He replied, “Don’t be afraid, for our side outnumbers them.”

You must never forget the agreement I made with you, and you must not worship other gods.

Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then he will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.”

When they first moved in, they did not worship the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them.

So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the Lord.

At the same time they worshiped the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places.

They were worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.

The Lord made an agreement with them and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

You must carefully obey at all times the rules, regulations, law, and commandments he wrote down for you. You must not worship other gods.

These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.

They were absolutely terrified and said, “Look, two kings could not stop him! How can we?”

This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods;

To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship the Lord; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel.

Instead you must worship the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt by his great power and military ability; bow down to him and offer sacrifices to him.

Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.”

Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do.

Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. He said, “You don’t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.”

The Lord’s angelic messenger said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down with him to the king.

So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.