, and was living there, came back to his town Zeredah, in the hill-country of Ephraim; ^12:3And all the men of Israel came to Rehoboam and said, ^12:4Your father put a hard yoke on us: if you will make the conditions under which your father kept us down less cruel, and the weight of the yoke he put on us less hard, then we will be your servants. ^12:5And he said to them, Go away for three days and then come back to me again. So the people went away. ^12:6Then King Rehoboam took the opinion of the old men who had been with Solomon his father when he was living, and said, In your opinion, what answer am I to give to this people? ^12:7And they said to him, If you will be a servant to this people today, caring for them and giving them a gentle answer, then they will be your servants for ever. ^12:8But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, and went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him: ^12:9And said to them, What is your opinion? What answer are we to give to this people who have said to me, Make less the weight of the yoke which your father put on us? ^12:10And the young men of his generation said to him, This is the answer to give to the people who came to you saying, Your father put a hard yoke on us; will you make it less? say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's body; ^12:11If my father put a hard yoke on you, I will make it harder: my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give you blows with snakes. ^12:12So all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had given orders, saying, Come back to me the third day. ^12:13And the king gave them a rough answer, giving no attention to the suggestion of the old men; ^12:14But giving them the answer put forward by the young men, saying, My father made your yoke hard, but I will make it harder; my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give it with snakes. ^12:15So the king did not give ear to the people; and this came about by the purpose of the Lord, so that what he had said by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, son of Nebat, might be effected. ^12:16And when all Israel saw that the king would give no attention to them, the people in answer said to the king, What part have we in David? what is our heritage in the son of Jesse? to your tents, O Israel; now see to your people, David. So Israel went away to their tents. ^12:17(But Rehoboam was still king over those of the children of Israel who were living in the towns of Judah.) ^12:18Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the overseer of the forced work; and he was stoned to death by all Israel. And King Rehoboam went quickly and got into his carriage to go in flight to Jerusalem. ^12:19So Israel was turned away from the family of David to this day. ^12:20Now when all Israel had news that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him to come before the meeting of the people, and made him king over Israel: not one of them was joined to the family of David but only the tribe of Judah. ^12:21When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he got together all the men of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand of his best fighting-men, to make war against Israel and get the kingdom back for Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. ^12:22But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, ^12:23Say to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the men of Judah and Benjamin and the rest of the people: ^12:24The Lord has said, You are not to go to war against your brothers, the children of Israel; go back, every man to his house, because this thing is my purpose. So they gave ear to the word of the Lord, and went back, as the Lord had said. ^12:25Then Jeroboam made the town of Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim a strong place, and was living there; and from there he went out and did the same to Penuel. ^12:26And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will go back to the family of David: ^12:27If the people go up to make offerings in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, their heart will be turned again to their lord, to Rehoboam, king of Judah; and they will put me to death and go back to Rehoboam, king of Judah. ^12:28So after taking thought the king made two oxen of gold; and he said to the people, You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough; see! these are your gods, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt. ^12:29And he put one in Beth-el and the other in Dan. ^12:30And this became a sin in Israel; for the people went to give worship to the one at Beth-el, and to the other at Dan. ^12:31And he made places for worship at the high places, and made priests, who were not Levites, from among all the people. ^12:32And Jeroboam gave orders for a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is kept in Judah, and he went up to the altar. And in the same way, in Beth-el, he gave offerings to the oxen which he had made, placing in Beth-el the priests of the high places he had made. ^12:33He went up to the altar he had made in Beth-el on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month fixed by him at his pleasure; and he gave orders for a feast for the people of Israel, and went up to the altar, and there he made the smoke of his offerings go up.

^13:1Then a man of God came from Judah by the order of the Lord to Beth-el, where Jeroboam was by the altar, burning offerings. ^13:2And by the order of the Lord he made an outcry against the altar, saying, O altar, altar, the Lord has said, From the seed of David will come a child, named Josiah, and on you he will put to death the priests of the high places, who are burning offerings on you, and men's bones will be burned on you. ^13:3The same day he gave them a sign, saying, This is the sign which the Lord has given: See, the altar will be broken and the burned waste on it overturned. ^13:4Then the king, hearing the man of God crying out against the altar at Beth-el, put out his hand from the altar, saying, Take him prisoner. And his hand, stretched out against him, became dead, and he had no power of pulling it back. ^13:5And the altar was broken and the burned waste on it overturned; this was the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. ^13:6Then the king made answer and said to the man of God, Make a prayer now for the grace of the Lord your God, and for me, that my hand may be made well. And in answer to the prayer of the man of God, the king's hand was made well again, as it was before. ^13:7And the king said to the man of God, Come with me to my house for food and rest, and I will give you a reward. ^13:8But the man of God said to the king, Even if you gave me half of all you have, I would not go in with you, and I would not take food or a drink of water in this place; ^13:9For so I was ordered by the word of the Lord, who said, You are not to take food or a drink of water, and you are not to go back the way you came. ^13:10So he went another way, and not by the way he came to Beth-el. ^13:11Now there was an old prophet living in Beth-el; and one of his sons came and gave him word of all the man of God had done that day in Beth-el, and they gave their father an account of the words he had said to the king. ^13:12Then their father said to them, Which way did he go? Now his sons had seen which way the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ^13:13So the prophet said to his sons, Make ready an ass for me. So they made an ass ready, and he got on it, ^13:14And went after the man of God, and came up with him while he was seated under an oak-tree. And he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. ^13:15Then he said to him, Come back to the house with me and have a meal. ^13:16But he said, I may not go back with you or go into your house; and I will not take food or a drink of water with you in this place; ^13:17For the Lord said to me, You are not to take food or water there, or go back again by the way you came. ^13:18Then he said to him, I am a prophet like you; and an angel said to me by the word of the Lord, Take him back with you and give him food and water. But he said false words to him. ^13:19So he went back with him, and had a meal in his house and a drink of water. ^13:20But while they were seated at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had taken him back; ^13:21And crying out to the man of God who came from Judah, he said, The Lord says, Because you have gone against the voice of the Lord, and have not done as you were ordered by the Lord, ^13:22But have come back, and have taken food and water in this place where he said you were to take no food or water; your dead body will not be put to rest with your fathers. ^13:23Now after the meal he made ready the ass for him, for the prophet whom he had taken back. ^13:24And he went on his way; but on the road a lion came rushing at him and put him to death; and his dead body was stretched in the road with the ass by its side, and the lion was there by the body. ^13:25And some men, going by, saw the body stretched out in the road with the lion by its side; and they came and gave news of it in the town where the old prophet was living. ^13:26Then the prophet who had made him come back, hearing it, said, It is the man of God, who went against the word of the Lord; that is why the Lord has given him to the lion to be wounded to death, as the Lord said. ^13:27And he said to his sons, Make ready the ass for me. And they did so. ^13:28And he went and saw the dead body stretched out in the road with the ass and the lion by its side: the lion had not taken the body for its food or done any damage to the ass. ^13:29Then the prophet took up the body of the man of God and put it on the ass and took it back; and he came to the town to put the body to rest with weeping. ^13:30And he put the body in the resting-place made ready for himself, weeping and sorrowing over it, saying, O my brother! ^13:31And when he had put it to rest, he said to his sons, When I am dead, then you are to put my body into the earth with the body of this man of God, and put me by his bones so that my bones may be kept safe with his bones. ^13:32For the outcry he made by the word of the Lord against the altar in Beth-el and against all the houses of the high places in the towns of Samaria, will certainly come about. ^13:33After this Jeroboam, not turning back from his evil ways, still made priests for his altars from among all the people; he made a priest of anyone desiring it, so that there might be priests of the high places. ^13:34And this became a sin in the family of Jeroboam, causing it to be cut off and sent to destruction from the face of the earth.

