Elisha said,“ I serve the Lord who rules over all. You can be sure that he lives. And you can be just as sure that I have respect for Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t pay any attention to you.

以利沙说：“我指着所侍奉永生的万军耶和华起誓，我若不看犹大王约沙法的情面，必不理你，不顾你。

以利沙说：“我指着所事奉永生的万军之耶和华起誓，我若不看犹大王约沙法的情面，必不理你，不睬你。

以利沙说：“我指着所事奉永生的万军之耶和华起誓，我若不看犹大王约沙法的情面，必不理你，不睬你。

以利沙说：“我事奉的是永活的万军之耶和华，我凭祂起誓，若不是看犹大王约沙法的情面，我决不理你，也不会见你。

以利沙说：“我指着我所事奉永活的万军耶和华起誓，若不是看犹大王约沙法的情面，我根本不会理你，看也不看你。

以利沙說：「我指着所事奉永生的萬軍耶和華起誓，我若不看猶大王約沙法的情面，必不理你，不顧你。

以利沙說：「我指着所事奉永生的萬軍之耶和華起誓，我若不看猶大王約沙法的情面，必不理你，不睬你。

以利沙說：「我指着所事奉永生的萬軍之耶和華起誓，我若不看猶大王約沙法的情面，必不理你，不睬你。

以利沙說：「我事奉的是永活的萬軍之耶和華，我憑祂起誓，若不是看猶大王約沙法的情面，我決不理你，也不會見你。

以利沙說：“我指著我所事奉永活的萬軍耶和華起誓，若不是看猶大王約沙法的情面，我根本不會理你，看也不看你。

以利沙說：『我指着我侍立在他面前的永活萬軍永恆主來起誓，我若不是看猶大王約沙法的情面，我就不理你、不看你。

以利沙曰、我指所事萬軍之主、維生之耶和華而誓、我若不視猶大王約沙法在此、必不顧爾、不見爾、

以利沙曰、我指所事萬有之主耶和華以誓、惟猶大王約沙法、我眷顧之、若祇爾一人、豈得蒙我眷顧乎。

以利沙曰、我指所事萬有之永生主而誓、我若不顧猶大王約沙法之面、我必不視爾、不顧爾、

Elisha said,“ As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you.

And Elisha said,“ As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.

Elisha replied,“ As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I wouldn’t even bother with you except for my respect for King Jehoshaphat of Judah.

Elisha responded,“ By the life of the LORD of Armies, before whom I stand: If I did not have respect for King Jehoshaphat of Judah, I wouldn’t look at you; I would not take notice of you.

Elisha said,“ As surely as the Lord of armies lives, before whom I stand, if I did not respect Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.

And Elisha said,“ As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you, nor see you.

And Elisha said, As Jehovah of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.

Elisha responded,“ As the Lord of Hosts lives, I stand before Him. If I did not have respect for King Jehoshaphat of Judah, I would not look at you; I wouldn’t take notice of you.

And Elisha said,[ As] the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.

Elisha said,“ As certainly as the LORD who rules over all lives( whom I serve), if I did not respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah, I would not pay attention to you or acknowledge you.

Elisha said,“ As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you.

Elijah was from Tishbe in the land of Gilead. He said to Ahab,“ I serve the Lord. He is the God of Israel. You can be sure that he lives. And you can be just as sure that there won’t be any dew or rain on the whole land. There won’t be any during the next few years. It won’t come until I say so.”

The prophet answered,“ I serve the Lord. You can be sure that he lives. And you can be just as sure that I won’t accept a gift from you.” Even though Naaman begged him to take it, Elisha wouldn’t.

But there’s some good in you. You have removed all the poles in the land used to worship the female god named Asherah. And you have worshiped God with all your heart.”Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. He went out again among the people. He went from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim. He turned the people back to the Lord, the God of Israel.

They hate evil people. But they honor those who have respect for the Lord. They keep their promises even when it hurts. They do not change their mind.

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat. That’s because he lived the way King David had lived. He didn’t ask for advice from the gods that were named Baal.Instead, Jehoshaphat obeyed the God of his father. He obeyed the Lord’ s commands instead of the practices of Israel.The Lord made the kingdom secure under Jehoshaphat’s control. All the people of Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat. So he had great wealth and honor.His heart was committed to living the way the Lord wanted him to. He removed the high places from Judah. He also removed the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah.In the third year of his rule, he sent his officials to teach in the towns of Judah. The officials were Ben- Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah.Some Levites were with them. Their names were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob- Adonijah. Elishama and Jehoram, the priests, were also with them.They taught people all through Judah. They took the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went around to all the towns of Judah. And they taught the people.

