When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, &#8220;Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news.<n id="1" />

So they took a bull, as he had suggested,<n id="1" /> and prepared it. They invoked the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, &#8220;Baal, answer us.&#8221; But there was no sound and no answer. They jumped<n id="2" /> around on the altar they had made.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the child&#8217;s face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to Elisha<n id="1" /> he told him, &#8220;The child did not wake up.&#8221;

So they sent an edict<n id="1" /> throughout Israel from Beer Sheba to Dan, summoning the people<n id="2" /> to come and observe a Passover for the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they had not observed it on a nationwide scale as prescribed in the law.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the first year of the reign of<n id="1" /> King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the promise he delivered through Jeremiah,<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> moved<n id="3" /> King Cyrus of Persia to issue a written decree throughout his kingdom.

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">In the first<n id="2" /> year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the <sc>Lord&#8217;ssc> message<n id="3" /> spoken through<n id="4" /> Jeremiah,<n id="5" /> the <sc>Lordsc> stirred the mind<n id="6" /> of King Cyrus of Persia. He disseminated<n id="7" /> a proclamation<n id="8" /> throughout his entire kingdom, announcing in a written edict<n id="9" /> the following:<n id="10" />p>

Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders<n id="1" /> &#8211; older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established<n id="2" /> &#8211; were weeping loudly,<n id="3" /> and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.

and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message<n id="1" /> in all their cities and in Jerusalem:<n id="2" /> &#8220;Go to the hill country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Beloved about Her Lover:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">I was asleep, but my mind<n id="1" /> was dreaming.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Listen!<n id="3" /> My lover<n id="4" /> is knocking<n id="5" /> at the door!<n id="6" />p> <p class="sosspeaker"><b><i>The Lover to His Beloved:i>b>p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Open<n id="7" /> for me, my sister, my darling,p> <p class="poetry">my dove, my flawless one!p> <p class="poetry">My head is drenched with dew,p> <p class="poetry">my hair with the dampness of the night.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">I hear my dear people<n id="1" /> crying out<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">throughout the length and breadth of the land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They are crying, &#8216;Is the <sc>Lordsc> no longer in Zion?p> <p class="poetry">Is her divine King<n id="4" /> no longer there?&#8217;&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> answers,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,p> <p class="poetry">with their worthless foreign idols?&#8221;<n id="6" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will weep and mourn<n id="2" /> for the grasslands on the mountains,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wildernessp> <p class="poetry">because they are so scorched no one travels through them.p> <p class="poetry">The sound of livestock is no longer heard there.p> <p class="poetry">Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fieldsp> <p class="poetry">have fled and are gone.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;A sound is heard in Ramah,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">a sound of crying in bitter grief.p> <p class="poetry">It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her childrenp> <p class="poetry">and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain.<n id="1" /> This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the <sc>Lordsc>. When I saw<n id="2" /> it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.p>

<p class="bodytext">Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, &#8220;Alas, sovereign <sc>Lordsc>! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Into his right hand<n id="1" /> comes the portent for Jerusalem &#8211; to set up battering rams, to give the signal<n id="2" /> for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry,<n id="3" /> to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;I am against you!&#8221; declares<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will burn your chariots<n id="3" /> with fire;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">the sword will devour your young lions;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">you will no longer prey upon the land;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">the voices of your messengers<n id="7" /> will no longer be heard.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Flocks and herds<n id="1" /> will lie down in the middle of it,p> <p class="poetry">as well as every kind of wild animal.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Owls<n id="3" /> will sleep in the tops of its support pillars;p> <p class="poetry">they will hoot through the windows.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Rubble will cover the thresholds;<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">even the cedar work<n id="6" /> will be exposed to the elements.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders.<n id="1" /> The king<n id="2" /> sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived,<n id="3" /> Elisha<n id="4" /> said to the leaders,<n id="5" /> &#8220;Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?&#8221;<n id="6" /> Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.&#8221;<n id="7" />