The Daily Audio Bible

Jehoram Reigns Over Israel

3 Now Jehoram son of Ahab reigned over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah and reigned twelve years. ² He did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and mother, for he removed the pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³ Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. He did not depart from them.

⁴ Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-breeder and gave back to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. ⁵ But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶ King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷ He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to Moab to battle?”

He said, “I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.”

⁸ Then he said, “Which way should we go up?”

And he said, “The way through the Wilderness of Edom.”

⁹ So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom went, and they marched around seven days. But there was no water for the camp or for the livestock that followed them.

¹⁰ The king of Israel said, “Alas! The Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab!”

¹¹ But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there a prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?”

Then one of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here.”

¹² Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³ Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to your father’s prophets, or to your mother’s prophets.”

Then the king of Israel said to him, “No. The Lord has called these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

¹⁴ Elisha said, “As the Lord of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not for my regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you. ¹⁵ Now bring me a musician.”

And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. ¹⁶ He said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Make this valley full of pools.’ ¹⁷ For thus says the Lord, ‘You will not see wind, nor will you see rain, yet that valley will be filled with water, that you may drink, both you and your livestock, and your cattle.’ ¹⁸ This is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord, and He will give the Moabites into your hand. ¹⁹ You will strike every fortified city and every choice city, and will cut down every good tree, and stop every spring of water, and you will ruin every good piece of land with stones.”

²⁰ So in the morning as the offering was offered up, suddenly water flowed from the way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.

²¹ When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to bear arms and older were summoned and stood at the border. ²² They got up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them was as red as blood. ²³ Then they said, “This is blood. The kings have surely fought together; and they have killed one another. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!”

²⁴ When they came to the camp of Israel, the children of Israel arose and struck the Moabites, so that they ran from them. And they went forward into their land, killing the Moabites. ²⁵ They demolished the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone and filled it with stones, and they stopped every spring of water and cut down every good tree. Only in Kir Hareseth did the stones in the wall remain, until the slingers surrounded it and struck it.

²⁶ When the king of Moab saw that the battle was overwhelming him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they were unable. ²⁷ Then he took his firstborn son, who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And great wrath came upon Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.

The Widow’s Olive Oil

4 Now one of the wives of the sons of the 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 sons as slaves.”

² Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”

³ Then he said, “Go, ask for vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. ⁴ Then go in, shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour the oil into all these vessels. When each is full, set it aside.”

⁵ So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons, and they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. ⁶ When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”

But he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” And the oil ceased.

⁷ Then she went and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and you and your children can live on the rest.”

Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son

⁸ One day Elisha passed through Shunem, and a noble woman was there who urged him to eat a meal. So whenever he passed through, he stopped there to eat a meal. ⁹ And she said to her husband, “I know that he is a holy man of God regularly passing through near us. ¹⁰ Let us make a little walled upper room and put for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so when he comes to us he can stay there.”

¹¹ One day he came by there, and he turned aside to the upper room and lay down. ¹² He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood before him. ¹³ He said to him, “Say to her, Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king, or to the captain of the army?”

And she answered, “I am living among my people.”

¹⁴ He said, “What may be done for her?”

And Gehazi said, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.”

¹⁵ He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the entrance. ¹⁶ He said, “At this season, when it is time, you will embrace a son.”

And she said, “No, my lord, man of God, do not lie to your servant.”

¹⁷ But the woman conceived and bore a son at that season, at the time that Elisha had told her.

Paul and Barnabas in Lystra

⁸ In Lystra there sat a man, crippled in his feet, who had never walked and was lame from birth. ⁹ He heard Paul speaking, who looked intently at him and perceived that he had faith to be healed ¹⁰ and said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he jumped up and walked.

¹¹ When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” ¹² Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the main speaker. ¹³ The priest of Zeus, who was in front of the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates to offer sacrifices with the crowds.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing this? We also are men, of like nature with you, preaching to you to turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything that is in them, ¹⁶ who in times past allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying our hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸ With these words they scarcely restrained the crowds from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹ Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and persuaded the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing he was dead. ²⁰ But as the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. The next day he departed with Barnabas for Derbe.

The Return to Antioch in Syria

²¹ When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, ²² strengthening the minds of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, to go through many afflictions and thus enter the kingdom of God. ²³ When they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they believed. ²⁴ Then they passed throughout Pisidia and came to Pamphylia, ²⁵ and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia.

²⁶ From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. ²⁷ When they arrived and had assembled the church, they reported what God had done through them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And there they stayed a long time with the disciples.

Psalm 140

For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.