And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.

For so I was ordered by the word of the Lord, who said, You are not to take food or a drink of water, and you are not to go back the way you came.

Now there was an old prophet who lived in Bethel, and his sons went to him and told him everything that the man of God had accomplished that day in Bethel, including the message that he had delivered to the king.

And their father said unto them, Which way then went he? Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God went who had come in out of Judah.

and went after the man of God, and found him, sitting under an oak. And he said unto him - Art, thou, the man of God who came in out of Judah? And he said - I am.

And so it was, as, they, were sitting at the table, yea, so it was, that the word of Yahweh came unto the prophet who had brought him back;

and he cried out unto the man of God who had come in out of Judah, saying, Thus, saith Yahweh, - Forasmuch as thou hast rebelled against the bidding of Yahweh, and hast not kept the commandment which Yahweh thy God commanded thee;

And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

There were men passing by who saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived.

And, when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said - The man of God, it is, who rebelled against the bidding of Yahweh, - therefore did Yahweh deliver him unto the lion, and it hath torn him and slain him, according to the word of Yahweh which he spake unto him.

After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways; he continued to appoint common people as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest.

Then said Jeroboam to his wife - Arise, I pray thee, and feign thyself another, that it be not known, that, thou, art the wife of Jeroboam, - and thou shalt go thy way to Shiloh, lo! there, is Ahijah the prophet, who promised I should be king over this people;

And the Lord had said to Ahijah, The wife of Jeroboam is coming to get news from you about her son, who is ill; give her such and such an answer; for she will make herself seem to be another woman.

and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to thee, - and yet thou hast not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me, with all his heart, to do only that which was right in mine eyes;

but hast made wicked thy doings beyond any who were before thee, - and hast gone and made thee ether gods, even molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast, me, behind thy back,

So I will send evil on the line of Jeroboam, cutting off from his family every male child, those who are shut up and those who go free in Israel; the family of Jeroboam will be brushed away like a man brushing away waste till it is all gone.

Dogs will eat the members of your family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country."' Indeed, the Lord has announced it!

All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam's family who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good.

Therefore will Yahweh raise up for himself a king over Israel, who will cut off the house of Jeroboam, this day, but why, even now?

And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.

And [the people of] Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with their sins which they had committed.

There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They committed all the repulsive acts of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the Israelites.

So King Rehoboam made, in their stead, bucklers of bronze, - and committed them unto the hand of the captains of the runners, who kept guard at the entrance of the house of the king.

So Asa took all the silver and the gold, that were left in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the house of the king, and delivered them into the hand of his servants, - and King Asa sent them unto Ben-hadad, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying:

So Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies whom he had against the cities of Israel, and struck Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.

When he became king, he executed Jeroboam's entire family. He wiped out everyone who breathed, just as the Lord had predicted through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.

Dogs will eat the members of Baasha's family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country."

Then conspired against him his servant Zimri, captain of half the chariots, - as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk, in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah.

It happened, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he struck all the house of Baasha: he did not leave him a single one who urinates on a wall, neither of his relatives, nor of his friends.

When therefore the people who were encamped, heard say, Zimri hath conspired, moreover also, he hath smitten the king, all Israel made Omri, general of the army, king over Israel, on that day, in the camp.

Omri's supporters were stronger than those who supported Tibni son of Ginath. Tibni died; Omri became king.

And Omri did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, - and did more wickedly than all who were before him;

Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all who were before him.

And Ahab made the Sacred Stem, - and Ahab did yet more to provoke to anger Yahweh God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Then said Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, unto Ahab, By the life of Yahweh, God of Israel, before whom I stand, there shall not, these two years, be either dew or rain, - save at the bidding of my word.

"Get up, go to Zarephath in Sidonian territory, and live there. I have already told a widow who lives there to provide for you."

After this the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe.

Then cried he unto Yahweh, and said, - O Yahweh, my God! Even upon the widow with whom I am sojourning, hast thou brought misfortune by causing the death of her son?

And Ahab had called for Obadiah, who was over his house. Now, Obadiah, was one who revered Yahweh, exceedingly.