^14:1At that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, became ill. ^14:2And Jeroboam said to his wife, Now come, put on different clothing so that you may not seem to be the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh; see, Ahijah is there, the prophet who said I would be king over this people. ^14:3And take with you ten cakes of bread and dry cakes and a pot of honey, and go to him: he will give you word of what is to become of the child. ^14:4So Jeroboam's wife did so, and got up and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah was unable to see, because he was very old. ^14:5And the Lord had said to Ahijah, The wife of Jeroboam is coming to get news from you about her son, who is ill; give her such and such an answer; for she will make herself seem to be another woman. ^14:6Then Ahijah, hearing the sound of her footsteps coming in at the door, said, Come in, O wife of Jeroboam; why do you make yourself seem like another? for I am sent to you with bitter news. ^14:7Go, say to Jeroboam, These are the words of the Lord, the God of Israel: Though I took you from among the people, lifting you up to be a ruler over my people Israel, ^14:8And took the kingdom away by force from the seed of David and gave it to you, you have not been like my servant David, who kept my orders, and was true to me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. ^14:9But you have done evil more than any before you, and have made for yourself other gods, and images of metal, moving me to wrath, and turning your back on me. ^14:10So I will send evil on the line of Jeroboam, cutting off from his family every male child, those who are shut up and those who go free in Israel; the family of Jeroboam will be brushed away like a man brushing away waste till it is all gone. ^14:11Those of the family of Jeroboam who come to death in the town, will become food for the dogs; and those on whom death comes in the open country, will be food for the birds of the air; for the Lord has said it. ^14:12Up, then! go back to your house; and in the hour when your feet go into the town, the death of the child will take place. ^14:13And all Israel will put his body to rest, weeping over him, because he only of the family of Jeroboam will be put into his resting-place in the earth; for of all the family of Jeroboam, in him only has the Lord, the God of Israel, seen some good. ^14:14And the Lord will put up a king over Israel who will send destruction on the family of Jeroboam in that day; ^14:15And even now the hand of the Lord has come down on Israel, shaking it like a river-grass in the water; and, uprooting Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, he will send them this way and that on the other side of the River; because they have made for themselves images, moving the Lord to wrath. ^14:16And he will give Israel up because of the sins which Jeroboam has done and made Israel do. ^14:17Then Jeroboam's wife got up and went away and came to Tirzah; and when she came to the doorway of the house, death came to the child. ^14:18And all Israel put his body to rest, weeping over him, as the Lord had said by his servant Ahijah the prophet. ^14:19Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he became king, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. ^14:20And Jeroboam was king for twenty-two years, and was put to rest with his fathers, and Nadab his son became king in his place. ^14:21And Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was king in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he was king for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the town which the Lord had made his out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there; his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonite woman. ^14:22And Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and made him more angry than their fathers had done by their sins. ^14:23For they made high places and upright stones and wood pillars on every high hill and under every green tree; ^14:24And more than this, there were those in the land who were used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods, doing the same disgusting crimes as the nations which the Lord had sent out before the children of Israel. ^14:25Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem; ^14:26And took away all the stored wealth from the house of the Lord, and from the king's house, and all the gold body-covers which Solomon had made. ^14:27So in their place King Rehoboam had other body-covers made of brass, and gave them into the care of the captains of the armed men who were stationed at the door of the king's house. ^14:28And whenever the king went into the house of the Lord, the armed men went with him taking the body-covers, and then took them back to their room. ^14:29Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah? ^14:30And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ^14:31And Rehoboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonite woman. And Abijam his son became king in his place.

^15:1Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. ^15:2For three years he was king in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. ^15:3And he did the same sins which his father had done before him: his heart was not completely true to the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father. ^15:4But because of David, the Lord gave him a light in Jerusalem, making his sons king after him, so that Jerusalem might be safe; ^15:5Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and never in all his life went against his orders, but only in the question of Uriah the Hittite. ^15:6... ^15:7Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ^15:8Then Abijam went to rest with his fathers, and they put him into the earth in the town of David: and Asa his son became king in his place. ^15:9In the twentieth year that Jeroboam was king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah. ^15:10And he was king for forty-one years in Jerusalem; his mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. ^15:11Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father did. ^15:12Those used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods he sent out of the country, and he took away all the images which his fathers had made. ^15:13And he would not let Maacah his mother be queen, because she had made a disgusting image for Asherah; and Asa had the image cut down and burned by the stream Kidron. ^15:14The high places, however, were not taken away: but still the heart of Asa was true to the Lord all his life. ^15:15He took into the house of the Lord all the things which his father had made holy, and those which he himself had made holy, silver and gold and vessels. ^15:16Now there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days. ^15:17And Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah, building Ramah, so that no one was able to go out or in to Asa, king of Judah. ^15:18Then Asa took all the silver and gold which was still stored in the Lord's house, and in the king's house, and sent them, in the care of his servants, to Ben-hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Rezon, king of Aram, at Damascus, saying, ^15:19Let there be an agreement between me and you as there was between my father and your father: see, I have sent you an offering of silver and gold; go and put an end to your agreement with Baasha, king of Israel, so that he may give up attacking me. ^15:20So Ben-hadad did as King Asa said, and sent the captains of his armies against the towns of Israel, attacking Ijon and Dan and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth as far as all the land of Naphtali. ^15:21And Baasha, hearing of it, put a stop to the building of Ramah, and was living in Tirzah. ^15:22Then King Asa got all Judah together, making every man come; and they took away the stones and the wood with which Baasha was building Ramah, and King Asa made use of them for building Geba in the land of Benjamin, and Mizpah. ^15:23Now the rest of the acts of Asa, and his power, and all he did, and the towns of which he was the builder, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah? But when he was old he had a disease of the feet. ^15:24So Asa went to rest with his fathers and was put into the earth in the town of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son became king in his place. ^15:25Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, became king over Israel in the second year that Asa was king of Judah; and he was king of Israel for two years. ^15:26He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the evil ways of his father, and the sin which he did and made Israel do. ^15:27And Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the family of Issachar, made a secret design against him, attacking him at Gibbethon, a town of the Philistines; for Nadab and the armies of Israel were making war on Gibbethon. ^15:28In the third year of the rule of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha put him to death, and became king in his place. ^15:29And straight away when he became king, he sent destruction on all the offspring of Jeroboam; there was not one living person of all the family of Jeroboam whom he did not put to death, so the word of the Lord, which he said by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite, came about; ^15:30Because of the sins which Jeroboam did and made Israel do, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath. ^15:31Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? ^15:32And there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days. ^15:33In the third year of the rule of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, became king over all Israel in Tirzah, and was king for twenty-four years. ^15:34He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the evil ways of Jeroboam and the sin which he made Israel do.

