My servants will bring the timber down from Lebanon to the sea. I will send it by sea in raft-like bundles to the place you designate.<n id="1" /> There I will separate the logs<n id="2" /> and you can carry them away. In exchange you will supply the food I need for my royal court.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters<n id="1" /> of the ceiling. He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens.

<p class="bodytext">He also made the large bronze basin called &#8220;The Sea.&#8221;<n id="1" /> It measured 15 feet<n id="2" /> from rim to rim, was circular in shape, and stood seven-and-a-half feet<n id="3" /> high. Its circumference was 45 feet.<n id="4" />

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the <sc>Lordsc> our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt<n id="1" /> in the south.<n id="2" />

The <sc>Lordsc> said to him, &#8220;I have answered<n id="1" /> your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home;<n id="2" /> I will be constantly present there.<n id="3" />

I did not believe these things until I came and saw them with my own eyes. Indeed, I didn&#8217;t hear even half the story!<n id="1" /> Your wisdom and wealth<n id="2" /> surpass what was reported to me.

With the timber the king made supports<n id="1" /> for the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple and for the royal palace and stringed instruments<n id="2" /> for the musicians. No one has seen so much of this fine timber to this very day.<n id="3" />)

So I am ready to bring disaster<n id="1" /> on the dynasty<n id="2" /> of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated.<n id="3" /> I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed.<n id="4" />

When he became king, he executed Jeroboam&#8217;s entire family. He wiped out everyone who breathed,<n id="1" /> just as the <sc>Lordsc> had predicted<n id="2" /> through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.

For this is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says, &#8216;The jar of flour will not be empty and the jug of oil will not run out until the day the <sc>Lordsc> makes it rain on the surface of the ground.&#8217;&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">After this<n id="1" /> the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe.

Elijah approached all the people and said, &#8220;How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision?<n id="1" /> If the <sc>Lordsc> is the true God,<n id="2" /> then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!&#8221; But the people did not say a word.

Elijah told Elisha, &#8220;Stay here, for the <sc>Lordsc> has sent me to Bethel.&#8221;<n id="1" /> But Elisha said, &#8220;As certainly as the <sc>Lordsc> lives and as you live, I will not leave you.&#8221; So they went down to Bethel.

They tore down the cities and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered.<n id="1" /> They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree.p> <p class="bodytext">Only Kir Hareseth was left intact,<n id="2" /> but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.

Elisha<n id="1" /> went back and walked around in the house.<n id="2" /> Then he got up on the bed again<n id="3" /> and bent down over him. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal.<n id="1" /> They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all.<n id="2" /> Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it<n id="3" /> and went and hid what they had taken.

Then they said to one another, &#8220;It&#8217;s not right what we&#8217;re doing! This is a day to celebrate, but we haven&#8217;t told anyone.<n id="1" /> If we wait until dawn,<n id="2" /> we&#8217;ll be punished.<n id="3" /> So come on, let&#8217;s go and inform the royal palace.&#8221;

So the horseman<n id="1" /> went to meet him and said, &#8220;This is what the king says, &#8216;Is everything all right?&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" /> Jehu replied, &#8220;None of your business!<n id="3" /> Follow me.&#8221; The watchman reported, &#8220;The messenger reached them, but hasn&#8217;t started back.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Jehu ordered the royal guard<n id="1" /> and officers, &#8220;Come in and strike them down! Don&#8217;t let any escape!&#8221; So the royal guard and officers struck them down with the sword and left their bodies lying there.<n id="2" /> Then they entered the inner sanctuary of the temple of Baal.<n id="3" />

Elisha<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Open the east window,&#8221; and he did so.<n id="2" /> Elisha said, &#8220;Shoot!&#8221; andp> <p class="bodytext">he did so.<n id="3" /> Elisha<n id="4" /> said, &#8220;This arrow symbolizes the victory the <sc>Lordsc> will give you over Syria.<n id="5" /> You will annihilate Syria in Aphek!&#8221;<n id="6" />