1 Kings 21 Cross References - MSB

¹ Some time later, Naboth the Jezreelite happened to own a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. ² So Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to use as a vegetable garden, since it is next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place—or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.” ³ But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” ⁴ So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and refused to eat. ⁵ Soon his wife Jezebel came in and asked, “Why are you so sullen that you refuse to eat?” ⁶ Ahab answered, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and told him, ‘Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you wish, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ And he replied, ‘I will not give you my vineyard!’” ⁷ But his wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you not reign over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful, for I will get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” ⁸ Then Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. ⁹ In the letters she wrote: “Proclaim a fast and give Naboth a seat of honor among the people. ¹⁰ But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” ¹¹ So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel had instructed in the letters she had written to them. ¹² They proclaimed a fast and gave Naboth a seat of honor among the people. ¹³ And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. ¹⁴ Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.” ¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who refused to give it to you for silver. For Naboth is no longer alive, but dead.” ¹⁶ And when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. ¹⁷ Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸ “Get up and go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. See, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, of which he has gone to take possession. ¹⁹ Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’” ²⁰ When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD. ²¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free. ²² I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked My anger and caused Israel to sin.’ ²³ And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ ²⁴ Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.” ²⁵ (Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel. ²⁶ He committed the most detestable acts by going after idols, just like the Amorites whom the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.) ²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around meekly. ²⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: ²⁹ “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity during his days, but I will bring it upon his house in the days of his son.”

¹⁸ Their territory included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem,

³³ Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

¹ Now the Philistines brought all their forces together at Aphek, while Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.

⁴⁵ Meanwhile, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain began to fall. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ And the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

³⁵ Meanwhile, by the word of the LORD, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me, please!” But the man refused to strike him. ³⁶ Then the prophet said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you depart from me a lion will kill you.” And when he left, a lion found him and killed him. ³⁷ Then the prophet found another man and said, “Strike me, please!” So the man struck him and wounded him, ³⁸ and the prophet went and waited on the road for the king, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. ³⁹ As the king passed by, he cried out to the king: “Your servant had marched out into the middle of the battle, when suddenly a man came over with a captive and told me, ‘Guard this man! If he goes missing for any reason, your life will be exchanged for his life, or you will weigh out a talent of silver.’ ⁴⁰ But while your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.” And the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you have pronounced it on yourself.” ⁴¹ Then the prophet quickly removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. ⁴² And the prophet said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have let slip from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, your life will be exchanged for his life, and your people for his people.’” ⁴³ Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went home to Samaria.

²² In the time of his distress, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.

¹³ After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this), ¹⁴ shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not become so angry with us as to wipe us out, leaving no remnant or survivor?

¹³ But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the LORD of Hosts.

³ O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

⁴ Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel, for soon I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵ And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

⁶ “Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.

¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

²¹ You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or field, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁰ For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.

⁶ But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.

¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his servants.

⁶ So Achish summoned David and told him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been upright in my sight, and it seems right that you should march in and out with me in the army, because I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me until this day. But you have no favor in the sight of the leaders.

²⁷ When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur, near Ibleam, and he fled to Megiddo and died there.

⁵ I made gardens and parks for myself, where I planted all kinds of fruit trees.

¹⁵ You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon.

¹⁷ “But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”

⁹ Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster! ¹⁰ You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life. ¹¹ For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.

¹⁵ And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

⁹ Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. ¹⁵ Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

⁷ “Why does my lord say these things?” they asked. “Your servants could not possibly do such a thing.

¹⁷ But Joseph replied, “Far be it from me to do this. The man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may return to your father in peace.”

²³ The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.

⁷ No inheritance in Israel may be transferred from tribe to tribe, because each of the Israelites is to retain the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

²⁹ Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which stands before His tabernacle.”

¹⁶ The people replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!

²³ As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way.

⁶ So he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed. May I never lift my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed.”

⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?” ¹⁰ David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹ But the LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and water jug by his head, and let us go.”

¹⁹ saying, “Far be it from me, my God, to do this! How can I drink the blood of these men who risked their lives?” Because they had brought it at the risk of their lives, David refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.

⁵ I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die.

¹⁸ The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his property.’”

⁴ Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”

⁶ Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?

³¹ Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.

² Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not!

⁷ What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

¹³ Has that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

¹⁴ But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

⁵ but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶ “Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.” ⁸ Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

¹³ So Balaam got up the next morning and said to Balak’s princes, “Go back to your homeland, because the LORD has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ And the princes of Moab arose, returned to Balak, and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

² Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her.

⁴ so he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

⁴³ Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went home to Samaria.

³ But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”

² For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.

