<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.

<p class="bodytext">Sure enough, the next morning, at the time of the morning sacrifice, water came flowing down from Edom and filled the land.<n id="1" />

Samaria&#8217;s food supply ran out.<n id="1" /> They laid siege to it so long that<n id="2" /> a donkey&#8217;s head was selling for eighty shekels of silver<n id="3" /> and a quarter of a kab<n id="4" /> of dove&#8217;s droppings<n id="5" /> for five shekels of silver.<n id="6" />p>

He was still talking to them when<n id="1" /> the messenger approached<n id="2" /> and said, &#8220;Look, the <sc>Lordsc> is responsible for this disaster!<n id="3" /> Why should I continue to wait for the <sc>Lordsc> to help?&#8221;

So they started toward<n id="1" /> the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there.

So they tracked them<n id="1" /> as far as the Jordan. The road was filled with clothes and equipment that the Syrians had discarded in their haste.<n id="2" /> The scouts<n id="3" /> went back and told the king.

When he arrived, the officers of the army were sitting there.<n id="1" /> So he said, &#8220;I have a message for you, O officer.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Jehu asked, &#8220;For which one of us?&#8221;<n id="3" /> He replied, &#8220;For you, O officer.&#8221;

<t /> I thought to myself,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Come now,<n id="2" /> I will try<n id="3" /> self-indulgent pleasure<n id="4" /> to see<n id="5" /> if it is worthwhile.&#8221;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">But I found<n id="7" /> that it also is futile.<n id="8" />p>

<p class="poetry">Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I concluded:<n id="3" /> &#8220;All these<n id="4" /> achievements and possessions<n id="5" /> are ultimately<n id="6" /> profitless<n id="7" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">like chasing the wind!p> <p class="poetry">There is nothing gained<n id="8" /> from them<n id="9" /> on earth.&#8221;<n id="10" />p>

<p class="poetry">At that time<n id="1" /> they will growl over their prey,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster,p> <p class="poetry">clouds will turn the light into darkness.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Look what&#8217;s coming!p> <p class="poetry">A charioteer,p> <p class="poetry">a team of horses.&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">When questioned, he replies,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Babylon has fallen, fallen!p> <p class="poetry">All the idols of her gods lie shattered on the ground!&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">But look, there is outright celebration!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">You say, &#8220;Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,p> <p class="poetry">eat meat and drink wine.p> <p class="poetry">Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s messenger<n id="1" /> went out and killed 185,000 troops<n id="2" /> in the Assyrian camp. When they<n id="3" /> got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses!<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="poetry">For this reason deliverance<n id="1" /> is far from us<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and salvation does not reach us.p> <p class="poetry">We wait for light,<n id="3" /> but see only darkness;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">we wait for<n id="5" /> a bright light,<n id="6" /> but live<n id="7" /> in deep darkness.<n id="8" />p>

So I went to Perath and dug up<n id="1" /> the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found<n id="2" /> that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.p>

So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the <sc>Lordsc> was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River,<n id="1" /> and I threw myself face down.p>

Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege.<n id="1" />p>

As I watched, I noticed<n id="1" /> a form that appeared to be a man.<n id="2" /> From his waist downward was something like fire,<n id="3" /> and from his waist upward something like a brightness,<n id="4" /> like an amber glow.<n id="5" />

So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure<n id="1" /> of creeping thing and beast &#8211; detestable images<n id="2" /> &#8211; and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s house. I noticed<n id="1" /> women sitting there weeping for Tammuz.<n id="2" />