When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before his brother Abishai and went into the city. Joab withdrew from fighting the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.

The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there.

This is what the Lord says: 'I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household! Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight!

Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.'"

But when she took the pan and set it before him, he refused to eat. Instead Amnon said, "Get everyone out of here!" So everyone left.

So Joab went to the king and informed him. The king summoned Absalom, and he came to the king. Absalom bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and the king kissed him.

When someone approached to bow before him, Absalom would extend his hand and embrace him and kiss him.

The king said to Ziba, "Everything that was Mephibosheth's now belongs to you." Ziba replied, "I bow before you. May I find favor in your sight, my lord the king."

Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, "Let me run and give the king the good news that the Lord has vindicated him before his enemies."

Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, "Greetings!" He bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and said, "May the Lord your God be praised because he has defeated the men who opposed my lord the king!"

They crossed at the ford in order to help the king's household cross and to do whatever he thought appropriate. Now after he had crossed the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera threw himself down before the king.

let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord's chosen one." The king replied, "I will turn them over."

He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them died together; they were put to death during harvest time -- during the first days of the beginning of the barley harvest.

I was blameless before him; I kept myself from sinning.

You give me strength for battle; you make my foes kneel before me.

Foreigners are powerless before me; when they hear of my exploits, they submit to me.

So I will give you thanks, O Lord, before the nations! I will sing praises to you.

Next in command was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines.

Joab replied to the king, "May the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?"

Bathsheba bowed down on the floor before the king. The king said, "What do you want?"

The king was told, "Nathan the prophet is here." Nathan entered and bowed before the king with his face to the floor.

King David responded, "Summon Bathsheba!" She came and stood before the king.

King David said, "Summon Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada." They came before the king,

The king then told Abiathar the priest, "Go back to your property in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times."

Why then have you broken the oath you made before the Lord and disobeyed the order I gave you?"

But King Solomon will be empowered and David's dynasty will endure permanently before the Lord."

Solomon then woke up and realized it was a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant, offered up burnt sacrifices, presented peace offerings, and held a feast for all his servants.

Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

The other woman said, "No! My son is alive; your son is dead!" But the first woman replied, "No, your son is dead; my son is alive." Each presented her case before the king.

The king ordered, "Get me a sword!" So they placed a sword before the king.

All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month Ethanim (the seventh month).

Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky.

Now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, 'You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants watch their step and serve me as you have done.'

"When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false.

When Solomon finished presenting all these prayers and requests to the Lord, he got up from before the altar of the Lord where he had kneeled and spread out his hands toward the sky.

That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that is in front of the Lord's temple. He offered there burnt sacrifices, grain offerings, and the fat from the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold all these offerings.

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the Lord our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt in the south.

Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense along with them before the Lord. He made the temple his official worship place.

Your attendants, who stand before you at all times and hear your wise sayings, are truly happy!

You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me.

There were also male cultic prostitutes in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been.

Omri did more evil in the sight of the Lord 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.

Ahab also made an Asherah pole; he did more to anger the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, "Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground."

So Elijah went to make an appearance before Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.

But Elijah said, "As certainly as the Lord who rules over all lives (whom I serve), I will make an appearance before him today."

Now send out messengers and assemble all Israel before me at Mount Carmel, as well as the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah whom Jezebel supports.

The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Look, the Lord is ready to pass by." A very powerful wind went before the Lord, digging into the mountain and causing landslides, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the windstorm there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

Ben Hadad said, "I will return the cities my father took from your father. You may set up markets in Damascus, just as my father did in Samaria." Ahab then said, "I want to make a treaty with you before I dismiss you." So he made a treaty with him and then dismissed him.

The two villains arrived and sat opposite him. Then the villains testified against Naboth right before the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king." So they dragged him outside the city and stoned him to death.

He was so wicked he worshiped the disgusting idols, just like the Amorites whom the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.)

"Have you noticed how Ahab shows remorse before me? Because he shows remorse before me, I will not bring disaster on his dynasty during his lifetime, but during the reign of his son."

Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

When he came before the king, the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?" He answered him, "Attack! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king."

Then a spirit stepped forward and stood before the Lord. He said, 'I will deceive him.' The Lord asked him, 'How?'

The king sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, "Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours.

Indeed, fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. So now, please have respect for my life."

Just before the Lord took Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal.

When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "What can I do for you, before I am taken away from you?" Elisha answered, "May I receive a double portion of the prophetic spirit that energizes you."

When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, who were standing at a distance, saw him do this, they said, "The spirit that energized Elijah rests upon Elisha." They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet -- twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain. Elisha said, "Set it before the people so they may eat."

But his attendant said, "How can I feed a hundred men with this?" He replied, "Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the Lord says, 'They will eat and have some left over.'"

So he set it before them; they ate and had some left over, just as the Lord predicted.

He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman came and stood before him. He said, "For sure I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant."

When he came and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, "Where have you been, Gehazi?" He answered, "Your servant hasn't been anywhere."

Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders. The king sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, "Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?" Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him."

So Hazael went to visit Elisha. He took along a gift, as well as forty camel loads of all the fine things of Damascus. When he arrived, he stood before him and said, "Your son, King Ben Hadad of Syria, has sent me to you with this question, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'"

Now Elisha had a terminal illness. King Joash of Israel went down to visit him. He wept before him and said, "My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!"

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. He passed his son through the fire, a horrible sin practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

Uriah the priest built an altar in conformity to the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Uriah the priest finished it before King Ahaz arrived back from Damascus.

they observed the practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before Israel, and followed the example of the kings of Israel.

They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the Lord had driven away from before them. Their evil practices made the Lord angry.

He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.

Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord's temple and spread it out before the Lord.

Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: "Lord God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubs! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.

But they did not obey, and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.

"King Manasseh of Judah has committed horrible sins. He has sinned more than the Amorites before him and has encouraged Judah to sin by worshiping his disgusting idols.

Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll." Shaphan read it out loud before the king.

You displayed a sensitive spirit and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people. You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,' says the Lord.

The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant before the Lord, agreeing to follow the Lord and to obey his commandments, laws, and rules with all his heart and being, by carrying out the terms of this covenant recorded on this scroll. All the people agreed to keep the covenant.

No king before or after repented before the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, soul, and being in accordance with the whole law of Moses.

These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites: Bela son of Beor; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and worshiped instead the gods of the native peoples whom God had destroyed before them.

They performed music before the sanctuary of the meeting tent until Solomon built the Lord's temple in Jerusalem. They carried out their tasks according to regulations.

Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The Israelites fled before the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa.

When all the leaders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, David made an agreement with them in Hebron before the Lord. They anointed David king over Israel, just as the Lord had announced through Samuel.

He was with David in Pas Dammim when the Philistines assembled there for battle. In an area of the field that was full of barley, the army retreated before the Philistines,

while David and all Israel were energetically celebrating before God, singing and playing various stringed instruments, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, he killed him, because he reached out his hand and touched the ark. He died right there before God.

When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, then attack. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army of the Philistines."

Then David said, "Only the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to serve before him perpetually.

Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God; Obed-Edom and Jehiel were also guardians of the ark.

They brought the ark of God and put it in the middle of the tent David had pitched for it. Then they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God.

He appointed some of the Levites to serve before the ark of the Lord, to offer prayers, songs of thanks, and hymns to the Lord God of Israel.

and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of God's covenant.

Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is established, it cannot be moved.

Then let the trees of the forest shout with joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth!