But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!’”p>

Then Absalom sent a message to Joab asking him to send him to the king, but Joab was not willing to come to him. So he sent a second message to him, but he still was not willing to come.

<p class="bodytext">Then Joab got up and came to Absalom&#8217;s house. He said to him, &#8220;Why did your servants set my portion of field on fire?&#8221;

Now I&#8217;d like to ask you for just one thing. Please don&#8217;t refuse me.&#8221;<n id="1" /> She said, &#8220;Go ahead and ask.&#8221;<n id="2" />

I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there he was,<n id="1" /> dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby.&#8221;<n id="2" />

May he make us submissive,<n id="1" /> so we can follow all his instructions<n id="2" /> and obey<n id="3" /> the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors.

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance<n id="1" /> away from the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions<n id="2" />

and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods.<n id="1" /> But he did not obey<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s command.

and took off after the prophet,<n id="1" /> whom he found sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, &#8220;Are you the prophet<n id="2" /> from Judah?&#8221; He answered, &#8220;Yes, I am.&#8221;

Take<n id="1" /> ten loaves of bread, some small cakes, and a container of honey and visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Elijah then told all the people, &#8220;Approach me.&#8221; So all the people approached him. He repaired the altar of the <sc>Lordsc> that had been torn down.<n id="1" />

Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of tribes that descended from Jacob, to whom the <sc>Lordsc> had said, &#8220;Israel will be your new<n id="1" /> name.&#8221;<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">He went into a cave there and spent the night. All of a sudden the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to him, &#8220;Why are you here, Elijah?&#8221;

When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his robe and went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. All of a sudden<n id="1" /> a voice asked him, &#8220;Why are you here, Elijah?&#8221;

The <sc>Lordsc> said to him, &#8220;Go back the way you came and then head for the Desert of Damascus. Go and anoint Hazael king over Syria.

Well, it just so happened that while your servant was doing this and that, he disappeared.&#8221; The king of Israel said to him, &#8220;Your punishment is already determined by your own testimony.&#8221;<n id="1" />

The prophet<n id="1" /> then said to him, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Because you released a man I had determined should die, you will pay with your life and your people will suffer instead of his people.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

The king said to him, &#8220;How many times must I make you solemnly promise in<n id="1" /> the name of the <sc>Lordsc> to tell me only the truth?&#8221;

They replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;He was a hairy man<n id="2" /> and had a leather belt<n id="3" /> tied around his waist.&#8221; The king<n id="4" /> said, &#8220;He is Elijah the Tishbite.&#8221;p>

Jehoshaphat said, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> speaks through him.&#8221;<n id="1" /> So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to visit him.p>