^16:1And the word of the Lord came to Jehu, son of Hanani, protesting against Baasha and saying, ^16:2Because I took you up out of the dust, and made you ruler over my people Israel; and you have gone in the ways of Jeroboam, and made my people Israel do evil, moving me to wrath by their sins; ^16:3Truly, I will see that Baasha and all his family are completely brushed away; I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. ^16:4Anyone of the family of Baasha who comes to death in the town, will become food for the dogs; and he to whom death comes in the open country, will be food for the birds of the air. ^16:5Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? ^16:6And Baasha went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth at Tirzah; and Elah his son became king in his place. ^16:7And the Lord sent his word against Baasha and his family by the mouth of the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, because of all the evil he did in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath by the work of his hands, because he was like the family of Jeroboam, and because he put it to death. ^16:8In the twenty-sixth year that Asa was king of Judah, Elah, the son of Baasha, became king of Israel in Tirzah, and he was king for two years. ^16:9And his servant Zimri, captain of half his war-carriages, made secret designs against him: now he was in Tirzah, drinking hard in the house of Arza, controller of the king's house in Tirzah. ^16:10And Zimri went in and made an attack on him and put him to death, in the twenty-seventh year that Asa was king of Judah, and made himself king in his place. ^16:11And straight away when he became king and took his place on the seat of the kingdom, he put to death all the family of Baasha: not one male child of his relations or his friends kept his life. ^16:12So Zimri put to death all the family of Baasha, so that the word which the Lord said against him by the mouth of Jehu the prophet came about; ^16:13Because of all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they did and made Israel do, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath by their foolish acts. ^16:14Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? ^16:15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri was king for seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were attacking Gibbethon in the land of the Philistines. ^16:16And news came to the people in the tents that Zimri had made a secret design and had put the king to death: so all Israel made Omri, the captain of the army, king that day in the tents. ^16:17Then Omri went up from Gibbethon, with all the army of Israel, and they made an attack on Tirzah, shutting in the town on every side. ^16:18And when Zimri saw that the town was taken, he went into the inner room of the king's house, and burning the house over his head, came to his end, ^16:19Because of his sin in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, in going in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel do. ^16:20Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the secret design he made, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? ^16:21Then there was a division among the people of Israel; half the people were for making Tibni, son of Ginath, king, and half were supporting Omri. ^16:22But the supporters of Omri overcame those who were on the side of Tibni, the son of Ginath; and death came to Tibni and to his brother Joram at that time: and Omri became king in the place of Tibni. ^16:23In the thirty-first year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and he was king for twelve years; for six years he was ruling in Tirzah. ^16:24He got the hill Samaria from Shemer for the price of two talents of silver, and he made a town there, building it on the hill and naming it Samaria, after Shemer the owner of the hill. ^16:25And Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, even worse than all those before him, ^16:26Copying all the evil ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and all the sins he did and made Israel do, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath by their foolish ways. ^16:27Now the rest of the acts which Omri did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? ^16:28So Omri went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria; and Ahab his son became king in his place. ^16:29In the thirty-eighth year that Asa was king of Judah, Ahab, the son of Omri, became king over Israel; and Ahab was king in Samaria for twenty-two years. ^16:30And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, even worse than all who went before him. ^16:31And as if copying the evil ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was a small thing for him, he took as his wife Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidon, and became a servant and worshipper of Baal. ^16:32And he put up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he had made in Samaria. ^16:33And Ahab made an image of Asherah and did more than all the kings of Israel before him to make the Lord, the God of Israel, angry. ^16:34In his days Hiel made Jericho; he put its base in position at the price of Abiram, his oldest son, and he put its doors in place at the price of his youngest son Segub; even as the Lord had said by Joshua, the son of Nun.

^17:1And Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, By the living Lord, the God of Israel, whose servant I am, there will be no dew or rain in these years, but only at my word. ^17:2Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ^17:3Go from here in the direction of the east, and keep yourself in a secret place by the stream Cherith, east of Jordan. ^17:4The water of the stream will be your drink, and by my orders the ravens will give you food there. ^17:5So he went and did as the Lord said, living by the stream Cherith, east of Jordan. ^17:6And the ravens took him bread in the morning and meat in the evening; and the water of the stream was his drink. ^17:7Now after a time the stream became dry, because there was no rain in the land. ^17:8Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ^17:9Up! go now to Zarephath, in Zidon, and make your living-place there; I have given orders to a widow woman there to see that you have food. ^17:10So he got up and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the door of the town, he saw a widow woman getting sticks together; and crying out to her he said, Will you give me a little water in a vessel for my drink? ^17:11And when she was going to get it, he said to her, And get me with it a small bit of bread. ^17:12Then she said, By the life of the Lord your God, I have nothing but a little meal in my store, and a drop of oil in the bottle; and now I am getting two sticks together so that I may go in and make it ready for me and my son, so that we may have a meal before our death. ^17:13And Elijah said to her, Have no fear; go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and come and give it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ^17:14For this is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: The store of meal will not come to an end, and the bottle will never be without oil, till the day when the Lord sends rain on the earth. ^17:15So she went and did as Elijah said; and she and he and her family had food for a long time. ^17:16The store of meal did not come to an end, and the bottle was never without oil, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Elijah. ^17:17Now after this, the son of the woman of the house became ill, so ill that there was no breath in him. ^17:18And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O man of God? have you come to put God in mind of my sin, and to put my son to death? ^17:19And he said to her, Give your son to me. And lifting him out of her arms, he took him up to his room and put him down on his bed. ^17:20And crying to the Lord he said, O Lord my God, have you sent evil even on the widow whose guest I am, by causing her son's death? ^17:21And stretching herself out on the child three times, he made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord my God, be pleased to let this child's life come back to him again. ^17:22And the Lord gave ear to the voice of Elijah, and the child's spirit came into him again, and he came back to life. ^17:23And Elijah took the child down from his room into the house and gave him to his mother and said to her, See, your son is living. ^17:24Then the woman said to Elijah, Now I am certain that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.

^18:1Now after a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go and let Ahab see you, so that I may send rain on the earth. ^18:2So Elijah went to let Ahab see him. Now there was no food to be had in Samaria. ^18:3And Ahab sent for Obadiah, the controller of the king's house. (Now Obadiah had the fear of the Lord before him greatly; ^18:4For when Jezebel was cutting off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred of them, and kept them secretly in a hole in the rock, fifty at a time, and gave them bread and water.) ^18:5And Ahab said to Obadiah, Come, let us go through all the country, to all the fountains of water and all the rivers, and see if there is any grass to be had for the horses and the transport beasts, so that we may be able to keep some of the beasts from destruction. ^18:6So they went through all the country, covering it between them; Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another by himself. ^18:7And while Obadiah was on his way, he came face to face with Elijah; and seeing who it was, he went down on his face and said, Is it you, my lord Elijah? ^18:8And Elijah in answer said, It is I; now go and say to your lord, Elijah is here. ^18:9And he said, What sin have I done, that you would give up your servant into the hand of Ahab, and be the cause of my death? ^18:10By the life of the Lord your God, there is not a nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent in search of you; and when they said, He is not here; he made them take an oath that they had not seen you. ^18:11And now you say, Go, say to your lord, Elijah is here. ^18:12And straight away, when I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will take you away, I have no idea where, so that when I come and give word to Ahab, and he sees you not, he will put me to death: though I, your servant, have been a worshipper of the Lord from my earliest years. ^18:13Has my lord not had word of what I did when Jezebel was putting the Lord's prophets to death? how I kept a hundred of them in a secret hole in the rock, fifty at a time, and gave them bread and water? ^18:14And now you say, Go and say to your Lord, Elijah is here; and he will put me to death. ^18:15And Elijah said, By the life of the Lord of armies, whose servant I am, I will certainly let him see me today. ^18:16So Obadiah went to Ahab and gave him the news; and Ahab went to see Elijah. ^18:17And when he saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is it you, you troubler of Israel? ^18:18Then he said in answer, I have not been troubling Israel, but you and your family; because, turning away from the orders of the Lord, you have gone after the Baals. ^18:19Now send, and get Israel together before me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal who get their food at Jezebel's table. ^18:20So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and got the prophets together at Mount Carmel. ^18:21And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on balancing between two opinions? if the Lord is God, then give worship to him; but if Baal, give worship to him. And the people said not a word in answer. ^18:22Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I, am the only living prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. ^18:23Now, let them give us two oxen; and let them take one for themselves, and have it cut up, and put it on the wood, but put no fire under it; I will get the other ox ready, and put it on the wood, and put no fire under it. ^18:24And do you make prayers to your god, and I will make a prayer to the Lord: and it will be clear that the one who gives an answer by fire is God. And all the people in answer said, It is well said. ^18:25Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Take one ox for yourselves and get it ready first, for there are more of you; and make your prayers to your god, but put no fire under. ^18:26So they took the ox which was given them, and made it ready, crying out to Baal from morning till the middle of the day, and saying, O Baal, give ear to us. But there was no voice and no answer. And they were jumping up and down before the altar they had made. ^18:27And in the middle of the day, Elijah made sport of them, saying, Give louder cries, for he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or he may have gone away for some purpose, or he may be on a journey, or by chance he is sleeping and has to be made awake. ^18:28So they gave loud cries, cutting themselves with knives and swords, as was their way, till the blood came streaming out all over them. ^18:29And from the middle of the day they went on with their prayers till the time of the offering; but there was no voice, or any answer, or any who gave attention to them. ^18:30Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me; and all the people came near. And he put up again the altar of the Lord which had been broken down. ^18:31And Elijah took twelve stones, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, Israel will be your name: ^18:32And with the stones he made an altar to the name of the Lord; and he made a deep drain all round the altar, great enough to take two measures of seed. ^18:33And he put the wood in order, and, cutting up the ox, put it on the wood. Then he said, Get four vessels full of water and put it on the burned offering and on the wood. And he said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time; ^18:34And he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time. ^18:35And the water went all round the altar, till the drain was full. ^18:36Then at the time of the offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be seen this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things by your order. ^18:37Give me an answer, O Lord, give me an answer, so that this people may see that you are God, and that you have made their hearts come back again. ^18:38Then the fire of the Lord came down, burning up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and drinking up the water in the drain. ^18:39And when the people saw it, they all went down on their faces, and said, The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. ^18:40And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them get away. So they took them, and Elijah made them go down to the stream Kishon, and put them to death there. ^18:41Then Elijah said to Ahab, Up! take food and drink, for there is a sound of much rain. ^18:42So Ahab went up to have food and drink, while Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he went down on the earth, putting his face between his knees. ^18:43And he said to his servant, Go now, and take a look in the direction of the sea. And he went up, and after looking said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times; and he went seven times. ^18:44And the seventh time he said, I see a cloud coming up out of the sea, as small as a man's hand. Then he said, Go up and say to Ahab, Get your carriage ready and go down or the rain will keep you back. ^18:45And after a very little time, the heaven became black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab went in his carriage to Jezreel. ^18:46And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; and he made himself strong, and went running before Ahab till they came to Jezreel.

^19:1Ahab gave Jezebel news of all Elijah had done, and how he had put all the prophets to death with the sword. ^19:2Then Jezebel sent a servant to Elijah, saying, May the gods' punishment be on me if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. ^19:3And he got up, fearing for his life, and went in flight, and came to Beer-sheba in Judah, parting there from his servant; ^19:4While he himself went a day's journey into the waste land, and took a seat under a broom-plant, desiring for himself only death; for he said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. ^19:5And stretching himself on the earth, he went to sleep under the broom-plant; but an angel, touching him, said to him, Get up and have some food. ^19:6And looking up, he saw by his head a cake cooked on the stones and a bottle of water. So he took food and drink and went to sleep again. ^19:7And the angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touching him said, Get up and have some food, or the journey will be overmuch for your strength. ^19:8So he got up and took food and drink, and in the strength of that food he went on for forty days and nights, to Horeb, the mountain of God. ^19:9And there he went into a hole in the rock for the night; then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, What are you doing here, Elijah? ^19:10And he said, I have been burning for the honour of the Lord, the God of armies; for the children of Israel have not kept your agreement; they have made destruction of your altars, and have put your prophets to death with the sword: till I, even I, am the only one living; and now they are attempting to take away my life. ^19:11Then he said, Go out and take your place on the mountain before the Lord. Then the Lord went by, and mountains were parted by the force of a great wind, and rocks were broken before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earth-shock, but the Lord was not in the earth-shock. ^19:12And after the earth-shock a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a soft breath. ^19:13And Elijah, hearing it, went out, covering his face with his robe, and took his place in the opening of the hole. And there a voice came to him saying, What are you doing here, Elijah? ^19:14And he said, I have been burning for the honour of the Lord, the God of armies; for the children of Israel have not kept your agreement; they have had your altars broken down, and have put your prophets to death with the sword: till I, even I, am the only one living; and now they are attempting to take away my life. ^19:15And the Lord said to him, Go back on your way through the waste land to Damascus; and when you come there, put the holy oil on Hazael to make him king over Aram; ^19:16And on Jehu, son of Nimshi, making him king over Israel; and on Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, to be prophet in your place. ^19:17And it will come about that the man who gets away safe from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will put to death; and whoever gets away safe from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will put to death. ^19:18But I will keep safe seven thousand in Israel, all those whose knees have not been bent to Baal, and whose mouths have given him no kisses. ^19:19So he went away from there and came across Elisha, the son of Shaphat, ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, he himself walking with the twelfth; and Elijah went up to him and put his robe on him. ^19:20And letting the oxen be where they were, he came running after Elijah, and said, Only let me give a kiss to my father and mother, and then I will come after you. But he said to him, Go back again; for what have I done to you? ^19:21And he went back, and took the oxen and put them to death, and cooking their flesh with the yokes of the oxen, he gave the people a feast. Then he got up and went after Elijah and became his servant.

