“As surely as God lives, ¹  who has denied me justice, ²  the Almighty, who has made my life bitter ³  –

For Job says, ‘I am innocent, ¹  but God turns away my right.

God deserves praise, ¹  for ²  he did not reject my prayer or abandon his love for me! ³ 

He was committed to following the Lord; ¹  he even removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns ¹  under a cooking pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This kind of folly ²  also is useless. ³ 

They say, ¹  ‘The time is not near to build houses; ²  the city ³  is a cooking pot ⁴  and we are the meat in it.’

Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. ¹  In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums ²  and magicians ³  from the land.

Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him ¹  and he told his servant, “Put the big pot on the fire ²  and boil some stew for the prophets.” ³ 

He said, “Get some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now pour some out for the men so they may eat.” ¹  There was no longer anything harmful in the pot.

So David did not move the ark to the City of David; ¹  he left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

Hezekiah is the one who eliminated ¹  the Lord’s ²  high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, “At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.”

For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted, and the ripening fruit appears, ¹  he will cut off the unproductive shoots ²  with pruning knives; he will prune the tendrils. ³ 

Yet he too is wise ¹  and he will bring disaster; he does not retract his decree. ²  He will attack the wicked nation, ³  and the nation that helps ⁴  those who commit sin. ⁵ 

Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped ¹  in the midst of the city ²  are the meat, and this city ³  is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. ⁴ 

this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tear off the turban, ¹  take off the crown! Things must change! ²  Exalt the lowly, bring down the proud! ³ 

Recite a proverb to this rebellious house ¹  and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘Set on the pot, ²  set it on, pour water in it too;

The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ¹  he has turned back your enemy. Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst! You no longer need to fear disaster.

Moses the Lord’s servant passed on the Lord’s commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses. ¹ 

Finally ¹  the Lord rejected Israel ²  just as he had warned he would do ³  through all his servants the prophets. Israel was deported from its land to Assyria and remains there to this very day.

He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ¹  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ²  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ³