The two villains arrived and sat opposite him. Then the villains testified against Naboth right before the people, saying, &#8220;Naboth cursed God and the king.&#8221; So they dragged him<n id="1" /> outside the city and stoned him to death.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she<n id="1" /> said to Ahab, &#8220;Get up, take possession of the vineyard Naboth the Jezreelite refused to sell you for silver, for Naboth is no longer alive; he&#8217;s dead.&#8221;

So the king of Israel assembled about four hundred prophets and asked them, &#8220;Should I attack Ramoth Gilead or not?&#8221;<n id="1" /> They said, &#8220;Attack! The sovereign one<n id="2" /> will hand it over to the king.&#8221;

Micaiah<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8216;They have no master. They should go home in peace.&#8217;&#8221;

Now an archer shot an arrow at random,<n id="1" /> and it struck the king of Israel between the plates of his armor. The king<n id="2" /> ordered his charioteer, &#8220;Turn around and take me from the battle line,<n id="3" /> because I&#8217;m wounded.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me &#8211; how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether.<n id="1" /> During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle;<n id="2" /> when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">The king then told Abiathar the priest, &#8220;Go back to your property<n id="1" /> in Anathoth. You deserve to die,<n id="2" /> but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.&#8221;<n id="3" />

Solomon replied, &#8220;You demonstrated<n id="1" /> great loyalty to your servant, my father David, as he served<n id="2" /> you faithfully, properly, and sincerely.<n id="3" /> You have maintained this great loyalty to this day by allowing his son to sit on his throne.<n id="4" />

The real mother<n id="1" /> spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused.<n id="2" /> She said, &#8220;My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don&#8217;t kill him!&#8221;<n id="3" /> But the other woman said, &#8220;Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, &#8220;We have no portion in David, no share in the son of Jesse!<n id="1" /> Return to your homes, O Israel!<n id="2" /> Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!&#8221;<n id="3" /> So Israel returned to their homes.<n id="4" />

Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month,<n id="1" /> like the festival celebrated in Judah.<n id="2" /> On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made.<n id="3" /> In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He<n id="1" /> was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem,<n id="2" /> the city the <sc>Lordsc> chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home.<n id="3" /> His mother was an Ammonite woman<n id="4" /> named Naamah.p>

The prophet<n id="1" /> visited the king of Israel and said, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8216;Because the Syrians said, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,&#8221; I will hand over to you this entire huge army.<n id="2" /> Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;p>

When the king passed by, he called out to the king, &#8220;Your servant went out into the heat<n id="1" /> of the battle, and then a man turned aside and brought me a prisoner.<n id="2" /> He told me, &#8216;Guard this prisoner. If he ends up missing for any reason,<n id="3" /> you will pay with your life or with a talent<n id="4" /> of silver.&#8217;<n id="5" />

Ahab said to Naboth, &#8220;Give me your vineyard so I can make a vegetable garden out of it, for it is adjacent to my palace. I will give you an even better vineyard in its place, or if you prefer,<n id="1" /> I will pay you silver for it.&#8221;<n id="2" />