^20:1Now Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got all his army together, and thirty-two kings with him, and horses and carriages of war; he went up and made war on Samaria, shutting it in. ^20:2And he sent representatives into the town to Ahab, king of Israel; ^20:3And they said to him, Ben-hadad says, Your silver and your gold are mine; and your wives and children are mine. ^20:4And the king of Israel sent him an answer saying, As you say, my lord king, I am yours with all I have. ^20:5Then the representatives came back again, and said, These are the words of Ben-hadad: I sent to you saying, Give up to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children; ^20:6But I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, to make a search through your house and the houses of your people, and everything which is pleasing in your eyes they will take away in their hands. ^20:7Then the king of Israel sent for all the responsible men of the land, and said, Now will you take note and see the evil purpose of this man: he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I did not keep them back. ^20:8And all the responsible men and the people said to him, Do not give attention to him or do what he says. ^20:9So he said to the representatives of Ben-hadad, Say to my lord the king, All the orders you sent the first time I will do; but this thing I may not do. And the representatives went back with this answer. ^20:10Then Ben-hadad sent to him, saying, May the gods' punishment be on me if there is enough of the dust of Samaria for all the people at my feet to take some in their hands. ^20:11And the king of Israel said in answer, Say to him, The time for loud talk is not when a man is putting on his arms, but when he is taking them off. ^20:12Now when this answer was given to Ben-hadad, he was drinking with the kings in the tents, and he said to his men, Take up your positions. So they put themselves in position for attacking the town. ^20:13Then a prophet came up to Ahab, king of Israel, and said, The Lord says, Have you seen all this great army? See, I will give it into your hands today, and you will see that I am the Lord. ^20:14And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, The Lord says, By the servants of the chiefs who are over the divisions of the land. Then he said, By whom is the fighting to be started? And he made answer, By you. ^20:15Then he got together the servants of all the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land, two hundred and thirty-two of them; and after them, he got together all the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand. ^20:16And in the middle of the day they went out. But Ben-hadad was drinking in the tents with the thirty-two kings who were helping him. ^20:17And the servants of the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land went forward first; and when Ben-hadad sent out, they gave him the news, saying, Men have come out from Samaria. ^20:18And he said, If they have come out for peace, take them living, and if they have come out for war, take them living. ^20:19So the servants of the chiefs of the divisions of the land went out of the town, with the army coming after them. ^20:20And every one of them put his man to death, and the Aramaeans went in flight with Israel after them; and Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got away safely on a horse with his horsemen. ^20:21And the king of Israel went out and took the horses and the war-carriages, and made great destruction among the Aramaeans. ^20:22Then the prophet came up to the king of Israel, and said to him, Now make yourself strong, and take care what you do, or a year from now the king of Aram will come up against you again. ^20:23Then the king of Aram's servants said to him, Their god is a god of the hills; that is why they were stronger than we: but if we make an attack on them in the lowlands, we will certainly be stronger than they. ^20:24This is what you have to do: take away the kings from their positions, and put captains in their places; ^20:25And get together another army like the one which came to destruction, horse for horse, and carriage for carriage; and let us make war on them in the lowlands, and certainly we will be stronger than they. And he gave ear to what they said, and did so. ^20:26So, a year later, Ben-hadad got the Aramaeans together and went up to Aphek to make war on Israel. ^20:27And the children of Israel got themselves together, and food was made ready and they went against them; the tents of the children of Israel were like two little flocks of goats before them, but all the country was full of the Aramaeans. ^20:28And a man of God came up and said to the king of Israel, The Lord says, Because the Aramaeans have said, The Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys; I will give all this great army into your hands, and you will see that I am the Lord. ^20:29Now the two armies kept their positions facing one another for seven days. And on the seventh day the fight was started; and the children of Israel put to the sword a hundred thousand Aramaean footmen in one day. ^20:30But the rest went in flight to Aphek, into the town, where a wall came down on the twenty-seven thousand who were still living. And Ben-hadad went in flight into the town, into an inner room. ^20:31Then his servants said to him, It is said that the kings of Israel are full of mercy: let us then put on haircloth, and cords on our heads, and go to the king of Israel; it may be that he will give you your life. ^20:32So they put on haircloth, and cords on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says, Let me now keep my life. And he said, Is he still living? he is my brother. ^20:33Now the men took it as a sign, and quickly took up his words; and they said, Ben-hadad is your brother. Then he said, Go and get him. So Ben-hadad came out to him and he made him get up into his carriage. ^20:34And Ben-hadad said to him, The towns my father took from your father I will give back; and you may make streets for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria. And as for me, at the price of this agreement you will let me go. So he made an agreement with him and let him go. ^20:35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbour by the word of the Lord, Give me a wound. But the man would not. ^20:36Then he said to him, Because you have not given ear to the voice of the Lord, straight away when you have gone from me a lion will put you to death. And when he had gone, straight away a lion came rushing at him and put him to death. ^20:37Then he came across another man, and said, Give me a wound. And the man gave him a blow wounding him. ^20:38So the prophet went away, and pulling his head-band over his eyes to keep his face covered, took his place by the road waiting for the king. ^20:39And when the king went by, crying out to him he said, Your servant went out into the fight; and a man came out to me with another man and said, Keep this man: if by any chance he gets away, your life will be the price of his life, or you will have to give a talent of silver in payment. ^20:40But while your servant was turning this way and that, he was gone. Then the king of Israel said to him, You are responsible; you have given the decision against yourself. ^20:41Then he quickly took the head-band from his eyes; and the king of Israel saw that he was one of the prophets. ^20:42And he said to him, These are the words of the Lord: Because you have let go from your hands the man whom I had put to the curse, your life will be taken for his life, and your people for his people. ^20:43Then the king of Israel went back to his house, bitter and angry, and came to Samaria.

