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6 The students of the prophets spoke to Elisha.
Students of the Prophets: The place where we are staying with you is too small for us. 2 Allow us to travel to the Jordan Valley, cut down trees, and build a house there for ourselves.
Elisha: Go.
One of the Students: 3 Will you please travel with us, your servants?
Elisha: Yes, I will go with you.
4 Elisha traveled with them, and they cut down trees when they arrived at the Jordan. 5 While one of the students was cutting down a tree, the iron of the ax broke off and dropped into the river.
Student of the Prophets (to Elisha): Oh no, master! This ax is not mine! I borrowed it!
Elisha: 6 Where did it drop into the river?
The man showed Elisha where it had dropped into the water, and Elisha took a stick and tossed it into the river. Then the iron of the ax floated to the surface.
Elisha: 7 Get your iron out of the water.
The man then grabbed it.
8 Aram’s king had waged war against Israel. He gave instructions to those who served him: “I want my war camp at this particular place.” 9 The man of God sent a message to Israel’s king.
Elisha’s Message: Be sure not to travel through this place. The Arameans are on their way.
10 Israel’s king passed this warning on to those in the place the man of God had told him about. Elisha’s warning saved Israel’s king more than a few times. 11 Aram’s king became greatly angered by this. He gathered his servants together.
King of Aram: Which one of you has betrayed me and sided with Israel’s king?
Servant: 12 It is none of us, my lord and king. The prophet Elisha, who lives in Israel, is the one who informs Israel’s king of these things. Elisha somehow knows everything you say—even the secret things you whisper in your private chambers.
King of Aram: 13 Find Elisha right away so that I may capture him!
The servants found Elisha and informed Aram’s king, “Elisha is in Dothan.” 14 So Aram’s king dispatched a great army of warriors, along with many horses and chariots, and they encircled the city of Dothan at night.
15 The servant of the man of God woke up early and went outside. There he saw a great army, along with many horses and chariots, encircling Dothan.
Elisha’s Servant: Ah! Master, what are we going to do now?
Elisha: 16 Have no fear. We have more on our side than they do.
17 (praying) O Eternal One, I ask You to allow my servant to see heavenly realities.
The Eternal awakened Elisha’s servant so that he could see. This is what he saw: the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. 18 When the enemy approached Elisha, he prayed.
Elisha: Eternal One, I ask you to blind these people.
The Eternal blinded them, just as Elisha had requested.
Elisha (to the blind army): 19 You are wrong. This is the wrong path and the wrong city. I will lead you to the person you are really after.
Elisha then led them to Samaria.
Elisha (arriving in Samaria): 20 O Eternal One, I ask you to allow these men to see.
The Eternal awakened the men so they could see. This is what they saw: they were in Samaria. 21 The king of Israel saw them.
King of Israel (to Elisha): Do you want me to slaughter these men, my father? Shall I slaughter them?
Elisha: 22 No, do not slaughter them. Would you really slaughter men whom you have captured with your sword and with your bow? Set the table and fill it with bread and water. Let them eat and drink and return to their own master.
Similar to the Elijah story but expanded, the Elisha story relates the prophet’s life and ministry mostly outside the land. While Elisha is given Elijah’s mantle in Palestine, most of his traveling circuit occurs “outside the land” in Phoenicia or Syria. He even makes a prophecy over Hazael the next Syrian king and enemy of Israel.
The introduction of the figure Ben-hadad (meaning “son of Hadad,” who is the central Syrian god) is pivotal for the rest of the stories of Elisha and Israel. The Eternal uses Syria (also called Aram) as an instrument of divine punishment for Israel’s sins. Ultimately in 732 b.c., Damascus and Syria fall under the hand of Tiglath-Pileser III. The city of Samaria and the Northern Kingdom are conquered just 10 years later.
23 Israel’s king had the table set and offered the Arameans a great feast. After they ate and drank, Israel’s king told them to leave. They returned to their own master, and the Arameans stopped sending raiding parties into Israel.
24 Later, Ben-hadad,[a] Aram’s king, assembled his army and surrounded Samaria. 25 There was already a famine in Samaria. Aram’s king surrounded Samaria for so long that, within Samaria, a donkey head cost two pounds of silver and two cups of dove’s dung[b] cost two ounces of silver.
26 Once when Israel’s king was walking on the wall, a woman yelled up to him.
Woman: My lord and king, help!
