How

“How can I go?” Samuel asked. “Saul will hear of it and kill me!” The LORD answered, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’

One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a mighty man of valor, a warrior, eloquent and handsome, and the LORD is with him.”

Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.

Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”

Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”

David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the bodies of the young men are holy even on common missions. How much more so today!”

But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

And you have declared this day how you have treated me well, for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

But the woman replied, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has killed the mediums and spiritists in the land. Why have you set a trap to get me killed?”

When the woman came to Saul and saw how distraught he was, she said to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice. I took my life in my hands and did as you told me.

Then David asked the young man who had brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”

“Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!

How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle! Jonathan lies slain on your heights.

How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”

Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I show my face to your brother Joab?”

Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”

How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!”

That day David feared the LORD and asked, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”

When David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.”

How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.

When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going.

When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going.

Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”

On the seventh day the child died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Look, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to us. So how can we tell him the child is dead? He may even harm himself.”

Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse me, for the LORD has told him so.

But Barzillai replied, “How many years of my life remain, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?

Then the woman said, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Seek counsel at Abel,’ and that is how disputes were settled.

So David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How can I make amends so that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?”

So Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

And Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But Joab replied, “No, I will die here.” So Benaiah relayed the message to the king, saying, “This is how Joab answered me.”

And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in.

How blessed are your men! How blessed are these servants of yours who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

How blessed are your men! How blessed are these servants of yours who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.

The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

As for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he waged war and how he reigned, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

As for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he waged war and how he reigned, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

But Obadiah replied, “How have I sinned, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to put me to death?

Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

“Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity during his days, but I will bring it upon his house in the days of his son.”

But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the LORD?”

As for the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, along with the might he exercised and how he waged war, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

“How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

But his servant asked, “How am I to set twenty loaves before a hundred men?” “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha, “for this is what the LORD says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’”

Naaman’s servants, however, approached him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’?”

Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”

And Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and her land. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”

“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

But they were terrified and reasoned, “If two kings could not stand against him, how can we?”

As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash, along with his accomplishments, his might, and how he waged war against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

As for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, along with all his accomplishments and might, and how he waged war and recovered both Damascus and Hamath for Israel from Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Thus one of the priests they had carried away came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should worship the LORD.

For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

“Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, along with all his might and how he constructed the pool and the tunnel to bring water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

…saying, “Far be it from me, my God, to do this! How can I drink the blood of these men who risked their lives?” Because they had brought it at the risk of their lives, David refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.

That day David feared God and asked, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?”

…between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

How blessed are your men! How blessed are these servants of yours who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

How blessed are your men! How blessed are these servants of yours who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.

The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the LORD?”

See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession that You gave us as an inheritance.

Who among all the gods of these nations that my fathers devoted to destruction has been able to deliver his people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?

So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, and do not let him mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand!”

His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.

Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time.

For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”

For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”

Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.

…how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!

Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand how I have erred.

How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?

“How long will you go on saying such things? The words of your mouth are a blustering wind.

“Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?

How many are my iniquities and sins? Reveal to me my transgression and sin.

…how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?

“How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

“How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?

I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?

So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”

Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!

I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say.

How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

…how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”

“How you have helped the powerless and saved the arm that is feeble!

How you have counseled the unwise and provided fully sound insight!

Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”

“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,

“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

…what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?

For I do not know how to flatter, or my Maker would remove me in an instant.