Because you rage against me, and the uproar you create has reached my ears; ¹  I will put my hook in your nose, ²  and my bridle between your lips, and I will lead you back the way you came.”

He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. ¹  He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard. ² 

Elisha said to Gehazi, ¹  “Tell her, ‘Look, you have treated us with such great respect. ²  What can I do for you? Can I put in a good word for you with the king or the commander of the army?’” She replied, “I’m quite secure.” ³ 

Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, ¹  for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years.”

King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians ¹  in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. King Ahaziah son of Jehoram of Judah went down to visit ²  Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was ill.

But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians ¹  when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. ²  Jehu told his supporters, ³  “If you really want me to be king, ⁴  then don’t let anyone escape from the city to go and warn Jezreel.”

But they ¹  pay no attention; instead they observe their earlier practices.

Go and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour the olive oil into all the containers; ¹  set aside each one when you have filled it.”

Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at? At whom have you shouted, ¹  and looked so arrogantly? ²  At the Holy One of Israel! ³ 

So the horseman ¹  went to meet him and said, “This is what the king says, ‘Is everything all right?’” ²  Jehu replied, “None of your business! ³  Follow me.” The watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but hasn’t started back.”

When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what happened, he took off ¹  up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him and ordered, “Shoot him too.” They shot him while he was driving his chariot up the ascent of Gur near Ibleam. ²  He fled to Megiddo ³  and died there.

Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’

Elijah replied to the captain, ¹  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire then came down ²  from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

Elijah replied to them, ¹  “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty soldiers!” Fire from God ²  came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty soldiers.

Elijah told Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” ¹  But Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you, ¹  before I am taken away from you?” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of the prophetic spirit that energizes you.” ² 

He went out to the spring and threw the salt in. Then he said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have purified ¹  this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.” ² 

Naaman said, “Please accept two talents of silver. ¹  He insisted, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, along with two suits of clothes. He gave them to two of his servants and they carried them for Gehazi. ² 

So he threw a big banquet ¹  for them and they ate and drank. Then he sent them back ²  to their master. After that no Syrian raiding parties again invaded the land of Israel.

He was still talking to them when ¹  the messenger approached ²  and said, “Look, the Lord is responsible for this disaster! ³  Why should I continue to wait for the Lord to help?”