And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:

 If this people ^ago^• up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

 Whereupon the king took counsel, and ^amade^• two ^bcalves^• of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy ^cgods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

 And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in ^aDan^•.

 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.

 And he made an ^ahouse^• of high places, and made ^bpriests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the ^afeast^• that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the ^bpriests of the high places which he had made.

 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.

 ¶ And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that ^aAhab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?

 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have ^aforsaken^• the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.

 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the ^aprophets^• of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.

 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the ^aprophets together unto mount Carmel.

 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between ^atwo^• opinions? if the LORD be God, ^bfollow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:

 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your ^agods, but put no fire under.

 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is ^apursuing^•, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

 And they cried aloud, and ^acut^• themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.

 And Elijah took ^atwelve^• stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, ^bIsrael^• shall be thy name:

 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four ^abarrels^• with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.

 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.

 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the ^aevening^• sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.

 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know ^athat^• thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their ^bheart^• back again.

 Then the ^afire^• of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.

 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.

 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out ^abefore^• thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.

 And the LORD ^adiscomfited^{• b}Sisera^•, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.

 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.

 ¶ After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

 Nevertheless ^aJosiah^• would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.

 ¶ In his days ^aPharaoh^•-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king ^bJosiah^• went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

 ¶ And this is the reason of the ^alevy^• which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and ^bMillo^•, and the ^cwall^• of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

 ¶ In his days ^aPharaoh^•-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king ^bJosiah^• went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took ^aJehoahaz^• the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.

 Multitudes, ^amultitudes^• in the valley of decision: for the ^bday^• of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue ^aArmageddon^•.

 ¶ But ^aAbner^• the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

 And made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.

 AND it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

 And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.

Ahab desires the vineyard of Naboth—Jezebel arranges for false witnesses, and Naboth is stoned for blasphemy—Elijah prophesies that Ahab and Jezebel and their house shall be destroyed.

 ¶ And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and ^atired^• her head, and looked out at a window.

 Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

 Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to ^atribute^•; but did not utterly drive them out.

 And the children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, Why hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a ^agreat^• people, forasmuch as the LORD hath blessed me hitherto?

 And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and ^acut^• down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the ^bgiants^•, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.

 And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have ^achariots^• of iron, both they who are of Beth-shean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel.

 And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his ^abody^• to the wall of Beth-shan.

 ¶ And when the inhabitants of ^aJabesh^•-gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;

 All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.

 And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

      •  •  •
 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the ^aIshmeelites^• for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

 And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.

 ¶ And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.

 Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.

 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his ^aeyes^•, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and ^bchariots^• of fire round about Elisha.

 And he bought the hill ^aSamaria^• of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria.

 ¶ But ^aOmri^• wrought ^bevil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him.

 For he walked in all the way of ^aJeroboam^• the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to ^bsin^•, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities.

 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he shewed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

 So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead.

 ¶ And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years.

 And he reared up an altar for ^aBaal^• in the ^bhouse^• of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

 And ^aAhab^• made a ^bgrove^•; and Ahab did more to ^cprovoke^• the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

 And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

 ¶ And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.

 And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD ^aopened^• their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

 ¶ And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

 And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

 ¶ And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the ^aCanaanite^• was then in the land.

 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, ^aUnto^• thy ^bseed^• will I give this ^cland: and there builded he an ^daltar^• unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

 ¶ And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, ^aSimeon^• and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.

 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, ^achoose you ^bthis day whom ye will ^cserve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my ^dhouse, we will ^eserve the LORD.

Rehoboam seeks to impose greater burdens upon the people—The ten tribes revolt and turn to Jeroboam—Jeroboam turns to idolatry and worships false gods.

 And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well as the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount ^aGerizim^•, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

 So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

 They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

 ¶ And Jacob was left alone; and there ^awrestled^• a man with him until the breaking of the day.

 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

 And he said, Thy ^aname^• shall be called no more Jacob, but ^bIsrael^•: ^cfor^• as a ^dprince^• hast thou ^epower with God and with men, and hast ^fprevailed^•.

 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my ^aname^•? And he ^bblessed^• him there.

 And Jacob called the name of the place ^aPeniel^•: for I have ^bseen God ^cface^• to face, and my life is preserved.

 And as he passed over ^aPenuel^• the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.

 And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after ^aZebah^• and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.

      •  •  •
 ¶ And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.

 And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.

 NOW the word of the LORD came unto ^aJonah^• the son of Amittai, saying,

 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and ^acry against it; for their ^bwickedness^• is come up before me.

 But Jonah rose up to ^aflee unto Tarshish from the ^bpresence^• of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

 ¶ And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ^aark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.

 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the ^acherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

 AND Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

 And Abram was very ^arich^• in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

 And he went on his journeys from the south even to ^aBeth-el^•, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and ^bHai^•;

 Unto the place of the ^aaltar^•, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram ^bcalled^• on the name of the LORD.

 ¶ And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.

 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the ^aCanaanite^• and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no ^astrife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be ^bbrethren^•.

 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed ^aSodom^• and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto ^bZoar^•.

 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

Abram returns from Egypt—He and Lot part—The Lord will make Abram’s seed as the dust of the earth in number—Abram settles in Hebron.

 And the Lord ^aappeared^• unto me in answer to my prayers, and said unto me: Unto thy seed will I give this ^bland^•.

 And I, Abraham, arose from the place of the altar which I had built unto the Lord, and removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of ^aBethel^•, and pitched my tent there, Bethel on the west, and ^bHai^• on the east; and there I built another ^caltar^• unto the Lord, and ^dcalled^• again upon the name of the Lord.

 ¶ And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.

 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

 And he ^adreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the ^bangels of God ascending and descending on it.

 And, behold, the ^aLORD^• stood ^babove^• it, and said, I am the ^cLORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the ^dland whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the ^anorth, and to the south: and in thee and in thy ^bseed shall all the ^cfamilies of the earth be ^dblessed.

 And, behold, ^aI^• am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will ^bbring thee again into this ^cland; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

 ¶ And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of ^aheaven.

 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a ^apillar^•, and poured oil upon the top of it.

 And he called the name of that place ^aBeth-el^•: but the name of that city was called ^bLuz^• at the first.

 And Jacob vowed a ^avow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the ^aLORD^• be my God:

 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the ^atenth unto thee.

 ¶ Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the ^ahouse^• of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

 And the children of Israel inquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:

 If this people ^ago^• up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

 Whereupon the king took counsel, and ^amade^• two ^bcalves^• of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy ^cgods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

 And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in ^aDan^•.

 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.

 And he made an ^ahouse^• of high places, and made ^bpriests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.

 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the ^afeast^• that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the ^bpriests of the high places which he had made.

 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.

Gibeonites by craft obtain a league with Israel—Joshua makes them servants to congregation of Israel.

 That they feared greatly, because ^aGibeon^• was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.

 Wherefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying,

 Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.

 Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.

 ¶ And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.

 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.

 ¶ And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have ^adelivered^• them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

 Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.

 And the LORD ^adiscomfited^• them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at ^bGibeon^•, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.

 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the LORD cast down great ^astones^• from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

 ¶ Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, ^aSun^•, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

 And the ^asun^• stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of ^bJasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

 And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD in the ^ahigh^• place that was at ^bGibeon^•,

 And ^aRachel^• died, and was buried in the way to ^bEphrath^•, which is Beth-lehem.

 NOW it came to pass in the days when the ^ajudges^• ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

 And the name of the man was ^aElimelech^•, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, ^bEphrathites^• of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called ^aBethlehem^•; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt ^ain^• the plain of Mamre, which is in ^bHebron^•, and built there an ^caltar^• unto the LORD.

 ¶ And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

 AND it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.

 So David went up thither, and his two ^awives^• also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal’s wife the Carmelite.

 And his ^amen^• that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.

 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed ^aDavid^• king over the house of ^bJudah^•. And they told David, saying, That the men of ^cJabesh^•-gilead were they that buried Saul.

 ¶ But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron.

 And the time that David was ^aking^• in Hebron over the house of ^bJudah was seven years and six months.

 ¶ And the field of ^aEphron^•, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure

 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.

 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is ^aHebron^• in the land of Canaan.

 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.

 ¶ And David went up from thence, and dwelt in ^astrong^• holds at En-gedi.

Abimelech desires Sarah, who is preserved by the Lord—Abraham prays for Abimelech, and the Lord blesses him and his household.

 Wherefore he called that place ^aBeer^•-sheba; because there they sware both of them.

 ¶ And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

      •  •  •
 And he went up from thence to ^aBeer^•-sheba.

 And the ^aLORD^• appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: ^bfear^• not, for ^cI^• am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy ^dseed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but ^aIsrael shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and ^aLot^• dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

 Then the LORD rained upon ^aSodom^• and upon ^bGomorrah^{• c}brimstone^• and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

 ¶ But his wife ^alooked^• back from behind him, and she became a ^bpillar^• of salt.

 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of ^aSodom^• and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.