Elisha was still talking with the leaders when the messenger arrived. The king said, “This trouble has come from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
Everyone should respect you, King of the nations; you deserve respect. Of all the wise people among the nations and in all the kingdoms, none of them is as wise as you.
Oh, how I hurt! How I hurt! I am bent over in pain. Oh, the torture in my heart! My heart is pounding inside me. I cannot keep quiet, because I have heard the sound of the trumpet. I have heard the shouts of war.
“Announce this message in Judah and say it in Jerusalem: ‘Blow the trumpet throughout the country!’ Shout out loud and say, ‘Come together! Let’s all escape to the strong, walled cities!’
Surely you are afraid of me,” says the Lord. “You should shake with fear in my presence. I am the one who made the beaches to be a border for the sea, a border the water can never go past. The waves may pound the beach, but they can’t win over it. They may roar, but they cannot go beyond it.
“Run for your lives, people of Benjamin! Run away from Jerusalem! Blow the war trumpet in the town of Tekoa! Raise the warning flag over the town of Beth Hakkerem! Disaster is coming from the north; terrible destruction is coming to you.
Before that time there was no money to hire people or animals. People could not safely come and go because of the enemies; I had turned everyone against his neighbor.
Jesus was given to you, and with the help of those who don’t know the law, you put him to death by nailing him to a cross. But this was God’s plan which he had made long ago; he knew all this would happen.
Since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to help people accept the truth about us. God knows what we really are, and I hope that in your hearts you know, too.