<t /><p class="bodytext">Just before<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> took Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal.

In the two courtyards of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky.

Elijah replied to the captain,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!&#8221; Fire then came down<n id="2" /> from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.p>

Elijah replied to them,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!&#8221; Fire from God<n id="2" /> came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.p>

Indeed,<n id="1" /> fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men.<n id="2" /> So now, please have respect for my life.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot<n id="1" /> pulled by fiery horses appeared.<n id="2" /> They went between Elijah and Elisha,<n id="3" /> and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm.

The <sc>Lordsc> had not decreed that he would blot out Israel&#8217;s memory<n id="1" /> from under heaven,<n id="2" /> so he delivered them through Jeroboam son of Joash.p>

They abandoned all the commandments of the <sc>Lordsc> their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky,<n id="1" /> and worshiped<n id="2" /> Baal.

Hezekiah prayed before the <sc>Lordsc>: &#8220;<sc>Lordsc> God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs!<n id="1" /> You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky<n id="2" /> and the earth.

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky<n id="1" /> and worshiped<n id="2" /> them.

He eliminated<n id="1" /> the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices<n id="2" /> on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices<n id="3" /> to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.)

<p class="bodytext">The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests,<n id="1" /> and the guards<n id="2" /> to bring out of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple all the items that were used in the worship of<n id="3" /> Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky.<n id="4" /> The king<n id="5" /> burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces<n id="6" /> of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.<n id="7" />