You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. ¹ 

then I will remove Israel from the land ¹  I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, ²  and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed ³  among all the nations.

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 

When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, ¹  “So, you have found me, my enemy!” Elijah ²  replied, “I have found you, because you are committed ³  to doing evil in the sight of ⁴  the Lord.

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 

He brought the letter to king of Israel. It read: “This is a letter of introduction for my servant Naaman, ¹  whom I have sent to be cured of his skin disease.”

So Jehu ¹  got up and went inside. Then the prophet ²  poured the olive oil on his head and said to him, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I have designated you as king over the Lord’s people Israel.

Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria. ¹ 

¹ Certainly you must have heard! ²  Long ago I worked it out, In ancient times I planned ³  it; and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins. ⁴ 

I will add fifteen years to your life and rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will shield this city for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’” ¹ 

I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, ¹  provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law my servant Moses ordered them to obey.”

“When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, ¹  and they direct their prayers to you toward this chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, ² 

then I will remove you ¹  from my land I have given you, ²  I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, ³  and I will make you ⁴  an object of mockery and ridicule ⁵  among all the nations.

“I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled ¹  on it, and his house is to be reduced ²  to a rubbish heap ³  for this indiscretion. ⁴ 

King Ahasuerus replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have already given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he has been hanged on the gallows because he took hostile action ¹  against the Jews.

“If only I had ¹  someone to hear me! Here is my signature – ²  let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment ³  that my accuser had written. ⁴ 

Against you – you above all ¹  – I have sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. So ²  you are just when you confront me; ³  you are right when you condemn me. ⁴ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ²  O God, you are my God! I long for you! ³  My soul thirsts ⁴  for you, my flesh yearns for you, in a dry and parched ⁵  land where there is no water.

Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head. Those who want to destroy me, my enemies for no reason, ¹  outnumber me. ²  They make me repay what I did not steal! ³ 

I thought to myself, ¹  “I have become much wiser ²  than any of my predecessors who ruled ³  over Jerusalem; ⁴  I ⁵  have acquired much wisdom and knowledge.” ⁶