King of Israel: 27 How am I supposed to help you if the Eternal does not help you? Do you expect me to miraculously get food from empty storerooms or drink from the silent winepress? 28 But tell me, what is bothering you?
Woman: A woman approached me and said, “If you give up your son and allow us to eat him today, I promise to give up my son, too, and we can eat him tomorrow.” 29 So I gave up my son, and we boiled him and ate him. But when I went to the woman the next day and asked for her son so that we could eat him, she had hidden him.
30 When the king heard of this horror, he ripped his clothes. Since he was walking on the wall, everyone who looked up saw that he was wearing sackcloth underneath.
King of Israel: 31 May God behead me and even worse if the head of Elisha (Shaphat’s son) is still attached to his body by the end of today.
32 Meanwhile Elisha was resting in his house with the elders. The king had sent a messenger to him; but before the messenger arrived at Elisha’s house, Elisha knew what would happen.
Elisha (to the elders): Watch closely. A murderer’s son desires my head on a platter. When the messenger arrives, close the door and hold it tightly shut. Certainly his master will be close behind him.
33 While Elisha was telling the elders these things, the messenger arrived.
Messenger: This wickedness is from the Eternal. Why should I be patient for Him?
7 Elisha: Pay attention to this prediction from the Eternal. This is His message: “By this time tomorrow, 7 quarts of flour and 13 quarts of barley will sell for 11 grams at the market in the gate of Samaria.”
2 Then the king’s first officer responded to the man of God.
First Officer: Even if the Eternal carved out windows in heaven, is this really possible?
Elisha: You will witness this event, but you will not be allowed to enjoy the feast.
3 Meanwhile four men with skin diseases were standing and conversing near the gate entrance.
Diseased Men (to each other): Why are we just sitting around here isolated, waiting to die? 4 If we decide to go into the city where there is a famine, we will die just the same as if we stay here. So why don’t we walk over to the Aramean camp and see if we can get some food; it is our only hope. If we live, then we live; if we die, then we die.
5 Just before nightfall, they stood up and walked over to the Aramean camp, but when they got close to the camp, there was no one in sight. 6 The Lord had fooled the Aramean army. He had caused them to imagine the monstrous noise of a mighty army of chariots and horses coming toward them.
Arameans (to one another): That’s not just the army of Israel. Israel’s king has commissioned the Hittite kings and the Egyptian kings to war against us.
7 So the Arameans ran away just before nightfall, without any fighting taking place. God caused them to abandon their tents, their horses, their donkeys, and the campsite, and run for their lives.
8 When the diseased men arrived at the camp, they walked into one tent and ate and drank. They gathered up all the valuables they could find—clothes, silver, gold—and went out and hid them in a secret place. Then they went into another tent and did the same thing.
Diseased Men (among themselves): 9 This isn’t right. We have stumbled upon a good thing, and we have kept it to ourselves. If we wait until sunrise, we will surely be punished for our silence. Let’s go quickly now to tell the palace of this news.
10 So they returned to the city and called to the gatekeepers.
Diseased Men (to the gatekeepers): The Aramean camp is empty! We have just come from there, and there is not even a whisper of a man left there! The animals are still tied up, and the tents are still standing, but there is no one there!
11 The gatekeepers went and told the palace about this strange news. 12 The king woke up and listened to the report. He was immediately suspicious, so he explained his theory to his servants.
King of Israel: I don’t trust this. I think I know what the Arameans are up to. They are fully aware that we are all starving, so they have hidden themselves in a field outside of their camp and have created a plan: “As soon as they leave the city, we will attack them and capture them and overtake their city.”
Royal Servant: 13 Allow a few men to take five of the horses that are still alive in this miserable city. They are already doomed to the same destiny as all the Israelites left here and all the Israelites who have already died; therefore, let’s at least try to find a way to survive.
14 So a few men took a couple of chariots along with some of the horses that were still alive in the city, and Israel’s king told them, “Trail after the Aramean army, and get down to the bottom of this.” 15 The king’s messengers traveled to the Jordan River and found that the trail was covered with clothing and weapons and tools that the Arameans had left behind in their haste. The messengers immediately went back and told the king what they had found.
16 Everyone in the city went and raided the abandoned Aramean camp. So 7 quarts of premium flour were sold for 11 grams, and 13 quarts of barley were sold for the same, just as the Eternal had said they would be. 17 The king instructed his first officer to guard the gate, but everyone ran over him at the gate on their way to raid the abandoned Aramean camp. He was killed, as the man of God had said he would be when the king had spoken to him.
