The Daily Audio Bible

Jehoram Meets Moabite Rebellion

3 Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria ^(A)in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years. ² He did evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and his mother; for ^(B)he removed the memorial stone of Baal ^(C)which his father had made. ³ Nevertheless, ^(D)he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into ^(E)which he misled Israel; he did not abandon them.

⁴ Now Mesha the king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he ^(F)used to make tribute payments to the king of Israel of a hundred thousand lambs, and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. ⁵ However, ^(G)when King Ahab died, the king of Moab broke with the ^[a]king of Israel. ⁶ So King Jehoram left Samaria for battle ^[b]at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷ Then he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has broken away from me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” And he said, “I will go up. ^[c](H)Consider me yours, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” ⁸ Then he said, “Which way shall we go up?” And he ^[d]answered, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.”

⁹ So ^(I)the king of Israel went with ^(J)the king of Judah and ^(K)the king of Edom, and they made a circuit of seven days’ journey. But there was no water for the army or for the cattle that ^[e]followed them. ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel said, “It is hopeless! For the Lord has called these three kings to hand them over to Moab!” ¹¹ But Jehoshaphat said, “^(L)Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?” And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, “^(M)Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, ^(N)who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.” ¹² And 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 Now Elisha said to the king of Israel, “^[f]What business do you have with me? ^(O)Go to your father’s prophets and your mother’s prophets.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the Lord has called these three kings together to hand them over to Moab.” ¹⁴ Elisha said, “^(P)As surely as the Lord of armies lives, before whom I stand, if I did not respect Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you. ¹⁵ But now ^(Q)bring me a ^[g]musician.” And it came about, when the ^[h]musician played, that ^(R)the hand of the Lord came upon him. ¹⁶ And he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Make this valley ^[i]full of trenches.’ ¹⁷ For the Lord says this: ‘You will not see wind, nor will you see rain; yet that valley ^(S)shall be filled with water, so that you will drink, you, your livestock, and your other animals. ¹⁸ And this is an ^(T)insignificant thing in the sight of the Lord; He will also give the Moabites into your hand. ^19 (U)Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and ^[j]cut down every good tree and stop up all the springs of water, and spoil every good plot of land with stones.’” ²⁰ And it happened in the morning ^(V)about the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came from the direction of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

²¹ Now all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. And all who were able to ^[k]put on armor and older were summoned and they took their positions on the border. ²² Then they got up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³ So they said, “This is blood; the kings must have fought each other, and they have killed one another. Now then, Moab, to the spoils!” ²⁴ But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled from them; and the Israelites invaded ^[l]the land, ^[m]killing the Moabites. ^25 (W)So they destroyed the cities; and each one threw a stone on every plot of good land and filled it. So they stopped up every spring of water and ^[n]cut down every good tree, until in ^(X)Kir-hareseth only they left its stones; however, the rock slingers surrounded it and struck it. ²⁶ When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. ²⁷ Then the king of Moab took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and ^(Y)offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And great anger came upon Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.

The Widow’s Oil

4 Now a woman of the wives of ^(Z)the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and ^(AA)the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” ² So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except ^(AB)a jar of oil.” ³ Then he said, “Go, ^[o]borrow containers ^[p]elsewhere for yourself, empty containers from all your neighbors—do not get too few. ⁴ Then you shall come in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour into all these containers; and you shall set aside what is full.” ⁵ So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they began bringing the containers to her, and she poured the oil. ⁶ When ^(AC)the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” But he said to her, “There ^[q]are no more containers.” Then the oil stopped. ⁷ So she came and told ^(AD)the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

The Shunammite Woman

⁸ Now a day came when Elisha went over to ^(AE)Shunem, where there was a ^[r]prominent woman, and she urged him to eat ^[s]food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, that he turned in there to eat ^[t]food. ⁹ And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I am aware that this is a holy ^(AF)man of God passing by us repeatedly. ¹⁰ Please, let’s ^(AG)make a little walled upper room, and let’s set up a bed for him there, and a table, a chair, and a lampstand; then it shall be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there.”

¹¹ Now ^[u]one day he came there, and turned in to the upper room and ^[v]rested. ¹² Then he said to his servant ^(AH)Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite.” And when he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³ And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have taken trouble for us with all this ^[w]care; what can I do for you? ^[x]Would you like me to speak for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’” But she ^[y]answered, “I live among my own people.” ¹⁴ So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi ^[z]answered, “It is a fact that she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ He then said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Then he said, “^(AI)At this season ^[aa]next year, you are going to embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, you man of God, ^(AJ)do not lie to your servant.”

¹⁷ Now the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at that season ^[ab]the next year, as Elisha had told her.

⁸ In ^(A)Lystra ^(B)a man was sitting whose feet were incapacitated. He had been disabled from his mother’s womb, and had never walked. ⁹ This man was listening to Paul as he spoke. Paul ^(C)looked at him intently and saw that he had ^(D)faith to be ^[a]made well, ¹⁰ and he said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” ^(E)And the man leaped up and began to walk. ¹¹ When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the ^(F)Lycaonian language, “^(G)The gods have become like men and have come down to us!” ¹² And they began calling Barnabas, ^[b]Zeus, and Paul, ^[c]Hermes, since he was ^[d]the chief speaker. ¹³ Moreover, the priest of Zeus, whose temple was ^[e]just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and ^(H)wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when ^(I)the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about it, they ^(J)tore their ^[f]robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also ^(K)men, of the same nature as you, ^(L)preaching the gospel to you, to turn from these ^[g](M)useless things to a ^(N)living God, who ^(O)made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything that is in them. ^16 [h]In past generations He ^(P)permitted all the ^[i]nations to ^(Q)go their own ways; ¹⁷ yet ^(R)He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and ^(S)gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, ^[j]satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸ And even by saying these things, only with difficulty did they restrain the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.

¹⁹ But ^(T)Jews came from ^(U)Antioch and ^(V)Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they ^(W)stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking that he was dead. ²⁰ But while ^(X)the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he left with Barnabas for ^(Y)Derbe. ²¹ And after they had ^(Z)preached the gospel to that city and had ^(AA)made a good number of disciples, they returned to ^(AB)Lystra, to ^(AC)Iconium, and to ^(AD)Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of ^(AE)the disciples, encouraging them to continue in ^(AF)the faith, and saying, “^(AG)It is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.” ²³ When ^(AH)they had appointed ^(AI)elders for them in every church, having ^(AJ)prayed with fasting, they ^(AK)entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴ They passed through ^(AL)Pisidia and came into ^(AM)Pamphylia. ²⁵ When they had spoken the word in ^(AN)Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ From there they sailed to ^(AO)Antioch, ^(AP)where they had been ^(AQ)entrusted to the grace of God for the work that they had ^[k]accomplished. ²⁷ When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to ^(AR)report all the things that God had done with them and ^[l]how He had opened a ^(AS)door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they spent ^[m]a long time with ^(AT)the disciples.

Prayer for Protection against the Wicked.

For the music director. A Psalm of David.