As Obadiah was traveling along, Elijah met him. ¹  When he recognized him, he fell facedown to the ground and said, “Is it really you, my master, Elijah?”

The king of Israel replied, “Tell him the one who puts on his battle gear should not boast like one who is taking it off.” ¹ 

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He slept in sackcloth and walked around dejected.

When the news reached Joab (for Joab had supported ¹  Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom), he ²  ran to the tent of the Lord and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar. ³ 

When King Solomon heard ¹  that Joab had run to the tent of the Lord and was right there beside the altar, he ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, ²  “Go, strike him down.”

The king told him, “Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father’s family ¹  the guilt of Joab’s murderous, bloody deeds. ² 

When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected ¹  the king, for they realized ²  that he possessed supernatural wisdom ³  to make judicial decisions.

He sent them to Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 men per month. They worked in Lebanon for one month, and then spent two months at home. Adoniram was supervisor of ¹  the work crews.

Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, ¹  just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ ² 

I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will allow him to be ruler for the rest of his life for the sake of my chosen servant David who kept my commandments and rules.

King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, ¹  the supervisor of the work crews, ²  out after them, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. ³ 

After he buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the prophet ¹  is buried; put my bones right beside his bones,

When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news. ¹ 

All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family ¹  who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good.

He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and placed it on the wood.

Ben Hadad sent another message to him, “May the gods judge me severely ¹  if there is enough dirt left in Samaria for my soldiers to scoop up in their hands.” ² 

His wife Jezebel said to him, “You are the king of Israel! ¹  Get up, eat some food, and have a good time. ²  I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.”

and the Lord will fulfill his promise to me, ¹  ‘If your descendants watch their step ²  and live faithfully in my presence ³  with all their heart and being, ⁴  then,’ he promised, ⁵  ‘you will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ ⁶ 

When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the Lord, he said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But he replied, “No, I will die here!” So Benaiah sent word to the king and reported Joab’s reply. ¹ 

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv ¹  (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple.