This made Asa so angry with the prophet that he had him put in chains. It was at this same time that Asa began treating some of the people cruelly.

Then King Ahab ordered one of his officers, "Arrest Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Prince Joash.

"If you return safely," Micaiah exclaimed, "then the LORD has not spoken through me!" And he added, "Listen, everyone, to what I have said!"

he had me beaten and placed in chains near the upper Benjamin Gate in the Temple.

"The LORD made you a priest in place of Jehoiada, and you are now the chief officer in the Temple. It is your duty to see that every crazy person who pretends to be a prophet is placed in chains with an iron collar around the neck.

They were furious with me and had me beaten and locked up in the house of Jonathan, the court secretary, whose house had been made into a prison.

So they took me and let me down by ropes into Prince Malchiah's well, which was in the palace courtyard. There was no water in the well, only mud, and I sank down in it.

They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone.

"From the bottom of the pit, O LORD, I cried out to you,

Herod himself had ordered John's arrest, and he had him tied up and put in prison. Herod did this because of Herodias, whom he had married, even though she was the wife of his brother Philip.

So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him, but she could not because of Herod.

Finally Herodias got her chance. It was on Herod's birthday, when he gave a feast for all the top government officials, the military chiefs, and the leading citizens of Galilee.

With many vows he said to her, "I swear that I will give you anything you ask for, even as much as half my kingdom!"

The girl hurried back at once to the king and demanded, "I want you to give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!"

So he sent off a guard at once with orders to bring John's head. The guard left, went to the prison, and cut John's head off;

Then Herod did an even worse thing by putting John in prison.

They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

After a severe beating, they were thrown into jail, and the jailer was ordered to lock them up tight.

Upon receiving this order, the jailer threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet between heavy blocks of wood.

But as Paul went on discussing about goodness, self-control, and the coming Day of Judgment, Felix was afraid and said, "You may leave now. I will call you again when I get the chance."

After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix as governor. Felix wanted to gain favor with the Jews so he left Paul in prison.

That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the chief priests and put many of God's people in prison; and when they were sentenced to death, I also voted against them.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God.

Don't be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory.

When you eat this meal, do not eat bread prepared with yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, as you did when you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread---it will be called the bread of suffering---so that as long as you live you will remember the day you came out of Egypt, that place of suffering.

You have given us sorrow to eat, a large cup of tears to drink.

Because of your anger and fury, ashes are my food, and my tears are mixed with my drink. You picked me up and threw me away.

It is useless to work so hard for a living, getting up early and going to bed late. For the LORD provides for those he loves, while they are asleep.

The Lord will make you go through hard times, but he himself will be there to teach you, and you will not have to search for him any more.

But if that servant says to himself that his master is taking a long time to come back and if he begins to beat the other servants, both the men and the women, and eats and drinks and gets drunk,

then the master will come back one day when the servant does not expect him and at a time he does not know. The master will cut him in pieces and make him share the fate of the disobedient.

For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief comes at night.

When people say, "Everything is quiet and safe," then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape.

Now listen to me, you that say, "Today or tomorrow we will travel to a certain city, where we will stay a year and go into business and make a lot of money."

You don't even know what your life tomorrow will be! You are like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears.