2 Kings 3:14

¹⁶But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” He urged him to take it; but he refused.

¹Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

³Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have put away the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.”

⁴Jehoshaphat lived at Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

³The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and didn’t seek the Baals, ⁴but sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not in the ways of Israel. ⁵Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honor in abundance. ⁶His heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD. Furthermore, he took away the high places and the Asherah poles out of Judah.

⁷Also in the third year of his reign he sent his princes, even Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; ⁸and with them Levites, even Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. ⁹They taught in Judah, having the book of the LORD’s law with them. They went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people.

¹⁶They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach; for you aren’t partial to anyone.

¹⁵Elijah said, “As the LORD of Armies lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

¹⁸For behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

⁵The LORD said to Ahijah, “Behold, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Tell her such and such; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”

⁶So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife! Why do you pretend to be another? For I am sent to you with heavy news. ⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘The LORD, the God of Israel, says: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel, ⁸and tore the kingdom away from David’s house, and gave it to you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes, ⁹but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, ¹⁰therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall,^[+] he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung until it is all gone. ¹¹The dogs will eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam who dies in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the field, for the LORD has spoken it.”’ ¹²Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child will die. ¹³All Israel will mourn for him and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴Moreover the LORD will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Even now. ¹⁵For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River,^[+] because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger. ¹⁶He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin.”

¹⁷Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸All Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

²⁰Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the LORD’s sight.

⁴in whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;