In those days, Paul said: “God raised up David as king; of him God testified, I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.

Hear me, O coastlands,/ listen, O distant peoples./ The Lord called me from birth,/ from my mother’s womb he gave me my name./ He made of me a sharp-edged sword/ and concealed me in the shadow of his arm./ He made me a polished arrow,/ in his quiver he hid me./ You are my servant, he said to me,/ Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message: “Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.

Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, occupied the whole land and attacked Samaria, which he besieged for three years.

Brothers and sisters: Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law.

Jeremiah said: “I hear the whisperings of many:/ ‘Terror on every side!/ Denounce!

After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash, and the king then listened to them.

When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she began to kill off the whole royal family.

Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah/ whose words were as a flaming furnace./ Their staff of bread he shattered,/ in his zeal he reduced them to straits;/ By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens/ and three times brought down fire./ How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!/ Whose glory is equal to yours?/ You brought a dead man back to life/ from the nether world, by the will of the Lord./ You sent kings down to destruction,/ and easily broke their power into ­pieces./ You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness./ You heard threats at Sinai,/ at Horeb avenging judgments./ You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance,/ and a prophet as your successor./ You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,/ in a chariot with fiery horses./ You were destined, it is written, in time to come/ to put an end to wrath before the day of the Lord,/ To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,/ and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob./ Blessed is he who shall have seen you/ And who falls asleep in your friendship./ For we live only in our life,/ but after death our name will not be such./ O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, he and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.