Ruins to Royalty

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LEADERSHIP WISDOM FROM the WILD

The Advent of HOPE and the Object of Our Faith.

Audacious Faith: Standing Firm in the Fire

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When Your Child Fails: Turning Your Child’s Mistakes Into Moments of Grace and Growth

Becoming Love: If We Start at Finish, Where Do We End? (Part 2)

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="1KI.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King</div><div class="p"> 1When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. 2So his attendants said to him, &#8220;Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4The woman was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her.</div><div class="p"> 5Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, &#8220;I will be king.&#8221; So he got chariots and horses#1:5 Or charioteers ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6(His father had never rebuked him by asking, &#8220;Why do you behave as you do?&#8221; He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)</div><div class="p"> 7Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David&#8217;s special guard did not join Adonijah.</div><div class="p"> 9Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king&#8217;s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, 10but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.</div><div class="p"> 11Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon&#8217;s mother, &#8220;Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king, and our lord David knows nothing about it? 12Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13Go in to King David and say to him, &#8216;My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: &#8220;Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne&#8221;? Why then has Adonijah become king?&#8217; 14While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and add my word to what you have said.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him. 16Bathsheba bowed down, prostrating herself before the king.</div><div class="p">&#8220;What is it you want?&#8221; the king asked.</div><div class="p"> 17She said to him, &#8220;My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the Lord your God: &#8216;Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.&#8217; 18But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it. 19He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king&#8217;s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. 20My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived. 23And the king was told, &#8220;Nathan the prophet is here.&#8221; So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.</div><div class="p"> 24Nathan said, &#8220;Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne? 25Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king&#8217;s sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, &#8216;Long live King Adonijah!&#8217; 26But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite. 27Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?&#8221;</div><div class="s1">David Makes Solomon King</div><div class="p"> 28Then King David said, &#8220;Call in Bathsheba.&#8221; So she came into the king&#8217;s presence and stood before him.</div><div class="p"> 29The king then took an oath: &#8220;As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 30I will surely carry out this very day what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31Then Bathsheba bowed down with her face to the ground, prostrating herself before the king, and said, &#8220;May my lord King David live forever!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32King David said, &#8220;Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.&#8221; When they came before the king, 33he said to them: &#8220;Take your lord&#8217;s servants with you and have Solomon my son mount my own mule and take him down to Gihon. 34There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, &#8216;Long live King Solomon!&#8217; 35Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, &#8220;Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so declare it. 37As the Lord was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon mount King David&#8217;s mule, and they escorted him to Gihon. 39Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, &#8220;Long live King Solomon!&#8221; 40And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.</div><div class="p"> 41Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they were finishing their feast. On hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab asked, &#8220;What&#8217;s the meaning of all the noise in the city?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 42Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, &#8220;Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 43&#8220;Not at all!&#8221; Jonathan answered. &#8220;Our lord King David has made Solomon king. 44The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and they have put him on the king&#8217;s mule, 45and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon. From there they have gone up cheering, and the city resounds with it. That&#8217;s the noise you hear. 46Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne. 47Also, the royal officials have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, &#8216;May your God make Solomon&#8217;s name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours!&#8217; And the king bowed in worship on his bed 48and said, &#8216;Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 49At this, all Adonijah&#8217;s guests rose in alarm and dispersed. 50But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51Then Solomon was told, &#8220;Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, &#8216;Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 52Solomon replied, &#8220;If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.&#8221; 53Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, &#8220;Go to your home.&#8221;</div>
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New International Version

