At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, ¹  whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’

So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they ¹  all came before him.But the Israelite soldiers ²  had all fled to their own homes. ³ 

Gad went to David and told him, “Shall seven ¹  years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemy with him in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide ²  what I should tell the one who sent me.”

People from all nations came to hear Solomon’s display of wisdom; ¹  they came from all the kings of the earth who heard about his wisdom.

Now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, ‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, ¹  provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.’ ² 

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 all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, “We have no portion in David, no share in the son of Jesse! ¹  Return to your homes, O Israel! ²  Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!” ³  So Israel returned to their homes. ⁴ 

When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one except the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty. ¹ 

Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. ¹  When his sons came home, they told their father ²  everything the prophet ³  had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king. ⁴ 

But when I leave you, the Lord’s spirit will carry you away so I can’t find you. ¹  If I go tell Ahab I’ve seen you, he won’t be able to find you and he will kill me. ²  That would not be fair, ³  because your servant has been a loyal follower of ⁴  the Lord from my youth.

Certainly my master is aware of what I did ¹  when Jezebel was killing the Lord’s prophets. I hid one hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves in two groups of fifty and I brought them food and water.

Then you ¹  will invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. The god who responds with fire will demonstrate that he is the true God.” ²  All the people responded, “This will be a fair test.” ³ 

Now a prophet visited King Ahab of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Do you see this huge army? ¹  Look, I am going to hand it over to you this very day. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

The prophet ¹  visited the king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Syrians said, “The Lord is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,” I will hand over to you this entire huge army. ²  Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she ¹  said to Ahab, “Get up, take possession of the vineyard Naboth the Jezreelite refused to sell you for silver, for Naboth is no longer alive; he’s dead.”

Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Haven’t you committed murder and taken possession of the property of the deceased?”’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “In the spot where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood they will also lick up your blood – yes, yours!”’”

But the Lord’s angelic messenger told Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron. ¹ 

They said to him, “Look, there are fifty capable men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master, for the wind sent from the Lord ¹  may have carried him away and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys.” But Elisha ²  replied, “Don’t send them out.”

But when she reached the prophet on the mountain, she grabbed hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the prophet said, “Leave her alone, for she is very upset. ¹  The Lord has kept the matter hidden from me; he didn’t tell me about it.”

His servants approached and said to him, “O master, ¹  if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, ²  you would have been willing to do it. ³  It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” ⁴