Ask, and I will give you all the nations; the whole earth will be yours.

Now listen to this warning, you kings; learn this lesson, you rulers of the world:

and bow down to him; or else his anger will be quickly aroused, and you will suddenly die. Happy are all who go to him for protection.

The Lord is at your right side; when he becomes angry, he will defeat kings.

He will pass judgment on the nations and fill the battlefield with corpses; he will defeat kings all over the earth.

My promise is true, and it will not be changed. I solemnly promise by all that I am: Everyone will come and kneel before me and vow to be loyal to me.

But nations that do not serve you Will be completely destroyed.

Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you and on the people who reject you. They have killed your people; they have destroyed us completely and left our country in ruins.

You then, who eat only vegetables---why do you pass judgment on others? And you who eat anything---why do you despise other believers? All of us will stand before God to be judged by him.

For the scripture says, "As surely as I am the living God, says the Lord, everyone will kneel before me, and everyone will confess that I am God."

All these peoples are the descendants of Noah, nation by nation, according to their different lines of descent. After the flood all the nations of the earth were descended from the sons of Noah.

I will bless those who bless you, But I will curse those who curse you. And through you I will bless all the nations."

They will be as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth. They will extend their territory in all directions, and through you and your descendants I will bless all the nations.

"Of all the nations on earth, you are the only one I have known and cared for. That is what makes your sins so terrible, and that is why I must punish you for them."

From one human being he created all races of people and made them live throughout the whole earth. He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live.

He did this so that they would look for him, and perhaps find him as they felt around for him. Yet God is actually not far from any one of us;

If you do, the LORD will become angry with you. He will hold back the rain, and your ground will become too dry for crops to grow. Then you will soon die there, even though it is a good land that he is giving you.

No rain will fall, and your ground will become as hard as iron.

Instead of rain, the LORD will send down duststorms and sandstorms until you are destroyed.

"When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you, and then when they repent and face this Temple, humbly praying to you,

A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, "In the name of the LORD, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so."

"When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you and then when they repent and face this Temple, humbly praying to you,

Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people,

I will let it be overgrown with weeds. I will not trim the vines or hoe the ground; instead, I will let briers and thorns cover it. I will even forbid the clouds to let rain fall on it."

Because there is no rain and the ground is dried up, the farmers are sick at heart; they hide their faces.

None of the idols of the nations can send rain; the sky by itself cannot make showers fall. We have put our hope in you, O LORD our God, because you are the one who does these things.

I kept it from raining when your crops needed it most. I sent rain on one city, but not on another. Rain fell on one field, but another field dried up.

Weak with thirst, the people of several cities went to a city where they hoped to find water, but there was not enough to drink. Still you did not come back to me.

Elijah was the same kind of person as we are. He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.

They have authority to shut up the sky so that there will be no rain during the time they proclaim God's message. They have authority also over the springs of water, to turn them into blood; they have authority also to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.