God Judges Ahaziah

1 Moab ^(A)rebelled against Israel ^(B)after the death of Ahab.

² Now ^(C)Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria, and was injured; so he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of ^(D)Baal-Zebub,^[a] the god of ^(E)Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.” ³ But the ^[b]angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴ Now therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’ ” So Elijah departed.

⁵ And when the messengers returned to ^[c]him, he said to them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶ So they said to him, “A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and say to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’ ” ’ ”

⁷ Then he said to them, “What kind of man was it who came up to meet you and told you these words?”

⁸ So they answered him, ^(F)“A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.”

And he said, ^(G)“It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

⁹ Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. So he went up to him; and there he was, sitting on the top of a hill. And he spoke to him: “Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down!’ ”

¹⁰ So Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then ^(H)let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. ¹¹ Then he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men.

And he answered and said to him: “Man of God, thus has the king said, ‘Come down quickly!’ ”

¹² So Elijah answered and said to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

¹³ Again, he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and ^[d]fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, and said to him: “Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours ^(I)be precious in your sight. ¹⁴ Look, fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifties with their fifties. But let my life now be precious in your sight.”

¹⁵ And the ^[e]angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶ Then he said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’ ”

¹⁷ So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Because he had no son, ^(J)Jehoram^[f] became king in his place, in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Elijah Ascends to Heaven

2 And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to ^(K)take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with ^(L)Elisha from Gilgal. ² Then Elijah said to Elisha, ^(M)“Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and ^(N)as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went down to Bethel.

³ Now ^(O)the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master ^[g]from over you today?”

And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent!”

⁴ Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.”

But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they came to Jericho.

⁵ Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?”

So he answered, “Yes, I know; keep silent!”

⁶ Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.”

But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on. ⁷ And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. ⁸ Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and ^(P)it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ^(Q)ground.

⁹ And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?”

Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

¹⁰ So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” ¹¹ Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly ^(R)a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah ^(S)went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

¹² And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, ^(T)“My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. ¹³ He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, ^(U)it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.

¹⁵ Now when the sons of the prophets who were ^(V)from^[h] Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁶ Then they said to him, “Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, ^(W)lest perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.”

And he said, “You shall not send anyone.”

¹⁷ But when they urged him till he was ^(X)ashamed, he said, “Send them!” Therefore they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸ And when they came back to him, for he had stayed in Jericho, he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

Elisha Performs Miracles

¹⁹ Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please notice, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren.”

²⁰ And he said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. ²¹ Then he went out to the source of the water, and ^(Y)cast in the salt there, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘I have ^[i]healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’ ” ²² So the water remains ^(Z)healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

²³ Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”

²⁴ So he turned around and looked at them, and ^(AA)pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

²⁵ Then he went from there to ^(AB)Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Blessing and Conflict at Antioch

^42 [a]So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. ⁴³ Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, ^(A)persuaded them to continue in ^(B)the grace of God.

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they ^(C)opposed the things spoken by Paul. ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ^(D)“It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but ^(E)since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, ^(F)we turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us:

⁴⁸ Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. ^(H)And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, ^(I)raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. ^51 (J)But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples ^(K)were filled with joy and ^(L)with the Holy Spirit.

At Iconium

14 Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the ^(M)Greeks believed. ² But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and ^[b]poisoned their ^[c]minds against the brethren. ³ Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, ^(N)who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and ^(O)wonders to be done by their hands.

⁴ But the multitude of the city was ^(P)divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the ^(Q)apostles. ⁵ And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, ^(R)to abuse and stone them, ⁶ they became aware of it and ^(S)fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. ⁷ And they were preaching the gospel there.

God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.