18 You recall that this man of God had told the king, “By this time tomorrow, 7 quarts of premium flour will sell for 11 grams, and 13 quarts of barley will sell for the same at the market in the gate of Samaria.” 19 The officer had then asked, “Even if the Eternal carved out windows in heaven, is it really possible?” Elisha had replied, “You will witness this event, but you will not be allowed to enjoy the feast.” 20 This was the truth about the officer’s destiny, for he was killed at the city entrance—trampled by the starving, miserable citizens of Samaria.
36 Some days later, Paul proposed another journey to Barnabas.
Paul: Let’s return and visit the believers in each city where we preached the Lord’s message last time to see how they’re doing.
37 Barnabas agreed and wanted to bring John Mark along, 38 but Paul felt that was a mistake since John Mark had abandoned them in Pamphylia and hadn’t finished the previous mission. 39 Their difference of opinion was so heated that they decided not to work together anymore. Barnabas took John Mark and sailed to Cyprus, 40 while Paul chose Silas as his companion. The believers in Antioch commissioned him for this work, entrusting him to the grace of the Lord. 41 They traveled through Syria and Cilicia to strengthen the churches there.
16 1-3 When Paul reached Derbe and Lystra, he invited a disciple named Timothy to join him and Silas. Timothy had a good reputation among the believers in Lystra and Iconium, but there was a problem: although Timothy’s mother was a believing Jew, his father was Greek, which meant Timothy was uncircumcised. Because the Jewish people of those cities knew he was the son of a Greek man, Paul felt it would be best for Timothy to be circumcised before proceeding.
4 Leaving there, now accompanied by Timothy, they delivered to the churches in each town the decisions and instructions given by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. 5 The churches were strengthened in the faith by their visit and kept growing in numbers on a daily basis.
6 They sensed the Holy Spirit telling them not to preach their message in Asia at this time, so they traveled through Phrygia and Galatia. 7 They came near Mysia and planned to go into Bithynia, but again they felt restrained from doing so by the Spirit of Jesus. 8 So they bypassed Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 That night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was pleading with him.
Macedonian Man: Come over to Macedonia! Come help us!
Luke now shifts his narration from impersonal observation to a first-person account of events because he has joined Paul, Silas, and Timothy.
10 This vision convinced us all that God was calling us to bring the good news to that region.
11 We set sail from the port city of Troas, first stopping in Samothrace, then the next day in Neapolis, 12 finally arriving in Philippi, a Roman colony and one of Macedonia’s leading cities. We stayed in Philippi for several days. 13 On the Sabbath day, we went outside the city walls to the nearby river, assuming that some Jewish people might be gathering for prayer. We found a group of women there, so we sat down and spoke to them. 14 One of them, Lydia, was a business woman originally from Thyatira. She made a living buying and selling fine purple fabric. She was a true worshiper of God and listened to Paul with special interest. The Lord opened her heart to take in the message with enthusiasm. 15 She and her whole household were ceremonially washed through baptism.[a]
Lydia: If you believe I’m truly faithful to the Lord, please, you must come and stay at my home.
We couldn’t turn down her invitation.
Psalm 142
A contemplative prayer[a] of David while he hid in a cave.
1 I call out loudly to the Eternal One;
I lift my voice to the Eternal begging for His favor.
2 I let everything that’s going wrong spill out of my mouth;
I spell out all my troubles to Him.
3 When my spirit buckled under the burdens I bear,
You knew my way.
They conspired to trip me up and trap me
on the path where I was walking.
4 Take a look around and see—to the right, to the left—
no one is there who cares for me.
There’s no way out of here;
no one cares about the state of my soul.
5 You are the One I called to, O Eternal One.
I said, “You’re the only safe place I know;
You’re all I’ve got in this world.
6 Oh, let me know that You hear my cry
because I’m languishing and desperate;
Rescue me from those who torment me
because there’s no way I can stand up to them;
they are much too strong for me.
7 Lift my captive soul from this dark prison
so I may render to You my gratitude;
Then Your righteous people will gather around me
because You will treat me with astounding goodness.”
24 Those who understand look to wisdom for guidance,
but fools fasten their eyes on some distant horizon.
25 Foolish children irritate their fathers
and embitter their mothers.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.