<p class="bodytext">Elijah said to him, &#8220;Stay here, for the <sc>Lordsc> has sent me to the Jordan.&#8221; But he replied, &#8220;As certainly as the <sc>Lordsc> lives and as you live, I will not leave you.&#8221; So they traveled on together.

Elisha said, &#8220;As certainly as the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all <n id="1" /> lives (whom I serve),<n id="2" /> if I did not respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah,<n id="3" /> I would not pay attention to you or acknowledge you.<n id="4" />

Gehazi, the prophet Elisha&#8217;s servant, thought,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Look, my master did not accept what this Syrian Naaman offered him.<n id="2" /> As certainly as the <sc>Lordsc> lives, I will run after him and accept something from him.&#8221;

Perhaps the <sc>Lordsc> your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God.<n id="1" /> When the <sc>Lordsc> your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said.<n id="2" /> So pray for this remnant that remains.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served<n id="1" /> his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them,<n id="2" /> &#8220;How do you advise me to answer these people?&#8221;

Perhaps the <sc>Lordsc> your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God.<n id="1" /> When the <sc>Lordsc> your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said.<n id="2" /> So pray for this remnant that remains.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people.<n id="1" /> Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal.<n id="2" /> But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives, I swear.&#8221;<n id="3" /> If they do these things,<n id="4" /> then they will be included among the people I call my own.<n id="5" />

But in that time they will affirm them with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.&#8217; At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" />p> <p class="bodytext">&#8220;As surely as I am the living God, you, Jeconiah,<n id="2" /> king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, will not be the earthly representative of my authority. Indeed, I will take that right away from you.<n id="3" />

But at that time they will affirm them with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel<n id="1" /> from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished<n id="2" /> them.&#8221;<n id="3" /> At that time they will live in their own land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

So King Zedekiah made a secret promise to Jeremiah and sealed it with an oath. He promised,<n id="1" /> &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who has given us life and breath,<n id="2" /> I promise you this: I will not kill you or hand you over to those men who want to kill you.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Therefore, as surely as I live, says the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare<n id="1" /> you.

Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, they could not save their own sons or daughters; they would save only their own lives, and the land would become desolate.p>

Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, they could not save their own son or daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;As surely as I live, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, surely in the city<n id="1" /> of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke &#8211; in the middle of Babylon he will die!

&#8220;Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me,<n id="1" /> declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;

When you present your sacrifices<n id="1" /> &#8211; when you make your sons pass through the fire &#8211; you defile yourselves with all your idols to this very day. Will I allow you to seek me,<n id="2" /> O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, I will not allow you to seek me!<n id="3" />p>

Say to them, &#8216;As surely as I live, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior<n id="1" /> and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds!<n id="2" /> Why should you die, O house of Israel?&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;This is what you must say to them, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die<n id="1" /> by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.

<t /><p class="bodytext"><v id="(2:1)" /><n id="1" /> However,<n id="2" /> in the future the number of the people<n id="3" /> of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although<n id="4" /> it was said to them, &#8220;You are not my people,&#8221; it will be said to them, &#8220;You are<n id="5" /> children<n id="6" /> of the living God!&#8221;