⁵ It was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, What is this we have done? We have let Israel go from serving us!

⁶ And he made ready his chariots and took his army,

⁷ And took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

⁸ The Lord made hard and strong the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, for [they] left proudly and defiantly.^(A)

⁹ The Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the [Red] Sea by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ When Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked up, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and the Israelites were exceedingly frightened and cried out to the Lord.

¹¹ And they said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way and brought us out of Egypt?

¹² Did we not tell you in Egypt, Let us alone; let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

¹³ Moses told the people, Fear not; stand still (firm, confident, undismayed) and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again.

¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.

¹⁵ The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to Me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward!

¹⁶ Lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the Israelites shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

¹⁷ And I, behold, I will harden (make stubborn and strong) the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go [into the sea] after them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and horsemen.

¹⁸ The Egyptians shall know and realize that I am the Lord when I have gained honor and glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

¹⁹ And the ^[a]Angel of God Who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before them and stood behind them,

²⁰ Coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. It was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to the Israelites; and the one host did not come near the other all night.

²⁴ Afterward, Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered his whole army and went up and besieged Samaria,

²⁵ And a great famine came to Samaria. They besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung [a wild vegetable] for five shekels of silver.

²⁶ As the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried to him, Help, my lord, O king!

²⁷ He said, [For] if he does not help you [No, let the Lord help you!], from where can I get you help? Out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?

²⁸ And the king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give me your son so we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, Give your son so we may eat him, but she had hidden her son.

³⁰ When the king heard the woman’s words, he rent his clothes. As he went on upon the wall, the people looked, and behold, he wore sackcloth inside on his flesh.

³¹ Then he said, May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day!

³² Now Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him. And the king sent a man from before him [to behead Elisha]. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, See how this son of [Jezebel] a murderer is sending to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet [just] behind him?

³³ And while Elisha was talking with them, behold, [the messenger] came to him [and then the king came also]. And [the relenting king] said, This evil is from the Lord! Why should I any longer wait [expecting Him to withdraw His punishment? What, Elisha, can be done now]?

7 Then Elisha said, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria!

² Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? But Elisha said, You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.

4 [But] if so, what shall we say about Abraham, our forefather humanly speaking—[what did he] find out? [How does this affect his position, and what was gained by him?]

² For if Abraham was justified (^[a]established as just by acquittal from guilt) by good works [that he did, then] he has grounds for boasting. But not before God!

³ For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed in (trusted in) God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness (right living and right standing with God).^(A)

⁴ Now to a laborer, his wages are not counted as a favor or a gift, but as an obligation (something owed to him).

⁵ But to one who, not working [by the Law], trusts (believes fully) in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (the standing acceptable to God).

⁶ Thus David ^[b]congratulates the man and pronounces a blessing on him to whom God credits righteousness apart from the works he does:

⁷ Blessed and happy and ^[c]to be envied are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered up and completely buried.

⁸ Blessed and happy and ^[d]to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him.^(B)

⁹ Is this blessing (happiness) then meant only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.

¹⁰ How then was it credited [to him]? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

¹¹ He received the mark of circumcision as a token or an evidence [and] seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised—[faith] so that he was to be made the father of all who [truly] believe, though without circumcision, and who thus have righteousness (right standing with God) imputed to them and credited to their account,

¹² As well as [that he be made] the father of those circumcised persons who are not merely circumcised, but also walk in the way of that faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.