¹⁸ But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning^(A) on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”

² The officer on whose arm the king was leaning^(A) said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates^(B) of the heavens, could this happen?”

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat^(C) any of it!”

³⁵ When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship^(A) any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.^(B)

¹⁷ Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died,^(A) just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house.

¹⁸ Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves,^(A) yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone ¹⁹ who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.”

¹⁸ Yet I reserve^(A) seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed^(B) him.”