⁹ Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

⁸ The end of a matter is better than the beginning, and a patient spirit is better than a proud one. ⁹ Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

²⁰ But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck. ²¹ “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

¹ Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.

⁹ Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”

⁹ Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster! ¹⁰ You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life. ¹¹ For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork. ¹² Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity!

²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.

³¹ And as if it were not enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he then proceeded to serve and worship Baal.

⁴ for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)

² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the lives of those you killed!”

²⁵ (Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.

² so the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, though you are not ill? This could only be sadness of the heart.” I was overwhelmed with fear

⁵ Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs appointed to her, and she dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what was troubling him and why.

² So Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to use as a vegetable garden, since it is next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place—or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.” ³ But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” ⁴ So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and refused to eat.

⁹ That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai. ¹⁰ Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh, ¹¹ Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants. ¹² “What is more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she prepared, and I am invited back tomorrow along with the king. ¹³ Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” ¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

¹² Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.

³⁰ A tranquil heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

⁹ Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

² You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. ⁴ You adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit who dwells in us yearns with envy? ⁶ But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.

¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who refused to give it to you for silver. For Naboth is no longer alive, but dead.” ¹⁶ And when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

³¹ a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him.

¹ Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.

⁴ For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹ Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished. ²⁰ But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes.

¹ Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands. ² They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.

³ Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.

¹⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.

¹⁸ You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹ Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

¹ If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, ² your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities. ³ Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work, ⁴ bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream. ⁵ And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault. ⁶ Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken, ⁷ and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. ⁸ Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for. ⁹ So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”

⁷ Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, “Please take note and see that this man is looking for trouble, for when he demanded my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, I did not deny him.”

¹ Some time later, Naboth the Jezreelite happened to own a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

¹ Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying: ² “When this letter arrives, since your master’s sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weaponry, ³ select the best and most worthy son of your master, set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.” ⁴ But they were terrified and reasoned, “If two kings could not stand against him, how can we?” ⁵ So the palace administrator, the overseer of the city, the elders, and the guardians sent a message to Jehu: “We are your servants, and we will do whatever you say. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your sight.” ⁶ Then Jehu wrote them a second letter and said: “If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, then bring the heads of your master’s sons to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.” Now the sons of the king, seventy in all, were being brought up by the leading men of the city. ⁷ And when the letter arrived, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

¹¹ So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.

¹⁷ He also wrote letters mocking the LORD, the God of Israel, and saying against Him: “Just as the gods of the nations did not deliver their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.”

⁷ And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. It was written in Aramaic and then translated. ⁸ Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

¹¹ (This is the text of the letter they sent to him.) To King Artaxerxes, From your servants, the men west of the Euphrates:

⁵ The fifth time, Sanballat sent me this same message by his young servant, who had in his hand an unsealed letter

¹² On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring. ¹³ And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—and to plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month. ¹⁴ A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that they would be ready on that day. ¹⁵ The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.

⁸ Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.” ⁹ At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. ¹⁰ Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares. ¹¹ By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions. ¹² The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. ¹³ A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹³ But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully. ¹⁴ “We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us—every one of your males. ¹⁶ Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go.”

⁴ You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.

⁸ And sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and search carefully for the Child, and when you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.”

¹³ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

⁴⁷ They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.”

²⁸ Then they led Jesus away from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. By now it was early morning, and the Jews did not enter the Praetorium, to avoid being defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

²⁸ You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

¹⁵ And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If anyone curses his God, he shall bear the consequences of his sin. ¹⁶ Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

¹³ that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

¹⁵ A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

²² While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!”

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death. ⁶⁰ But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two false witnesses came forward ⁶¹ and declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” ⁶² So the high priest stood up and asked Him, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?” ⁶³ But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ “You have said it yourself,” Jesus answered. “But I say to all of you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” ⁶⁵ At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “He has blasphemed! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy. ⁶⁶ What do you think?” “He deserves to die,” they answered.

³³ “We are not stoning You for any good work,” said the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because You, who are a man, declare Yourself to be God.”

¹¹ Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

¹³ where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemies against this holy place and against the law.

¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.

²¹ And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.

¹ “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness. ² You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.

¹⁵ You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

¹⁷ Then the king ordered the guards at his side, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they did not tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.

²⁰ Now, O king, come down whenever your soul desires, and we will be responsible for delivering him into your hand.”

²¹ But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.

¹² If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

²⁶ Many seek the ruler’s favor, but a man receives justice from the LORD.

¹⁸ But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.” ¹⁹ At this, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual, ²⁰ and he commanded some mighty men of valor in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing fiery furnace. ²¹ So they were tied up, wearing robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and they were thrown into the blazing fiery furnace. ²² The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fiery flames killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ²³ And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, firmly bound, fell into the blazing fiery furnace. ²⁴ Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and asked his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, firmly bound, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they replied. ²⁵ “Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”

¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols.

