Our glittering gold has grown dull; the stones of the Temple lie scattered in the streets.

Zion's young people were as precious to us as gold, but now they are treated like common clay pots.

At that time King Jeroboam's son Abijah got sick.

The LORD had told him that Jeroboam's wife was coming to ask him about her son, who was sick. And the LORD told Ahijah what to say. When Jeroboam's wife arrived, she pretended to be someone else.

The power of the LORD came on Elijah; he fastened his clothes tight around his waist and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

"This is how your king will treat you," Samuel explained. "He will make soldiers of your sons; some of them will serve in his war chariots, others in his cavalry, and others will run before his chariots.

Then he said to the guards standing near him, "Kill the LORD's priests! They conspired with David and did not tell me that he had run away, even though they knew it all along." But the guards refused to lift a hand to kill the LORD's priests.

After this, Absalom provided a chariot and horses for himself, and an escort of fifty men.