Well, it just so happened that while your servant was doing this and that, he disappeared.” The king of Israel said to him, “Your punishment is already determined by your own testimony.” ¹ 

He went up from there to Bethel. ¹  As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ²  came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!”

Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet ¹  – twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain. ²  Elisha ³  said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.”

Jehu sent invitations throughout Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; not one was absent. They arrived at the temple of Baal and filled it up from end to end. ¹ 

One day, ¹  as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, ²  his sons ³  Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. ⁴  They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Pharaoh Necho made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in Josiah’s place, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he died. ¹ 

Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet ¹  high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet ²  high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.

King David said to the entire assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is just an inexperienced young man, ¹  and the task is great, for this palace is not for man, but for the Lord God.

Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, equipped with large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from Benjamin who carried small shields and were adept archers; they were all skilled warriors.

Certainly ¹  the Lord watches the whole earth carefully ²  and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him. ³  You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war.

Messengers ¹  arrived and reported to Jehoshaphat, “A huge army is attacking you from the other side of the Dead Sea, ²  from the direction of Edom. ³  Look, they are in Hazezon Tamar (that is, En Gedi).”

On the first day of the first month they began consecrating; by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the Lord’s temple. ¹  For eight more days they consecrated the Lord’s temple. On the sixteenth day of the first month they were finished.

These are the ones that came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer (although they were unable to certify ¹  their family connection ²  or their ancestry, ³  as to whether they really were from Israel):

These are the ones who came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer (although they were unable to certify ¹  their family connection ²  or their ancestry, ³  as to whether they were really from Israel):

Haman said, “Furthermore, Queen Esther invited ¹  only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared! And also tomorrow I am invited ²  along with the king.

The king then said to Haman, “Go quickly! Take the clothing and the horse, just as you have described, and do as you just indicated to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Don’t neglect ¹  a single thing of all that you have said.”

Esther replied, “If the king is so inclined, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to act tomorrow also according to today’s law, and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the gallows.”

Even when I am old and gray, ¹  O God, do not abandon me, until I tell the next generation about your strength, and those coming after me about your power. ² 

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; however, he must hand over ¹  the fruit of his labor ²  as an inheritance ³  to someone else who did not work for it. This also is futile, and an awful injustice! ⁴ 

Here is ¹  another ²  enigma ³  that occurs on earth: Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, ⁴  and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. ⁵  I said, “This also is an enigma.”