¹⁶ You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their country by another route.

¹⁶ When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.

²⁹ But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

⁸ Then Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. ⁹ In the letters she wrote: “Proclaim a fast and give Naboth a seat of honor among the people. ¹⁰ But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

¹⁶ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) ¹² They placed him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them. ¹³ Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁴ “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole assembly stone him.

³⁵ And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the whole congregation took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²⁰ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁰ Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹⁶ If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime, ¹⁷ both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time. ¹⁸ The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, ¹⁹ you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you. ²⁰ Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you. ²¹ You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

²¹ Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

²¹ she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.

²⁴ you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.

²⁴ Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ “Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the LORD will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies.

²⁶ ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”

⁵ And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

¹¹ But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

⁹ Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹² Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

¹¹ Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.

¹⁹ a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.

⁵ A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies will not escape.

⁹ A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who pours out lies will perish.

¹⁸ Like a club or sword or sharp arrow is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.

²⁰ Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your words, and a winged creature may report your speech.

²¹ They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.

¹⁰ Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words,

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

³ On seeing this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!”

⁵⁶ For many bore false witness against Jesus, but their testimony was inconsistent. ⁵⁷ Then some men stood up and testified falsely against Him: ⁵⁸ “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple, and in three days I will build another that is made without hands.’” ⁵⁹ But even their testimony was inconsistent.

² And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man subverting the nation, forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar, and proclaiming Himself to be Christ, a King.”

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept crying out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”

⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him. ⁵⁸ They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

⁵ We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,

¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.” ¹⁶ So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he saw the strongest enemy soldiers. ¹⁷ And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸ Joab sent to David a full account of the battle ¹⁹ and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king all the details of the battle, ²⁰ if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall? ²¹ Who was the one to strike Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If so, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’” ²² So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. ²³ The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. ²⁴ Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”

⁸ If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

¹⁴ There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

⁷ But his wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you not reign over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful, for I will get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them. ¹¹ If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause, ¹² let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit. ¹³ We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder. ¹⁴ Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”— ¹⁵ my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path. ¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

¹³ And David inquired of the young man who had brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of a foreigner,” he answered. “I am an Amalekite.” ¹⁴ So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?” ¹⁵ Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died. ¹⁶ For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”

⁹ But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress, ¹⁰ when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news! ¹¹ How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!” ¹² So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

²⁵ Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.” ²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷ And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁵ David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁶ So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD, ¹⁷ saying, “Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this! Is this not the blood of the men who risked their lives?” So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.

¹⁸ When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.

¹⁵ He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—

¹² But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress. ¹³ You should not enter the gate of My people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over their affliction in the day of their disaster, nor loot their wealth in the day of their disaster. ¹⁴ Nor should you stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives, nor deliver up their survivors in the day of their distress.

³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

¹⁵ They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

¹⁵ Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶ And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.”

²⁶ But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants?

¹² For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

²¹ For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.

³² for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass.”

⁹ Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah, and Jehu’s soldiers captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. So Ahaziah was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” So no one was left from the house of Ahaziah with the strength to rule the kingdom.

¹¹ “Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

⁹ And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

⁷ Then Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

⁹ Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.

¹¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.

³⁸ And the chariot was washed at the pool of Samaria where the prostitutes bathed, and the dogs licked up Ahab’s blood, according to the word that the LORD had spoken.

²⁵ And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Pick him up and throw him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember that when you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, the LORD lifted up this burden against him: ²⁶ ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”

¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

¹⁵ He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making. ¹⁶ His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.

¹⁶ The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah

¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. ¹¹ Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

¹ Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice? ² You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones. ³ You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.” ⁴ Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.

⁹ Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!

¹² Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity!

² For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³⁰ However, Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.

¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”

⁸ The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.

¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

² And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

⁷ The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.

¹⁷ Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he never prophesies good for me, but only bad?”

⁶ He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

³ For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”

¹⁰ There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

¹² At this, the leaders sought to arrest Jesus, for they knew that He had spoken this parable against them. But fearing the crowd, they left Him and went away.

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

¹⁶ Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁹ Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.

¹⁰ And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them, and will celebrate and give one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

³⁶ For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

²² May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.”

³⁴ Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

¹⁰ Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!

⁷ And you are to strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD shed by the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel. ⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the houses of Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of Ahijah.

¹¹ So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor. ¹² Then Jehu set out toward Samaria. At Beth-eked of the Shepherds, ¹³ Jehu met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?” “We are relatives of Ahaziah,” they answered, “and we have come down to greet the sons of the king and of the queen mother.” ¹⁴ Then Jehu ordered, “Take them alive.” So his men took them alive, then slaughtered them at the well of Beth-eked—forty-two men. He spared none of them.

¹⁷ When Jehu came to Samaria, he struck down everyone belonging to Ahab who remained there, until he had destroyed them, according to the word that the LORD had spoken to Elijah.

³⁰ Nevertheless, the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”

²⁶ For the LORD saw that the affliction of the Israelites, both slave and free, was very bitter. There was no one to help Israel,

³⁰ And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves.

¹⁶ So He will give Israel over on account of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”

²⁹ As soon as Baasha became king, he struck down the entire household of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰ because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he had provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.

³⁴ And Baasha did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.

³ So now I will consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat:

¹¹ As soon as Zimri began to reign and was seated on the throne, he struck down the entire household of Baasha. He did not leave a single male, whether a kinsman or friend.

²⁶ For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sins, which he caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols.

¹⁰ And on the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour Jezebel, and there will be no one to bury her.’” Then the young prophet opened the door and ran.

³⁰ Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window. ³¹ And as Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, O Zimri, murderer of your master?” ³² He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him. ³³ “Throw her down!” yelled Jehu. So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as they trampled her underfoot. ³⁴ Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.” ³⁵ But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ So they went back and told Jehu, who replied, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel. ³⁷ And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’”

¹¹ Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.’ For the LORD has spoken.

⁴ Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

¹⁹ But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.

³ I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

⁴ I will abandon you on the land and hurl you into the open field. I will cause all the birds of the air to settle upon you, and all the beasts of the earth to eat their fill of you. ⁵ I will put your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your remains.

¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan. ¹⁹ At the sacrifice I am preparing, you will eat fat until you are gorged and drink blood until you are drunk. ²⁰ And at My table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, of mighty men and warriors of every kind,’ declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁸ so that you may eat the flesh of kings and commanders and mighty men, of horses and riders, of everyone slave and free, small and great.”

¹ King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women. ² These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away. ⁴ For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.

³⁰ However, Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. ³¹ And as if it were not enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he then proceeded to serve and worship Baal. ³² First, Ahab set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria. ³³ Then he set up an Asherah pole. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.

²⁰ When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD.

²⁵ Neither before nor after Josiah was there any king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses.

¹⁴ The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.

²⁶ And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

¹⁷ For Herod himself had ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod had married. ¹⁸ For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife!” ¹⁹ So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she had been unable, ²⁰ because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man. When he heard John’s words, he did many things, and he listened to him gladly. ²¹ On Herod’s birthday, her opportunity arose. Herod held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom!” ²⁴ Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?” And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ At once the girl hurried back to the king with her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.” ²⁶ The king was consumed with sorrow, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ So without delay, the king commanded that John’s head be brought in. He sent an executioner, who went and beheaded him in the prison.

¹² So they stirred up the people, elders, and scribes and confronted Stephen. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin,

² But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

²⁵ Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you. ²⁷ For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled. ²⁸ So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you. ²⁹ Therefore anyone who commits any of these abominations must be cut off from among his people. ³⁰ You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”

²² You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out. ²³ You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

³¹ You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

¹² He banished the male shrine prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

³ Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

¹² They served idols, although the LORD had told them, “You shall not do this thing.”

¹¹ “Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin,

⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple.

² And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

⁹ So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

¹⁴ Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹¹ that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end. ¹² Now, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, leaving it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’

³⁵ but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. ³⁶ They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. ³⁹ They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.

⁴ sitting among the graves, spending nights in secret places, eating the meat of pigs and polluted broth from their bowls.

¹⁸ And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”

⁴ Yet I sent you all My servants the prophets again and again, saying: ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate.’

⁴⁷ And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.

¹² He oppresses the poor and needy; he commits robbery and does not restore a pledge. He lifts his eyes to idols; he commits abominations.

³ For we have spent enough of our past lifetime carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

⁸ But to the cowardly and unbelieving and sinful and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

³¹ Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier.

¹⁶ David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

³⁰ When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And as he passed by on the wall, the people saw the sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin.

³⁷ Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

¹⁵ I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.

¹² On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.

¹⁵ What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

⁵ Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD? ⁶ Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? ⁷ Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

¹³ Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.

⁶ When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

³³ “Throw her down!” yelled Jehu. So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as they trampled her underfoot.

⁴⁴ When they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cower before me.

³ Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies cower before You.

³⁴ When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. ³⁵ And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. ³⁶ But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues. ³⁷ Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

¹⁵ But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.

¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰ Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?’ ¹¹ Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

¹⁸ Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?

⁴⁴ And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.

⁴ Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.