Elijah
1Then Elijah arose, a prophet like fire,
and his word burned like a torch.*
2He brought a famine upon them,
and by his zeal he made them few in number.
3By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens
and also three times brought down fire.*
4How glorious you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
Who can boaste as you can?
5You who raised a corpse from death
and from Hades, by the word of the Most High,*
6who sent kings down to destruction
and famous men from their sickbeds,*
7who heard rebuke at Sinai
and judgments of vengeance at Horeb,*
8who anointed kings to inflict retribution
and prophets to succeed you,f,*
9who were taken up by a whirlwind of fire
in a chariot with horses of fire,*
10who were prepared at the appointed timeg
to calm wrath before it breaks out in fury,
to turn the hearts of parents to their children
and to restore the tribes of Jacob.*
11Happy are those who saw you
and were adornedh in love!
For we also shall surely live.i
Elisha
12When Elijah was enveloped in the whirlwind,
Elisha was filled with his spirit.
He performed twice as many signs
and marvels with every utterance of his mouth.j
Never in his lifetime did he tremble before any ruler,
nor could anyone intimidate him at all.*
13Nothing was too hard for him,k
and when he was dead his body prophesied.*
14In his life he did wonders,
and in death his deeds were marvelous.
15Despite all this the people did not repent,
nor did they forsake their sins,
until they were carried off as plunder from their land
and were scattered over all the earth.
The people were left very few in number
but with a ruler from the house of David.*
16Some of them did what was right,
but others sinned more and more.
Hezekiah
17Hezekiah fortified his city
and brought water into its midst;
he tunneled the rock with iron tools
and built cisterns for the water.*
18In his days Sennacherib invaded the country;
he sent his commanderl and departed;
he shook his fist against Zion
and made great boasts in his arrogance.*
19Then their hearts and hands were shaken,
and they were in anguish, like women in labor.
20But they called upon the Lord who is merciful,
spreading out their hands toward him.
The Holy One quickly heard them from heaven
and delivered them through Isaiah.*
21The Lordm struck down the camp of the Assyrians,
and his angel wiped them out.*
22For Hezekiah did what was pleasing to the Lord,
and he kept firmly to the ways of his ancestor David,
as he was commanded by the prophet Isaiah,
who was great and trustworthy in his visions.*
Isaiah