1 Kings 20

¹⁸So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the royal palace. He entrusted it to his servants and sent them with this message to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus:

³¹Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”

²⁰And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and the whole land of Naphtali, including the region of Chinnereth.

⁴So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael to consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.

²⁴Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.

²⁴Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.

²⁵So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.

⁹Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

²And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

³Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.

⁹Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

⁹The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’

¹³For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.

¹⁴My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”

⁶Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.

⁷Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, remained at Gilgal, and all his troops were quaking in fear.

⁴⁸you will serve your enemies the Lord will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

³⁶As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.

¹⁴So Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand from me.” And the king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

¹⁵Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

¹¹In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.

¹²But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”

¹⁴David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

¹⁵Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

⁹All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

¹⁹And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.”

²⁰Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.

³¹Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

³²until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey—so that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, for he misleads you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’

¹⁰The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.

⁷When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper? Surely you can see that he is seeking a quarrel with me!”

²⁷And the two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for still the end will come at the appointed time.

²⁷He who searches out good finds favor, but evil will come to him who seeks it.

¹Now David summoned all the leaders of Israel to Jerusalem: the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the divisions in the king’s service, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, along with the court officials and mighty men—every mighty man of valor.

¹⁴For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.

²who devise evil in their hearts and stir up war all day long.

²So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the lives of those you killed!”

⁸And all these officials of yours will come and bow before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will depart.” And hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s presence.

¹²When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.

¹⁰where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

¹³For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.

¹⁴My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”

²⁴Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.

²⁵I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

¹Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

¹¹I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.

¹⁵Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!

¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.

⁴⁴“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

⁴⁵But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

⁷⁵Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

³³Peter said to Him, “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.”

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus declared, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

⁹However, while Elah was in Tirzah getting drunk in the house of Arza the steward of his household there, Elah’s servant Zimri, the commander of half his chariots, conspired against him.

¹⁶They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk.

⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,

⁵lest they drink and forget what is decreed, depriving all the oppressed of justice.

¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

³⁴But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.

¹⁰Then tell them that this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones that I have embedded, and he will spread his royal pavilion over them.

²⁸Then the man of God approached the king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans have said that the Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys, I will deliver all this great army into your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

²²But I withheld My hand and acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

²⁰And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.”

¹Now in the days that Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram marched up to wage war against Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel, but he could not overpower the city.

²When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.

¹Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel.’”

¹⁴But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

¹⁴And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.

¹⁵During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

¹⁶And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.

¹⁷“Watch me and do as I do,” Gideon said. “When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do exactly as I do.

⁵⁰Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

²⁸He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,

⁴⁴On the seventh time the servant reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” And Elijah replied, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”

⁴⁰So the anger of the Lord burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.

⁴¹He delivered them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.

²Meanwhile, Saul was staying under the pomegranate tree in Migron on the outskirts of Gibeah. And the troops who were with him numbered about six hundred men,

¹⁸Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

¹⁶And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.

⁶Jonathan said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will work on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

¹¹Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God: “O Lord, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.

⁷Moreover, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands and becoming like the house of Jeroboam, and also because Baasha had struck down the house of Jeroboam.

¹¹to promiscuity, wine, and new wine, which take away understanding.

⁹However, while Elah was in Tirzah getting drunk in the house of Arza the steward of his household there, Elah’s servant Zimri, the commander of half his chariots, conspired against him.

¹⁶Woe to you, O land whose king is a youth, and whose princes feast in the morning.

¹⁷Blessed are you, O land whose king is a son of nobles, and whose princes feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness.

¹⁵If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me; whoever assails you will fall before you.

¹⁴“By whom?” Ahab asked. And the prophet replied, “This is what the Lord says: ‘By the young officers of the district governors.’” “Who will start the battle?” asked Ahab. “You will,” answered the prophet.

¹⁵So Ahab assembled the young officers of the district governors, and there were 232 men. And after them, he assembled the rest of the Israelite troops, 7,000 in all.

¹⁹Meanwhile, these young officers of the district governors marched out of the city, with the army behind them,

⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to the king of Israel Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. “Come, let us meet face to face,” he said.

⁹But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle.

¹²Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.

⁴⁴“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

³Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by Him actions are weighed.

⁴The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength.

¹¹So the two of them showed themselves to the outpost of the Philistines, who exclaimed, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes in which they were hiding!”

¹²So the men of the outpost called out to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come on up, and we will teach you a lesson!” “Follow me,” Jonathan told his armor-bearer, “for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.”

²⁰The three companies blew their horns and shattered their jars. Holding the torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”

²¹Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army fled, crying out as they ran.

⁶For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”

⁷Thus the Arameans had arisen and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents and horses and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had run for their lives.

¹³So Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer behind him. And the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and finished them off.

¹⁴In that first assault, Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck down about twenty men in about half an acre of land.

¹¹I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.

³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

¹⁶So he led David down, and there were the Amalekites spread out over all the land, eating, drinking, and celebrating the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah.

¹⁷And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels.

¹⁸This is a simple matter in the sight of the Lord, and He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.

²⁴But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked them, and they fled before them. So the Israelites invaded their land and struck down the Moabites.

⁵²Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.

²⁰Then Saul and all his troops assembled and marched to the battle, and they found the Philistines in total confusion, with each man wielding the sword against his neighbor.

²¹And the Hebrews who had previously gone up into the surrounding camps to join the Philistines now went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

²⁸“Follow me,” he told them, “for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they followed him down and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and they did not allow anyone to cross over.

