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 

Others will then answer, ¹  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors ²  out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ³  That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

He gathered some men and organized a raiding band. ¹  When David tried to kill them, ²  they went to Damascus, where they settled down and gained control of the city.

He also removed Maacah his grandmother ¹  from her position as queen because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her Asherah pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

He said to her, “Hand me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him down on his bed.

When all the people saw this, they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “The Lord is the true God! ¹  The Lord is the true God!”

Elijah told them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let even one of them escape!” So they seized them, and Elijah led them down to the Kishon Valley and executed ¹  them there.

So Ahab went on up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel. He bent down toward the ground and put his face between his knees.

So Ahab went into his palace, bitter and angry that Naboth the Jezreelite had said, ¹  “I will not sell to you my ancestral inheritance.” ²  He lay down on his bed, pouted, ³  and would not eat.

While the battle raged throughout the day, the king stood propped up in his chariot opposite the Syrians. He died in the evening; the blood from the wound ran down into the bottom of the chariot.

The king ¹  sent a captain and his fifty soldiers ²  to retrieve Elijah. ³  The captain ⁴  went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. ⁵  He told him, “Prophet, ⁶  the king says, ‘Come down!’”

The king ¹  sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, ²  “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” ³ 

Elijah told Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” ¹  But Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

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.

You will defeat every fortified city and every important ¹  city. You must chop down ²  every productive ³  tree, stop up all the springs, and cover all the cultivated land with stones.” ⁴ 

Elisha ¹  went back and walked around in the house. ²  Then he got up on the bed again ³  and bent down over him. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the prophet had instructed. ¹  His skin became as smooth as a young child’s ²  and he was healed.

In the morning he went out and stood there. Then he said to all the people, “You are innocent. I conspired against my master and killed him. But who struck down all of these men?

Now Elisha had a terminal illness. ¹  King Joash of Israel went down to visit him. ²  He wept before him and said, “My father, my father! The chariot ³  and horsemen of Israel!” ⁴