This is what prompted him to rebel against the king: ¹  Solomon built a terrace and he closed up a gap in the wall of the city of his father David. ² 

He will retain one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

The old prophet ¹  picked up the corpse of the prophet, ²  put it on the donkey, and brought it back. The old prophet then entered the city to mourn him and to bury him.

When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he went into the fortified area of the royal palace. He set the palace on fire and died in the flames. ¹ 

When Ben Hadad received this reply, ¹  he and the other kings were drinking in their quarters. ²  He ordered his servants, “Get ready to attack!” So they got ready to attack the city.

The prophet’s ¹  attendant got up early in the morning. When he went outside there was an army surrounding the city, along with horses and chariots. He said to Elisha, ²  “Oh no, my master! What will we do?”

So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. ¹  He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, ²  nor will he build siege works against it.

So I gave orders, ¹  and it was determined ²  that this city from long ago has been engaging in insurrection against kings. It has continually engaged in ³  rebellion and revolt.

Now Mordecai went out from the king’s presence in purple and white royal attire, with a large golden crown and a purple linen mantle. The city of Susa shouted with joy. ¹ 

“I will arise ¹  and look all around ²  throughout the town, and throughout the streets ³  and squares; I will search for my beloved.” I searched for him but I did not find him. ⁴ 

So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. ¹  He will not attack it with his shielded warriors, ²  nor will he build siege works against it.

At the sound of the approaching horsemen and archers the people of every town will flee. Some of them will hide in the thickets. Others will climb up among the rocks. All the cities will be deserted. No one will remain in them.

I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn ¹  because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ² 

When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his soldiers saw them, they tried to escape. They departed from the city during the night. They took a path through the king’s garden and passed out through the gate between the two walls. ¹  Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, ¹  took captive the rest of the people who were left in the city. He carried them off to Babylon along with the people who had deserted to him. ² 

One runner after another will come to the king of Babylon. One messenger after another will come bringing news. ¹  They will bring news to the king of Babylon that his whole city has been captured. ² 

ק (Qof) I called for my lovers, ¹  but they had deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city. Truly they had ²  searched for food to ³  keep themselves ⁴  alive. ⁵ 

The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside the house. Whoever is in the open field will die by the sword, and famine and pestilence will consume everyone in the city.

The Lord said to him, “Go through the city of Jerusalem ¹  and put a mark ²  on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it.”

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: When I make you desolate like the uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep over you and the surging ¹  waters overwhelm you,