<p class="poetry">&#8220;As surely as God lives,<n id="1" /> who has denied me justice,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the Almighty, who has made my life bitter<n id="3" /> &#8211;p>

<p class="poetry">For Job says, &#8216;I am innocent,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">but God turns away my right.p>

<p class="poetry">God deserves praise,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">for<n id="2" /> he did not reject my prayerp> <p class="poetry">or abandon his love for me!<n id="3" />p>

He was committed to following the <sc>Lordsc>;<n id="1" /> he even removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.p>

<p class="poetry">For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns<n id="1" /> under a cooking pot,p> <p class="poetry">so is the laughter of the fool.p> <p class="poetry">This kind of folly<n id="2" /> also is useless.<n id="3" />p>

They say,<n id="1" /> &#8216;The time is not near to build houses;<n id="2" /> the city<n id="3" /> is a cooking pot<n id="4" /> and we are the meat in it.&#8217;

<p class="bodytext">Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown.<n id="1" /> In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums<n id="2" /> and magicians<n id="3" /> from the land.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him<n id="1" /> and he told his servant, &#8220;Put the big pot on the fire<n id="2" /> and boil some stew for the prophets.&#8221;<n id="3" />

He said, &#8220;Get some flour.&#8221; Then he threw it into the pot and said, &#8220;Now pour some out for the men so they may eat.&#8221;<n id="1" /> There was no longer anything harmful in the pot.p>

So David did not move the ark to the City of David;<n id="1" /> he left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

Hezekiah is the one who eliminated<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s<n id="2" /> high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, &#8220;At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,p> <p class="poetry">and the ripening fruit appears,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he will cut off the unproductive shoots<n id="2" /> with pruning knives;p> <p class="poetry">he will prune the tendrils.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Yet he too is wise<n id="1" /> and he will bring disaster;p> <p class="poetry">he does not retract his decree.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He will attack the wicked nation,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and the nation that helps<n id="4" /> those who commit sin.<n id="5" />p>

Therefore, this is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8216;The corpses you have dumped<n id="1" /> in the midst of the city<n id="2" /> are the meat, and this city<n id="3" /> is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it.<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">this is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">Tear off the turban,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">take off the crown!p> <p class="poetry">Things must change!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Exalt the lowly,p> <p class="poetry">bring down the proud!<n id="3" />p>

Recite a proverb to this rebellious house<n id="1" /> and say to them, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;Set on the pot,<n id="2" /> set it on,p> <p class="poetry">pour water in it too;p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> has removed the judgment against you;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he has turned back your enemy.p> <p class="poetry">Israel&#8217;s king, the <sc>Lordsc>, is in your midst!p> <p class="poetry">You no longer need to fear disaster.p>

Moses the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s servant passed on the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the <sc>Lordsc> had given Moses.<n id="1" />p>

Finally<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> rejected Israel<n id="2" /> just as he had warned he would do<n id="3" /> through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.p>

He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole.<n id="1" /> He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time<n id="2" /> the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.<n id="3" />