³ Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Now Obadiah revered the Lord greatly;

² I gave my brother Hanani charge over Jerusalem, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.^(A)

²⁸ Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.^[a]

⁹ But his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was in charge of the palace at Tirzah,^(A)

³⁵ but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness^[a] is acceptable to him.^(A)

² He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.

The Reward of the Faithful

¹⁶ Then those who revered the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord took note and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who revered the Lord and thought on his name.^(A)

¹⁵ The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took food and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God.^(A)

Elisha and the Widow’s Oil

4 Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.”^(A)