²³Then the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites.

²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah.

¹In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

¹³Meanwhile a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this entire great army? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this very day, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

²⁶In the spring, Ben-hadad mobilized the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

¹In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the Ammonites. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it.

⁸Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has power to help and power to overthrow.”

⁸The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.

²³They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

⁸Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

¹²Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?

⁸I am the Lord; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.

²¹You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face.

²²Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:

²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

³¹Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”

¹⁶They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk.

¹Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.

³For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.

¹⁷“Open the east window,” said Elisha. So he opened it and Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And Elisha declared: “This is the Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram, for you shall strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them.”

²²Afterward, the prophet approached the king of Israel and said, “Go and strengthen your position, and take note what you must do, for in the spring the king of Aram will come up against you.”

³⁰The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.

⁴to the south, all the land of the Canaanites, from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, as far as the border of the Amorites;

³¹Asher failed to drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, and Rehob.

¹Now the Philistines brought all their forces together at Aphek, while Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.

⁵Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

⁶Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.

⁵For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it.

⁸So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and rams’ horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

¹¹“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’”

³⁰How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?

⁷“Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him.

⁸With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

¹³Meanwhile a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this entire great army? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this very day, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

¹⁸“O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”

²¹But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had gone.

²²Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord God says: It is not for your sake that I will act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you went.

¹⁶But I will spare a few of them from sword and famine and plague, so that in the nations to which they go, they can recount all their abominations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁰Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

⁸O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

⁹When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

¹⁷Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.

¹⁶The Lord is King forever and ever; the nations perish from His land.

³⁶Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

¹⁸But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach the commander of their army, who died there.

²³The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction. And when they had finished off the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

²⁴When the men of Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked for the vast army, but there were only corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped.

¹⁵Then on the seventh day, they got up at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. That was the only day they circled the city seven times.

²⁴Micaiah replied, “You will soon see, on that day when you go and hide in an inner room.”

²⁵Micaiah replied, “You will soon see, on that day when you go and hide in an inner room.”

²⁶In the spring, Ben-hadad mobilized the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem?

³Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

²⁰and each one struck down his opponent. So the Arameans fled, with the Israelites in pursuit. But Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with the cavalry.

³⁴Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³¹Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier.

²³Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they prevailed over us. Instead, we should fight them on the plains; surely then we will prevail.

²So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.

¹On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord.

²And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz

²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

³saying, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and your best wives and children are mine!’”

⁴And the king of Israel replied, “Just as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all that I have.”

¹¹Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.

¹²Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.

³¹Then the servants of Ben-hadad said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go out to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

¹²So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.

⁴²And the prophet said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have let slip from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, your life will be exchanged for his life, and your people for his people.’”

¹¹The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

¹²For the Day of the Lord of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—

¹⁵When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, “Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?” “It is!” Jehonadab replied. “If it is,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot,

³¹“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

⁸The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.

¹³Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the soul of his masters.

²⁰And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and the whole land of Naphtali, including the region of Chinnereth.

¹⁰Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the Lord.

⁴²And the prophet said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have let slip from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, your life will be exchanged for his life, and your people for his people.’”

¹²“Do not call conspiracy everything these people regard as conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not live in dread.

⁴And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.

³¹Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”

¹⁵When the sons of the prophets who were watching him from Jericho saw what had happened, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

¹⁷For I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”

¹⁸Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,

¹Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”

²⁴Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

³⁸When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”

²the Lord had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.

³Then the Lord said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,

²⁶When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard this, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the command of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion, and it has mauled him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord had spoken to him.”

²²But Samuel declared: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.

²³For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.”

²¹and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God gave you,

²²but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to do so, your body shall never reach the tomb of your fathers.’”

¹²Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.

³⁵Meanwhile, by the word of the Lord, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me, please!” But the man refused to strike him.

²and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Now get up, disguise yourself so they will not recognize you as my wife, and go to Shiloh. For Ahijah the prophet is there; it was he who spoke about my kingship over this people.

²So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.

³⁰And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

¹⁶When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

²⁴And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and warned them, “If anyone allows one of the men I am delivering into your hands to escape, he will forfeit his life for theirs.”

⁸Riches may ransom a man’s life, but a poor man hears no threat.

¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.

¹⁸Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large bribe lead you astray.

³⁵He will not be appeased by any ransom, or persuaded by lavish gifts.

³⁰If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.

⁶Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.

²²His master replied, ‘You wicked servant, I will judge you by your own words. So you knew that I am a harsh man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?

²⁴Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what belongs to you.’

⁵David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan: “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

⁶Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.”

⁴¹“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and will rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the fruit at harvest time.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

³⁸and the prophet went and waited on the road for the king, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.

⁸And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.

¹⁹And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying aloud.

²⁶O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

³¹Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.”

³²When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely this is the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out.

³³However, a certain man drew his bow without taking special aim, and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So the king said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!”

³⁴The battle raged throughout that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. And at sunset he died.

³⁹As the king passed by, he cried out to the king: “Your servant had marched out into the middle of the battle, when suddenly a man came over with a captive and told me, ‘Guard this man! If he goes missing for any reason, your life will be exchanged for his life, or you will weigh out a talent of silver.’

⁹Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.

¹⁰Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying,

¹²“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”

³⁴Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father; you may set up your own marketplaces in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” “By this treaty I release you,” Ahab replied. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.

⁴So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and refused to eat.

⁸The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.

¹³Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

³A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the Lord.

²For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.

¹²Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.

¹³Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.”