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="1KI.2.13+1KI.2.14+1KI.2.15+1KI.2.16+1KI.2.17+1KI.2.18+1KI.2.19+1KI.2.20+1KI.2.21+1KI.2.22+1KI.2.23+1KI.2.24+1KI.2.25+1KI.2.26+1KI.2.27+1KI.2.28+1KI.2.29+1KI.2.30+1KI.2.31+1KI.2.32+1KI.2.33+1KI.2.34+1KI.2.35+1KI.2.36+1KI.2.37+1KI.2.38+1KI.2.39+1KI.2.40+1KI.2.41+1KI.2.42+1KI.2.43+1KI.2.44+1KI.2.45+1KI.2.46">
 <div class="p">13Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon&#8217;s mother. Bathsheba asked him, &#8220;Do you come peacefully?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He answered, &#8220;Yes, peacefully.&#8221; 14Then he added, &#8220;I have something to say to you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;You may say it,&#8221; she replied.</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;As you know,&#8221; he said, &#8220;the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the Lord. 16Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;You may make it,&#8221; she said.</div><div class="p"> 17So he continued, &#8220;Please ask King Solomon&#8212;he will not refuse you&#8212;to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18&#8220;Very well,&#8221; Bathsheba replied, &#8220;I will speak to the king for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king&#8217;s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;I have one small request to make of you,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Do not refuse me.&#8221;</div><div class="p">The king replied, &#8220;Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21So she said, &#8220;Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22King Solomon answered his mother, &#8220;Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him&#8212;after all, he is my older brother&#8212;yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23Then King Solomon swore by the Lord: &#8220;May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request! 24And now, as surely as the Lord lives&#8212;he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised&#8212;Adonijah shall be put to death today!&#8221; 25So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.</div><div class="p"> 26To Abiathar the priest the king said, &#8220;Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father&#8217;s hardships.&#8221; 27So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.</div><div class="p"> 28When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar. 29King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, &#8220;Go, strike him down!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30So Benaiah entered the tent of the Lord and said to Joab, &#8220;The king says, &#8216;Come out!&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p">But he answered, &#8220;No, I will die here.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Benaiah reported to the king, &#8220;This is how Joab answered me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31Then the king commanded Benaiah, &#8220;Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my whole family of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed. 32The Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because without my father David knowing it he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them&#8212;Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel&#8217;s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah&#8217;s army&#8212;were better men and more upright than he. 33May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord&#8217;s peace forever.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried at his home out in the country. 35The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab&#8217;s position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.</div><div class="p"> 36Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, &#8220;Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else. 37The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Shimei answered the king, &#8220;What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.&#8221; And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.</div><div class="p"> 39But three years later, two of Shimei&#8217;s slaves ran off to Achish son of Maakah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, &#8220;Your slaves are in Gath.&#8221; 40At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath.</div><div class="p"> 41When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, 42the king summoned Shimei and said to him, &#8220;Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warn you, &#8216;On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die&#8217;? At that time you said to me, &#8216;What you say is good. I will obey.&#8217; 43Why then did you not keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 44The king also said to Shimei, &#8220;You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the Lord will repay you for your wrongdoing. 45But King Solomon will be blessed, and David&#8217;s throne will remain secure before the Lord forever.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 46Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and he died.</div><div class="p">The kingdom was now established in Solomon&#8217;s hands.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="1KI.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">Solomon&#8217;s Wives</div><div class="p"> 1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter&#8212;Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, &#8220;You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.&#8221; Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.</div><div class="p"> 7On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.</div><div class="p"> 9The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord&#8217;s command. 11So the Lord said to Solomon, &#8220;Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Solomon&#8217;s Adversaries</div><div class="p"> 14Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. 15Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom. 16Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. 17But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. 18They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking people from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food.</div><div class="p"> 19Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. 20The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh&#8217;s own children.</div><div class="p"> 21While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, &#8220;Let me go, that I may return to my own country.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22&#8220;What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?&#8221; Pharaoh asked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; Hadad replied, &#8220;but do let me go!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24When David destroyed Zobah&#8217;s army, Rezon gathered a band of men around him and became their leader; they went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. 25Rezon was Israel&#8217;s adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.</div><div class="s1">Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon</div><div class="p"> 26Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon&#8217;s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.</div><div class="p"> 27Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces#11:27 Or the Millo and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. 28Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph.</div><div class="p"> 29About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, 30and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31Then he said to Jeroboam, &#8220;Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: &#8216;See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon&#8217;s hand and give you ten tribes. 32But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33I will do this because they have#11:33 Hebrew; Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac because he has forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon&#8217;s father, did.</div><div class="p"> 34&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon&#8217;s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. 35I will take the kingdom from his son&#8217;s hands and give you ten tribes. 36I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 37However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. 39I will humble David&#8217;s descendants because of this, but not forever.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 40Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon&#8217;s death.</div><div class="s1">Solomon&#8217;s Death</div><div class="p"> 41As for the other events of Solomon&#8217;s reign&#8212;all he did and the wisdom he displayed&#8212;are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon? 42Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 43Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="1KI.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">The Man of God From Judah</div><div class="p"> 1By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: &#8220;Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: &#8216;A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; 3That same day the man of God gave a sign: &#8220;This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, &#8220;Seize him!&#8221; But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 6Then the king said to the man of God, &#8220;Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.