^21:1Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vine-garden in Jezreel, near the house of Ahab, king of Samaria. ^21:2And Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vine-garden so that I may have it for a garden of sweet plants, for it is near my house; and let me give you a better vine-garden in exchange, or, if it seems good to you, let me give you its value in money. ^21:3But Naboth said to Ahab, By the Lord, far be it from me to give you the heritage of my fathers. ^21:4So Ahab came into his house bitter and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, I will not give you the heritage of my fathers. And stretching himself on the bed with his face turned away, he would take no food. ^21:5But Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said, Why is your spirit so bitter that you have no desire for food? ^21:6And he said to her, Because I was talking to Naboth the Jezreelite, and I said to him, Let me have your vine-garden for a price, or, if it is pleasing to you, I will give you another vine-garden for it: and he said, I will not give you my vine-garden. ^21:7Then Jezebel, his wife, said, Are you now the ruler of Israel? Get up, take food, and let your heart be glad; I will give you the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite. ^21:8So she sent a letter in Ahab's name, stamped with his stamp, to the responsible men and the chiefs who were in authority with Naboth. ^21:9And in the letter she said, Let a time of public sorrow be fixed, and put Naboth at the head of the people; ^21:10And get two good-for-nothing persons to come before him and give witness that he has been cursing God and the king. Then take him out and have him stoned to death. ^21:11So the responsible men and the chiefs who were in authority in his town, did as Jezebel had said in the letter she sent them. ^21:12They gave orders for a day of public sorrow, and put Naboth at the head of the people. ^21:13And the two good-for-nothing persons came in and took their seats before him and gave witness against Naboth, in front of the people, saying, Naboth has been cursing God and the king. Then they took him outside the town and had him stoned to death. ^21:14And they sent word to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead. ^21:15Then Jezebel, hearing that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, said to Ahab, Get up and take as your heritage the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he would not give you for money, for Naboth is no longer living but is dead. ^21:16So Ahab, hearing that Naboth was dead, went down to the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite to take it as his heritage. ^21:17And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ^21:18Go down to Ahab, king of Israel, in Samaria; see, he is in the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite, where he has gone to take it as his heritage. ^21:19Say to him, The Lord says, Have you put a man to death and taken his heritage? Then say to him, The Lord says, In the place where dogs have been drinking the blood of Naboth, there will your blood become the drink of dogs. ^21:20And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you come face to face with me, O my hater? And he said, I have come to you because you have given yourself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. ^21:21See, I will send evil on you and put an end to you completely, cutting off from Ahab every male child, him who is shut up and him who goes free in Israel; ^21:22And I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the family of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, because you have made me angry, and have made Israel do evil. ^21:23And of Jezebel the Lord said, Jezebel will become food for dogs in the heritage of Jezreel. ^21:24Any man of the family of Ahab who comes to his death in the town will become food for the dogs; and he who comes to his death in the open country will be food for the birds of the air. ^21:25(There was no one like Ahab, who gave himself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moved to it by Jezebel his wife. ^21:26He did a very disgusting thing in going after false gods, doing all the things the Amorites did, whom the Lord sent out before the children of Israel.) ^21:27Hearing these words, Ahab, in great grief, put haircloth on his flesh and went without food, sleeping in haircloth, and going about quietly. ^21:28Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ^21:29Do you see how Ahab has made himself low before me? because he has made himself low before me, I will not send the evil in his life-time, but in his son's time I will send the evil on his family.

^22:1Now for three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. ^22:2And it came about in the third year, that Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel. ^22:3And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you not see that Ramoth-gilead is ours? and we are doing nothing to get it back from the hands of the king of Aram. ^22:4And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead to make war? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are: my people as your people, my horses as your horses. ^22:5Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Let us now get directions from the Lord. ^22:6So the king of Israel got all the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Am I to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And they said, Go up: for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king. ^22:7But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no other prophet of the Lord here from whom we may get directions? ^22:8And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, Micaiah, son of Imlah; but I have no love for him, for he is a prophet of evil to me and not of good. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. ^22:9Then the king of Israel sent for one of his unsexed servants and said, Go quickly and come back with Micaiah, the son of Imlah. ^22:10Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were seated on their seats of authority, dressed in their robes, by the doorway into Samaria; and all the prophets were acting as prophets before them. ^22:11And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made himself horns of iron and said, The Lord says, Pushing back the Aramaeans with these, you will put an end to them completely. ^22:12And all the prophets said the same thing, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and it will go well for you, for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king. ^22:13Now the servant who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, See now, all the prophets with one voice are saying good things to the king; so let your words be like theirs and say good things. ^22:14And Micaiah said, By the living Lord, whatever the Lord says to me I will say. ^22:15When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, are we to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And in answer he said, Go up, and it will go well for you; and the Lord will give it into the hands of the king. ^22:16Then the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord? ^22:17Then he said, I saw all Israel wandering on the mountains like sheep without a keeper; and the Lord said, These have no master: let them go back, every man to his house in peace. ^22:18And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not say that he would not be a prophet of good but of evil? ^22:19And he said, Give ear now to the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his seat of power, with all the army of heaven in their places round him at his right hand and at his left. ^22:20And the Lord said, How may Ahab be tricked into going up to Ramoth-gilead to his death? And one said one thing and one another. ^22:21Then a spirit came forward and took his place before the Lord and said, I will get him to do it by a trick. ^22:22And the Lord said, How? And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so. ^22:23And now, see, the Lord has put a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the Lord has said evil against you. ^22:24Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and gave Micaiah a blow on the side of the face, saying, Where is the spirit of the Lord whose word is in you? ^22:25And Micaiah said, Truly, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to keep yourself safe. ^22:26And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon, the ruler of the town, and to Joash, the king's son; ^22:27And say, It is the king's order that this man is to be put in prison and given prison food till I come again in peace. ^22:28And Micaiah said, If you come back at all in peace, the Lord has not sent his word by me. ^22:29So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead. ^22:30And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will make a change in my clothing, so that I do not seem to be the king, and will go into the fight; but do you put on your robes. So the king of Israel made a change in his dress and went into the fight. ^22:31Now the king of Aram had given orders to the thirty-two captains of his war-carriages, saying, Make no attack on small or great, but only on the king of Israel. ^22:32So when the captains of the war-carriages saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Truly, this is the king of Israel; and turning against him, they came round him, but Jehoshaphat gave a cry. ^22:33And when the captains of the war-carriages saw that he was not the king of Israel, they went back from going after him. ^22:34And a certain man sent an arrow from his bow without thought of its direction, and gave the king of Israel a wound where his breastplate was joined to his clothing; so he said to the driver of his war-carriage, Go to one side and take me away out of the army, for I am badly wounded. ^22:35But the fight became more violent while the day went on; and the king was supported in his war-carriage facing the Aramaeans, and the floor of the carriage was covered with the blood from his wound, and by evening he was dead. ^22:36And about sundown a cry went up from all parts of the army, saying, Let every man go back to his town and his country, for the king is dead. ^22:37And they came to Samaria, and put the king's body to rest in Samaria. ^22:38And the war-carriage was washed by the pool of Samaria, which was the bathing-place of the loose women, and the dogs were drinking his blood there, as the Lord had said. ^22:39Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all he did, and his ivory house, and all the towns of which he was the builder, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel? ^22:40So Ahab was put to rest with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son became king in his place. ^22:41And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab's rule over Israel. ^22:42Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he was king for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. ^22:43He did as Asa his father had done, not turning away from it, but doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord; but the high places were not taken away: the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places. ^22:44And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. ^22:45Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his great power, and how he went to war, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah? ^22:46He put an end to the rest of those who were used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods, all those who were still in the land in the time of his father Asa. ^22:47At that time there was no king in Edom; ^22:48And the representative of King Jehoshaphat made a Tarshish-ship to go to Ophir for gold, but it did not go, because it was broken at Ezion-geber. ^22:49Then Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, Let my men go with yours in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not let them. ^22:50Then Jehoshaphat went to rest with his fathers, and his body was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Jehoram his son became king in his place. ^22:51Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of the rule of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and he was king over Israel for two years. ^22:52He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, going in the ways of his father and his mother, and in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel do evil. ^22:53He was a servant and worshipper of Baal, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath, as his father had done.

2 Kings

^1:1After the death of Ahab, Moab made itself free from the authority of Israel. ^1:2Now Ahaziah had a fall from the window of his room in Samaria, and was ill. And he sent men, and said to them, Put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, about the outcome of my disease, to see if I will get well or not. ^1:3But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Go now, and, meeting the men sent by the king of Samaria, say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you are going to get directions from Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? ^1:4Give ear then to the words of the Lord: You will never again get down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you. Then Elijah went away. ^1:5And the men he had sent came back to the king; and he said to them, Why have you come back? ^1:6And they said to him, On our way we had a meeting with a man who said, Go back to the king who sent you and say to him, The Lord says, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you send to put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? For this reason, you will not come down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you. ^1:7And he said to them, What sort of a man was it who came and said these words to you? ^1:8And they said in answer, He was a man clothed in a coat of hair, with a leather band about his body. Then he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. ^1:9Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men; and he went up to him where he was seated on the top of a hill, and said to him, O man of God, the king has said, Come down. ^1:10And Elijah in answer said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven on you and on your fifty men, and put an end to you. Then fire came down from heaven and put an end to him and his fifty men. ^1:11Then the king sent another captain of fifty with his fifty men; and he said to Elijah, O man of God, the king says, Come down quickly. ^1:12And Elijah in answer said, If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven on you and on your fifty men, and put an end to you. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and put an end to him and his fifty men. ^1:13Then he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men; and the third captain of fifty went up, and falling on his knees before Elijah, requesting mercy of him, said, O man of God, let my life and the life of these your fifty servants be of value to you. ^1:14For fire came down from heaven and put an end to the first two captains of fifty and their fifties; but now let my life be of value in your eyes. ^1:15Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Go down with him; have no fear of him. So he got up and went down with him to the king. ^1:16And he said to him, This is the word of the Lord: Because you sent men to put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, for this reason you will never again get down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you. ^1:17So death came to him, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Elijah. And Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of the rule of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; because he had no son. ^1:18Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

^2:1Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a great wind, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ^2:2And Elijah said to Elisha, Come no farther for the Lord has sent me to Beth-el. But Elisha said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went down to Beth-el. ^2:3And at Beth-el the sons of the prophets came out to Elisha and said, Has it been made clear to you that the Lord is going to take away your master from over you today? And he said, Yes, I have knowledge of it: say no more. ^2:4Then Elijah said to him, Come no farther, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went on to Jericho. ^2:5And at Jericho the sons of the prophets came up to Elisha and said to him, Has it been made clear to you that the Lord is going to take away your master from over you today? And he said in answer, Yes, I have knowledge of it: say no more. ^2:6Then Elijah said to him, Come no farther, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. But he said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went on together. ^2:7And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went out and took their places facing them a long way off, while the two of them were by the edge of Jordan. ^2:8Then Elijah took off his robe, and, rolling it up, gave the water a blow with it, and the waters were parted, flowing back this way and that, so that they went over on dry land. ^2:9And when they had come to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, Say what you would have me do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, Be pleased to let a special measure of your spirit be on me. ^2:10And he said, You have made a hard request: still, if you see me when I am taken from you, you will get your desire; but if not, it will not be so. ^2:11And while they went on their way, going on talking together, suddenly there were carriages and horses of fire separating them from one another and Elijah went up to heaven in a great wind. ^2:12And when Elisha saw it he gave a cry, My father, my father, the carriages of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no longer; and he was full of grief. ^2:13Then he took up Elijah's robe, which had been dropped from him, and went back till he came to the edge of Jordan. ^2:14And he took Elijah's robe, which had been dropped from him, and giving the water a blow with it, said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? and at his blow the waters were parted this way and that; and Elisha went over. ^2:15And when the sons of the prophets who were facing him at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha. And they came out to him, and went down on the earth before him. ^2:16And they said, Your servants have with us here fifty strong men; be pleased to let them go in search of Elijah; for it may be that the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and put him down on some mountain or in some valley. But he said, Do not send them. ^2:17But when they kept on requesting him, he was shamed and said, Send, then. So they sent fifty men; but after searching for three days, they came back without having seen him. ^2:18And they came back to him, while he was still at Jericho; and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Go not? ^2:19Now the men of the town said to Elisha, You see that the position of this town is good; but the water is bad, causing the young of the cattle to come to birth dead. ^2:20So he said, Get me a new vessel, and put salt in it; and they took it to him. ^2:21Then he went out to the spring from which the water came, and put salt in it, and said, The Lord says, Now I have made this water sweet; no longer will it be death-giving or unfertile. ^2:22And the water was made sweet again to this day, as Elisha said. ^2:23Then from there he went up to Beth-el; and on his way, some little boys came out from the town and made sport of him, crying, Go up, old no-hair! go up, old no-hair! ^2:24And turning back, he saw them, and put a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the wood and put forty-two of the children to death. ^2:25From there he went to Mount Carmel, and came back from there to Samaria.

^3:1And Jehoram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of the rule of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and he was king for twelve years. ^3:2He did evil in the eyes of the Lord; but not like his father and his mother, for he put away the stone pillar of Baal which his father had made. ^3:3But still he did the same sins which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do; he went on in them. ^3:4Now Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep-farmer; and he gave regularly to the king of Israel the wool from a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand sheep. ^3:5But when Ahab was dead, the king of Moab got free from the authority of the king of Israel. ^3:6At that time, King Jehoram went out from Samaria and got all Israel together in fighting order. ^3:7And he sent to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has got free from my authority: will you go with me to make war on Moab? And he said, I will go with you: I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses. ^3:8And he said, Which way are we to go? And he said in answer, By the waste land of Edom. ^3:9So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom by a roundabout way for seven days: and there was no water for the army or for the beasts they had with them. ^3:10And the king of Israel said, Here is trouble: for the Lord has got these three kings together to give them into the hands of Moab. ^3:11But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may get directions from the Lord? And one of the king of Israel's men said in answer, Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here, who was servant to Elijah. ^3:12And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. ^3:13But Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? go to the prophets of your father and your mother. And the king of Israel said, No; for the Lord has got these three kings together to give them up into the hands of Moab. ^3:14Then Elisha said, By the life of the Lord of armies whose servant I am, if it was not for the respect I have for Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not give a look at you, or see you. ^3:15But now, get me a player of music, and it will come about that while the man is playing, the hand of the Lord will come on me and I will give you the word of the Lord: and they got a player of music, and while the man was playing, the hand of the Lord was on him. ^3:16And he said, The Lord says, I will make this valley full of water-holes. ^3:17For the Lord says, Though you see no wind or rain, the valley will be full of water, and you and your armies and your beasts will have drink. ^3:18And this will be only a small thing to the Lord: in addition he will give the Moabites into your hands. ^3:19And you are to put every walled town to destruction, cutting down every good tree, and stopping up every water-spring, and making all the good land rough with stones. ^3:20Now in the morning, about the time when the offering was made, they saw water flowing from the direction of Edom till the country was full of water. ^3:21Now all Moab, hearing that the kings had come to make war against them, got together all who were able to take up arms and went forward to the edge of the country. ^3:22And early in the morning they got up, when the sun was shining on the water, and they saw the water facing them as red as blood. ^3:23Then they said, This is blood: it is clear that destruction has come on the kings; they have been fighting one another: now come, Moab, let us take their goods. ^3:24But when they came to the tents of Israel, the Israelites came out and made a violent attack on the Moabites, so that they went in flight before them; and they went forward still attacking them; ^3:25Pulling down the towns, covering every good field with stones, stopping up all the water-springs, and cutting down all the good trees; they went on driving Moab before them till only in Kir-hareseth were there any Moabites; and the fighting-men went round the town raining stones on it. ^3:26And when the king of Moab saw that the fight was going against him, he took with him seven hundred men armed with swords, with the idea of forcing a way through to the king of Aram, but they were not able to do so. ^3:27Then he took his oldest son, who would have been king after him, offering him as a burned offering on the wall. So there was great wrath against Israel; and they went away from him, back to their country.

^4:1Now a certain woman, the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, came crying to Elisha and said, Your servant my husband is dead; and to your knowledge he was a worshipper of the Lord; but now, the creditor has come to take my two children as servants in payment of his debt. ^4:2Then Elisha said to her, What am I to do for you? say now, what have you in the house? And she said, Your servant has nothing in the house but a pot of oil. ^4:3Then he said, Go out to all your neighbours and get vessels, a very great number of them. ^4:4Then go in, and, shutting the door on yourself and your sons, put oil into all these vessels, putting on one side the full ones. ^4:5So she went away, and when the door was shut on her and her sons, they took the vessels to her and she put oil into them. ^4:6And when all the vessels were full, she said to her son, Get me another vessel. And he said, There are no more. And the flow of oil was stopped. ^4:7So she came to the man of God and gave him word of what she had done. And he said, Go and get money for the oil and make payment of your debt, and let the rest be for the needs of yourself and your sons. ^4:8Now there came a day when Elisha went to Shunem, and there was a woman of high position living there, who made him come in and have a meal with her. And after that, every time he went by, he went into her house for a meal. ^4:9And she said to her husband, Now I see that this is a holy man of God, who comes by day after day. ^4:10So let us make a little room on the wall; and put a bed there for him, and a table and a seat and a light; so that when he comes to us, he will be able to go in there. ^4:11Now one day, when he had gone there, he went into the little room and took his rest there. ^4:12And he said to Gehazi, his servant, Send for this Shunammite. So in answer to his voice she came before him. ^4:13And he said to him, Now say to her, See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? will you have any request made for you to the king or the captain of the army? But she said, I am living among my people. ^4:14So he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi made answer, Still there is this, she has no son and her husband is old. ^4:15Then he said, Send for her. And in answer to his voice she took her place at the door. ^4:16And Elisha said, At this time in the coming year you will have a son in your arms. And she said, No, my lord, O man of God, do not say what is false to your servant. ^4:17Then the woman became with child and gave birth to a son at the time named, in the year after, as Elisha had said to her. ^4:18Now one day, when the child was older, he went out to his father to where the grain was being cut. ^4:19And he said to his father, My head, my head! And the father said to a servant, Take him in to his mother. ^4:20And he took him in to his mother, and she took him on her knees and kept him there till the middle of the day, when his life went from him. ^4:21Then she went up and put him on the bed of the man of God, shutting the door on him, and went out. ^4:22And she said to her husband, Send me one of the servants and one of the asses so that I may go quickly to the man of God and come back again. ^4:23And he said, Why are you going to him today? it is not a new moon or a Sabbath. But she said, It is well. ^4:24Then she made the ass ready and said to her servant, Keep driving on; do not make a stop without orders from me. ^4:25So she went, and came to Mount Carmel, to the man of God. And when the man of God saw her coming in his direction, he said to Gehazi, his servant, See, there is the Shunammite; ^4:26Go quickly to her, and on meeting her say to her, Are you well? and your husband and the child, are they well? And she said in answer, All is well. ^4:27And when she came to where the man of God was on the hill, she put her hands round his feet; and Gehazi came near with the purpose of pushing her away; but the man of God said, Let her be, for her soul is bitter in her; and the Lord has kept it secret from me, and has not given me word of it. ^4:28Then she said, Did I make a request to my lord for a son? did I not say, Do not give me false words? ^4:29Then he said to Gehazi, Make yourself ready, and take my stick in your hand, and go: if you come across anyone on the way, give him no blessing, and if anyone gives you a blessing, give him no answer. And put my stick on the child's face. ^4:30But the mother of the child said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not go back without you. So he got up and went with her. ^4:31And Gehazi went on before them and put the stick on the child's face; but there was no voice, and no one gave attention. So he went back, and meeting him gave him the news, saying, The child is not awake. ^4:32And when Elisha came into the house he saw the child dead, stretched on his bed. ^4:33So he went in, and shutting the door on the two of them, made prayer to the Lord. ^4:34Then he got up on the bed, stretching himself out on the child, and put his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands; and the child's body became warm. ^4:35Then he came back, and after walking once through the house and back, he went up, stretching himself out on the child seven times; and the child's eyes became open. ^4:36And he gave orders to Gehazi, and said, Send for the Shunammite. And she came in answer to his voice. And he said, Take up your son. ^4:37And she came in, and went down on her face to the earth at his feet; then she took her son in her arms and went out. ^4:38And Elisha went back to Gilgal, now there was very little food in the land; and the sons of the prophets were seated before him. And he said to his servant, Put the great pot on the fire, and make soup for the sons of the prophets. ^4:39And one went out into the field to get green plants and saw a vine of the field, and pulling off the fruit of it till the fold of his robe was full, he came back and put the fruit, cut up small, into the pot of soup, having no idea what it was. ^4:40Then they gave the men soup from the pot. And while they were drinking the soup, they gave a cry, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot; and they were not able to take any more food. ^4:41But he said, Get some meal. And he put it into the pot, and said, Now give it to the people so that they may have food. And there was nothing bad in the pot. ^4:42Now a man came from Baal-shalishah with an offering of first-fruits for the man of God, twenty barley cakes and garden fruit in his bag. And he said, Give these to the people for food. ^4:43But his servant said, How am I to put this before a hundred men? But he said, Give it to the people for food; for the Lord says, There will be food for them and some over. ^4:44So he put it before them, and they had a meal and there was more than enough, as the Lord had said.