Just before ¹  the Lord took Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal.

He replied, “No, let the Lord help you. How can I help you? The threshing floor and winepress are empty.” ¹ 

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.

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.”

Indeed, ¹  fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. ²  So now, please have respect for my life.”

When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ¹  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.

He said, “Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers. ¹  Get as many as you can. ² 

She called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can go see the prophet quickly and then return.”

He conquered all the land of Gilead, including the territory of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh, extending all the way from the Aroer in the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan. ¹ 

He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother ²  was Jehoaddan, who was from Jerusalem.

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord; he did not repudiate ²  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin.

But they did not obey, ¹  and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.

because they have done evil in my sight ¹  and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!’”

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother ²  was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹  His mother was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah.

The king got up in the night and said to his advisers, ¹  “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are starving, so they left the camp and hid in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’”

He went up from there to Bethel. ¹  As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ²  came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!”

One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people – we’re all going to die!) ¹  Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.” ² 

They went inside to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside. He had told them, “If any of the men inside get away, you will pay with your lives!” ¹