&#8221; So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king&#8217;s hand was restored and became as it was before.</div><div class="p"> 7The king said to the man of God, &#8220;Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8But the man of God answered the king, &#8220;Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. 9For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: &#8216;You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; 10So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.</div><div class="p"> 11Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. 12Their father asked them, &#8220;Which way did he go?&#8221; And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13So he said to his sons, &#8220;Saddle the donkey for me.&#8221; And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 14and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, &#8220;Are you the man of God who came from Judah?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;I am,&#8221; he replied.</div><div class="p"> 15So the prophet said to him, &#8220;Come home with me and eat.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16The man of God said, &#8220;I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17I have been told by the word of the Lord: &#8216;You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18The old prophet answered, &#8220;I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: &#8216;Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; (But he was lying to him.) 19So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.</div><div class="p"> 20While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. 21He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, &#8220;This is what the Lord says: &#8216;You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. 22You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 24As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.</div><div class="p"> 26When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, &#8220;It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27The prophet said to his sons, &#8220;Saddle the donkey for me,&#8221; and they did so. 28Then he went out and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. 29So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. 30Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, &#8220;Alas, my brother!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31After burying him, he said to his sons, &#8220;When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. 34This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="label">18</div><div class="s1">Elijah and Obadiah</div><div class="p"> 1After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: &#8220;Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.&#8221; 2So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.</div><div class="p">Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 4While Jezebel was killing off the Lord&#8217;s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5Ahab had said to Obadiah, &#8220;Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.&#8221; 6So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.</div><div class="p"> 7As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, &#8220;Is it really you, my lord Elijah?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Go tell your master, &#8216;Elijah is here.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;What have I done wrong,&#8221; asked Obadiah, &#8220;that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11But now you tell me to go to my master and say, &#8216;Elijah is here.&#8217; 12I don&#8217;t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn&#8217;t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 13Haven&#8217;t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord&#8217;s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14And now you tell me to go to my master and say, &#8216;Elijah is here.&#8217; He will kill me!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Elijah said, &#8220;As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Elijah on Mount Carmel</div><div class="p"> 16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17When he saw Elijah, he said to him, &#8220;Is that you, you troubler of Israel?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18&#8220;I have not made trouble for Israel,&#8221; Elijah replied. &#8220;But you and your father&#8217;s family have. You have abandoned the Lord&#8217;s commands and have followed the Baals. 19Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel&#8217;s table.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21Elijah went before the people and said, &#8220;How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But the people said nothing.</div><div class="p"> 22Then Elijah said to them, &#8220;I am the only one of the Lord&#8217;s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23Get two bulls for us. Let Baal&#8217;s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire&#8212;he is God.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then all the people said, &#8220;What you say is good.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, &#8220;Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.&#8221; 26So they took the bull given them and prepared it.</div><div class="p">Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. &#8220;Baal, answer us!&#8221; they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.</div><div class="p"> 27At noon Elijah began to taunt them. &#8220;Shout louder!&#8221; he said. &#8220;Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.&#8221; 28So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.</div><div class="p"> 30Then Elijah said to all the people, &#8220;Come here to me.&#8221; They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, &#8220;Your name shall be Israel.&#8221; 32With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs#18:32 That is, probably about 24 pounds or about 11 kilograms of seed. 33He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, &#8220;Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34&#8220;Do it again,&#8221; he said, and they did it again.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Do it a third time,&#8221; he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.</div><div class="p"> 36At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: &#8220;Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.</div><div class="p"> 39When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, &#8220;The Lord&#8212;he is God! The Lord&#8212;he is God!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 40Then Elijah commanded them, &#8220;Seize the prophets of Baal. Don&#8217;t let anyone get away!&#8221; They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.</div><div class="p"> 41And Elijah said to Ahab, &#8220;Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.&#8221; 42So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.</div><div class="p"> 43&#8220;Go and look toward the sea,&#8221; he told his servant. And he went up and looked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;There is nothing there,&#8221; he said.</div><div class="p">Seven times Elijah said, &#8220;Go back.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 44The seventh time the servant reported, &#8220;A cloud as small as a man&#8217;s hand is rising from the sea.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So Elijah said, &#8220;Go and tell Ahab, &#8216;Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 45Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch19" data-usfm="1KI.19">
 <div class="label">19</div><div class="s1">Elijah Flees to Horeb</div><div class="p"> 1Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, &#8220;May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Elijah was afraid#19:3 Or Elijah saw and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4while he himself went a day&#8217;s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. &#8220;I have had enough, Lord,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.&#8221; 5Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.</div><div class="p">All at once an angel touched him and said, &#8220;Get up and eat.&#8221; 6He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.</div><div class="p"> 7The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, &#8220;Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.&#8221; 8So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9There he went into a cave and spent the night.</div><div class="s1">The Lord Appears to Elijah</div><div class="p">And the word of the Lord came to him: &#8220;What are you doing here, Elijah?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10He replied, &#8220;I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11The Lord said, &#8220;Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.</div><div class="p">Then a voice said to him, &#8220;What are you doing here, Elijah?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14He replied, &#8220;I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15The Lord said to him, &#8220;Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel&#8212;all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Call of Elisha</div><div class="p"> 19So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. &#8220;Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and then I will come with you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Go back,&#8221; Elijah replied. &#8220;What have I done to you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.</div>
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