But Samuel said to him,“ I won’t go back with you. You have refused to do what the Lord told you to do. So he has refused to have you as king over Israel!”Samuel turned to leave. But Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.Samuel said to Saul,“ The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today. He has given it to one of your neighbors. He has given it to someone better than you.The God who is the Glory of Israel does not lie. He doesn’t change his mind. That’s because he isn’t a mere human being. If he were, he might change his mind.”Saul replied,“ I have sinned. But please honor me in front of the elders of my people and in front of Israel. Come back with me so I can worship the Lord your God.”So Samuel went back with Saul. And Saul worshiped the Lord.

Ahab said to Elijah,“ My enemy! You have found me!”“ I have found you,” he answered.“ That’s because you gave yourself over to do evil things. You did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

They sent their followers to him. They sent the Herodians with them.“ Teacher,” they said,“ we know that you are a man of honor. You teach the way of God truthfully. You don’t let others tell you what to do or say. You don’t care how important they are.

Then Daniel answered the king. He said,“ You can keep your gifts for yourself. You can give your rewards to someone else. But I will read the writing for you. I’ll tell you what it means.“ Your Majesty, the Most High God was good to your father Nebuchadnezzar. He gave him authority and greatness and glory and honor.God gave him a high position. Then people from every nation became afraid of the king. That was true no matter what language they spoke. The king put to death anyone he wanted to. He spared anyone he wanted to spare. He gave high positions to anyone he wanted to. And he brought down anyone he wanted to bring down.But his heart became very stubborn and proud. So he was removed from his royal throne. His glory was stripped away from him.He was driven away from people. He was given the mind of an animal. He lived with the wild donkeys. He ate grass just as an ox does. His body became wet with the dew of heaven. He stayed that way until he recognized that the Most High God rules over all kingdoms on earth. He puts anyone he wants to in charge of them.“ But you knew all that, Belshazzar. After all, you are Nebuchadnezzar’s son. In spite of that, you are still proud.You have taken your stand against the Lord of heaven. You had your servants bring cups from his temple to you. You and your nobles drank wine from them. So did your wives and concubines. You praised your gods. The statues of those gods are made out of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood or stone. They can’t see or hear or understand anything. But you didn’t honor God. He holds in his hand your very life and everything you do.

But the Lord had told Ahijah,“ Jeroboam’s wife is coming. Her son is sick. She’ll ask you about him. Give her the answer I give you. When she arrives, she’ll pretend to be someone else.”Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door. He said,“ Come in. I know that you are Jeroboam’s wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have some bad news for you.Go. Tell Jeroboam that the Lord has a message for him. The Lord is the God of Israel. He says,‘ I chose you from among the people. I appointed you king over my people Israel.I tore the kingdom away from the royal house of David. I gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David. He obeyed my commands. He followed me with all his heart. He did only what was right in my eyes.You have done more evil things than all those who lived before you. You have made other gods for yourself. You have made statues of gods out of metal. You have made me very angry. You have turned your back on me.“‘ Because of that, I am going to bring horrible trouble on your royal house. I will cut off from you every male in Israel. It does not matter whether they are slaves or free. I will burn up your royal house, just as someone burns up trash. I will burn it until it is all gone.Some of the people who belong to you will die in the city. Dogs will eat them up. Others will die in the country. The birds will eat them. The Lord has spoken!’“ Now go back home. When you enter your city, your son will die.All the Israelites will mourn for him. Then he will be buried. He is the only one who belongs to Jeroboam who will be buried. That is because he is the only one in Jeroboam’s royal house in whom I have found anything good. I am the Lord, the God of Israel.“ I will choose for myself a king over Israel. He will destroy the family of Jeroboam. This day your son will die. Even now this is beginning to happen.I, the Lord, will strike down Israel. Israel will be like tall grass swaying in the water. I will pull Israel up from this good land by the roots. I gave it to their people who lived long ago. I will scatter Israel to the east side of the Euphrates River. That is because they made the Lord very angry. They made poles used to worship the female god named Asherah.I will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed. He has also caused Israel to commit those same sins.”Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left. She went to the city of Tirzah. As soon as she stepped through the doorway of the house, her son died.He was buried and all the Israelites mourned for him. That’s what the Lord had said would happen. He had said it through his servant, Ahijah the prophet.

Today I have made you like a city that has a high wall around it. I have made you like an iron pillar and a bronze wall. Now you can stand up against the whole land. You can stand against the kings and officials of Judah. You can stand against its priests and its people.

Elijah said,“ I serve the Lord who rules over all. You can be sure that he lives. And you can be just as sure that I will speak to Ahab today.”