When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill or restore life? Why does he ask me to cure a man of his skin disease? ¹  Certainly you must see that he is looking for an excuse to fight me!” ² 

If we go into the city, we’ll die of starvation, ¹  and if we stay here we’ll die! So come on, let’s defect ²  to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, ³  we’ll live; if they kill us – well, we were going to die anyway.” ⁴ 

When King Ahaziah of Judah saw what happened, he took off ¹  up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him and ordered, “Shoot him too.” They shot him while he was driving his chariot up the ascent of Gur near Ibleam. ²  He fled to Megiddo ³  and died there.

until I come and take you to a land just like your own – a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.”

But in the seventh month ¹  Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, ²  came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah, ³  as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

While he was speaking, Amaziah ¹  said to him, “Did we appoint you to be a royal counselor? Stop prophesying or else you will be killed!” ²  So the prophet stopped, but added, “I know that the Lord has decided ³  to destroy you, because you have done this thing and refused to listen to my advice.”

They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splashed it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and splashed the blood on the altar; next they slaughtered the lambs and splashed the blood on the altar.

Show the Lord your God the respect that is due him. ¹  Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. ²  Do it before you stumble ³  into distress like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. ⁴  Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for into the darkness and gloom of exile. ⁵ 

They will die of deadly diseases. No one will mourn for them. They will not be buried. Their dead bodies will lie like manure spread on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation. Their corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals.

You will die a peaceful death. They will burn incense at your burial just as they did at the burial of your ancestors, the former kings who preceded you. ¹  They will mourn for you, saying, “Poor, poor master!” ²  Indeed, you have my own word on this. ³  I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ⁴ 

“When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ¹  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

Due to the greatness that he bestowed on him, all peoples, nations, and language groups were trembling with fear ¹  before him. He killed whom he wished, he spared ²  whom he wished, he exalted whom he wished, and he brought low whom he wished.

(But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight ¹  into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name!

When Herod ¹  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ²  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ³  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.

But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. ¹  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, ²  how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!

The one who slaughters a bull also strikes down a man; ¹  the one who sacrifices a lamb also breaks a dog’s neck; ²  the one who presents an offering includes pig’s blood with it; ³  the one who offers incense also praises an idol. ⁴  They have decided to behave this way; ⁵  they enjoy these disgusting practices. ⁶ 

I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go ¹  and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle ²  or perish from starvation. People of every class ³  will die in war or from starvation. They will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. ⁴ 

but ¹  you must not eat ²  from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when ³  you eat from it you will surely die.” ⁴ 

When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. ¹ 

Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ¹  ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of ²  my wife.’