And while Obadiah was on his way, he came face to face with Elijah; and seeing who it was, he went down on his face and said, Is it you, my lord Elijah?

Then said Elijah - By the life of Yahweh of hosts, before whom I stand, to-day, will I show myself unto him.

When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is it really you, the one who brings disaster on Israel?"

Now, therefore, send, gather unto me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, - and the prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Sacred Stem, four hundred, who do eat at the table of Jezebel.

Elijah said to them: "I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but there are 450 prophets of Baal.

Then you will invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. The god who responds with fire will demonstrate that he is the true God." All the people responded, "This will be a fair test."

They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.

As midday passed, they played the part of prophets and raved dramatically until the time for offering the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.

unto whom the word of Yahweh came, saying - Israel, shall be thy name;

And, as he lay, and slept, under a certain shrub, lo! a messenger, touching him, who said to him - Rise, eat.

Jehu will kill anyone who escapes Hazael's sword, and Elisha will kill anyone who escapes Jehu's sword.

I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him."

And he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was ploughing with twelve yokes before him, and he with the twelfth; and Elijah went over to him, and cast his mantle on him.

He sent messengers to King Ahab of Israel, who was in the city.

Then Ben-hadad sent unto him and said, - So, let the gods do to me, and, so, let them add, - if the dust of Samaria suffice by handfuls, for all the people who are at my feet.

The king of Israel replied, "Tell him the one who puts on his battle gear should not boast like one who is taking it off."

And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith Jehovah: By the servants of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin the battle? And he said, Thou.

Then he got together the servants of all the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land, two hundred and thirty-two of them; and after them, he got together all the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand.

They went out at noon, while Ben-hadad was getting drunk in the temporary shelters, he and the thirty-two kings who were helping him.

And the servants of the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land went forward first; and when Ben-hadad sent out, they gave him the news, saying, Men have come out from Samaria.

Meanwhile, as the young men who served as officials within the provinces left the city, their army followed after them.

And they who were left fled to Aphek, into the city, and the wall fell upon twenty-seven thousand men who were left, - and, Ben-hadad, fled, and came into the city, into a chamber within a chamber.

His servants said to him, “Consider this: we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. So let’s put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and let’s go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

And he said unto him - Thus, saith Yahweh, Because thou hast let go the man whom I had devoted, out of thy hand, therefore shall, thy life, be instead of, his life, and, thy people, instead of, his people.

Meanwhile, there was a man named Naboth from Jezreel who owned a vineyard that was located contiguous to King Ahab's palace in Samaria.

So she wrote letters, in the name of Ahab, and sealed them with his signet-ring, - and sent the letters unto the elders, and unto the nobles who were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

So the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did just as Jezebel had sent unto them, - as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them:

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, since Naboth isn’t alive, but dead.”

Arise! go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria, - lo! he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he hath gone down, to take possession thereof.

See, I will send evil on you and put an end to you completely, cutting off from Ahab every male child, him who is shut up and him who goes free in Israel;

As for Ahab's family, dogs will eat the ones who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country."

But indeed, there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, - whom Jezebel his wife goaded on;

so that he did very abominably, in going after the manufactured gods, - according to all which the Amorites had done, whom Yahweh dispossessed from before the sons of Israel.

But Jehoshaphat [doubted and] said, “Is there not another prophet of the Lord here whom we may ask?”

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Besides, is a certain man, by whom we might seek Yahweh, but, I, hate him, for he is never moved to prophesy concerning me anything good, only evil, Micaiah, son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Now, the messenger who went to call Micaiah, spake unto him, saying, Behold, I pray thee, the words of the prophets, with one mouth, are good, as touching the king, let thy word, I pray thee, be as the word of one of them, so wilt thou speak that which is good.

And Yahweh said, Who will persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall, at Ramoth-gilead? And, one, said in this manner, and, another, said in that manner.

Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’

And the king of Aram commanded the heads of the charioteers whom he hath -- thirty and two -- saying, 'Ye do not fight with small or with great, but with the king of Israel by himself.'

Moreover, the rest of the male devotees who remained in the days of Asa his father, he consumed out of the land.

And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, - and went in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused, Israel, to sin.