(SEE 1:18)

Then I left Topheth, where the LORD had sent me to proclaim his message. I went and stood in the court of the Temple and told all the people

that the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, "I am going to bring on this city and on every nearby town all the punishment that I said I would, because you are stubborn and will not listen to what I say."

and as soon as I had finished all that the LORD had commanded me to speak, they grabbed me and shouted, "You ought to be killed for this!

"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.

Then he ordered Prince Jerahmeel, together with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to arrest me and my secretary Baruch. But the LORD had hidden us.

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.

I was put in an underground cell and kept there a long time.

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.

Tell them to throw him in prison and to put him on bread and water until I return safely."

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.

King Joash joined in a conspiracy against Zechariah, and on the king's orders the people stoned Zechariah in the Temple courtyard.

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, then sent a report to King Jeroboam of Israel: "Amos is plotting against you among the people. His speeches will destroy the country.

Amaziah then said to Amos, "That's enough, prophet! Go on back to Judah and do your preaching there. Let them pay you for it.

"Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!

Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted.

The tenants grabbed his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

And so I tell you that I will send you prophets and wise men and teachers; you will kill some of them, crucify others, and whip others in the synagogues and chase them from town to town.

I tell you indeed: the punishment for all these murders will fall on the people of this day!

So they arrested them and put them in jail until the next day, since it was already late.

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

They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free.

Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him.

And the crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas. Then the officials tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be whipped.

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

Some were mocked and whipped, and others were put in chains and taken off to prison.

They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword. They went around clothed in skins of sheep or goats---poor, persecuted, and mistreated.

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.

And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's people and the blood of those who were killed because they had been loyal to Jesus. When I saw her, I was completely amazed.

But when I reached the Benjamin Gate, the officer in charge of the soldiers on duty there, a man by the name of Irijah, the son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, stopped me and said, "You are deserting to the Babylonians!"

However, Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who worked in the royal palace, heard that they had put me in the well. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate.

The whole region, from Geba in the north to Rimmon in the south, will be made level. Jerusalem will tower above the land around it; the city will reach from the Benjamin Gate to the Corner Gate, where there had been an earlier gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal wine presses.