The Daily Audio Bible

3 Y’horam the son of Ach’av began his reign over Isra’el in Shomron during the eighteenth year of Y’hoshafat king of Y’hudah, and he ruled for twelve years. ² He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective; but he was not as bad as his father and mother, because he got rid of Ba‘al’s standing-stone which his father had made. ³ Nevertheless, he clung to the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, with which he had led Isra’el into sin; he never turned away from them.

⁴ Mesha king of Mo’av was a sheep-breeder, and he used to send the king of Isra’el the wool of 100,000 lambs and of 100,000 rams as tribute. ⁵ But after Ach’av died, the king of Mo’av rebelled against the king of Isra’el. ⁶ Y’horam left Shomron and mustered all Isra’el. ⁷ He also went and sent this word to Y’hoshafat king of Y’hudah: “The king of Mo’av has rebelled against me. Will you join me in attacking Mo’av?” He answered, “I will join in the attack — I’m with you all the way; think of my people and horses as yours. ⁸ Which route should we take?” he added. “The road through the desert of Edom,” answered Y’horam.

⁹ So the king of Isra’el set out, along with the king of Y’hudah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout journey of seven days, there was no water for either the army or the animals following them. ¹⁰ “This is terrible!” exclaimed the king of Isra’el. “Has Adonai called these three kings together only to hand them over to Mo’av?” ¹¹ But Y’hoshafat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of Adonai here through whom we can consult Adonai?” One of the servants of the king of Isra’el answered, “Elisha the son of Shafat is here, the one who used to pour water on Eliyahu’s hands.” ¹² Y’hoshafat said, “The word of Adonai is with him.” So the king of Isra’el, Y’hoshafat and the king of Edom went down to consult him.

¹³ Elisha said to the king of Isra’el, “What do you and I have in common? Go, consult your father’s prophets and your mother’s prophets!” But the king of Isra’el answered him, “No, because Adonai has called these three kings together to hand them over to Mo’av.” ¹⁴ Elisha said, “As Adonai-Tzva’ot lives, before whom I stand, if I didn’t respect the fact that Y’hoshafat the king of Y’hudah is here, I wouldn’t even look in your direction or take notice of you. ¹⁵ But now, bring me a musician.” As the musician played, the hand of Adonai fell on Elisha; ¹⁶ and he said, “Adonai says to dig until this valley is full of trenches. ¹⁷ For here is what Adonai says: ‘You won’t see wind, and you won’t see rain. Nevertheless the valley will be filled with water; and you will drink — you, your cattle and your other animals. ¹⁸ That’s an easy thing to do, from Adonai’s perspective. He will also hand Mo’av over to you. ¹⁹ You will conquer every fortified city and every choice town, you will chop down every good tree, stop up every well and ruin every good field with stones.” ²⁰ The next morning, around the time for making the offering, water came from the direction of Edom, and the countryside was filled with water.

²¹ When all Mo’av heard that the kings had come up to attack them, every man was summoned, from the youngest capable of bearing arms to older ones, and stationed on the border. ²² They rose early in the morning, when the sun was shining on the water. Mo’av, when they saw the water in the distance looking as red as blood, ²³ said, “That’s blood! The kings must have quarreled, and their soldiers killed each other. Mo’av! To the plunder!”

²⁴ When they arrived at the camp of Isra’el, Isra’el launched an attack, so that Mo’av fled before them. But they advanced on Mo’av and struck it. ²⁵ They made ruins of the cities. Each man threw his stone on every good field, covering it. They stopped up all the wells. They chopped down all the good trees. Finally, all that remained was Kir-Hareset behind its stone wall, with the slingers surrounding and attacking it. ²⁶ When the king of Mo’av saw that the fighting was too much for him, he took with him 700 men armed with swords and tried to break through to the king of Edom; but they couldn’t do it. ²⁷ Then he took his firstborn son, who was to have succeeded him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. Following this, such great anger came upon Isra’el that they left him and went back to their own land.

4 The wife of one of the guild prophets complained to Elisha. “Your servant my husband died,” she said, “and you know that he feared Adonai. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as his slaves.” ² Elisha asked her, “What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a flask of oil.” ³ Then he said, “Go, and borrow containers from all your neighbors, empty containers; and don’t borrow just a few! ⁴ Then go in; shut the door, with you and your sons inside; and pour oil into all those containers; and as they are filled, put them aside.” ⁵ So she left him and shut the door on herself and her sons. They brought her the containers while she poured. ⁶ When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container”; but he answered, “There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing. ⁷ She came and told the man of God; and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; then you and your sons can live on what’s left.”

⁸ One day Elisha visited Shunem, and a well-to-do woman living there pressed him to stay and eat a meal. After this, whenever he came through, he stopped there for a meal. ⁹ She said to her husband, “I can see that this is a holy man of God who keeps stopping at our place. ¹⁰ Please, let’s build him a little room on the roof. We’ll put a bed and a table in it for him, and a stool and a candlestick. Then, whenever he comes to visit us, he can stay there.”

¹¹ One day Elisha came to visit there, and he went into the upper room to lie down. ¹² He said to Geichazi his servant, “Call this Shunamit.” He called her; and when she arrived, ¹³ he said to him, “Tell her this: ‘You have shown us so much hospitality! What can I do to show my appreciation? Do you want me to say anything to the king for you? or to the commander of the army?” She answered, “I’m happy living as I do, among my own people.” ¹⁴ He said, “What, then, is to be done for her?” Geichazi answered, “There’s one thing — she doesn’t have a son; and her husband is old. ¹⁵ Elisha said, “Call her.” After he called her, she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ He said, “Next year, when the season comes around, you will be holding a son.” “No, my lord,” she answered. “Man of God, don’t lie to your servant!” ¹⁷ But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son the following year when the season came around, just as Elisha had said to her.

⁸ There was a man living in Lystra who could not use his feet — crippled from birth, he had never walked. ⁹ This man listened to Sha’ul speaking. Sha’ul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” He jumped up and began to walk. ¹¹ When the crowds saw what Sha’ul had done, they began to shout in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!” ¹² They began calling Bar-Nabba “Zeus” and Sha’ul “Hermes,” since he did most of the talking; ¹³ and the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates, intending to offer a sacrifice to them with the people.

¹⁴ When the emissaries Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul heard of it, they tore their clothes and ran into the crowd, shouting, ¹⁵ “Men! Why are you doing this? We’re just men, human like you! We are announcing Good News to you — turn from these worthless things to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them!^{[a] 16} In times past, he allowed all peoples to walk in their own ways; ¹⁷ yet he did not leave himself without evidence of his nature; because he does good things, giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons, filling you with food and your hearts with happiness!” ¹⁸ Even saying this barely kept the crowds from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹ Then some unbelieving Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They won over the crowds, stoned Sha’ul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. ²⁰ But as the talmidim gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day, he left with Bar-Nabba for Derbe.

²¹ After proclaiming the Good News in that city and making many people into talmidim, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, ²² strengthening the talmidim, encouraging them to remain true to the faith, and reminding them that it is through many hardships that we must enter the Kingdom of God. ²³ After appointing elders for them in every congregation, Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust.

²⁴ Passing through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ After speaking the message in Perga, they came down to Attalia; and from there, they sailed back to Antioch, ²⁶ the place where they had been handed over to the care of God for the work which they had now completed.

²⁷ When they arrived, they gathered the Messianic community together and reported what God had done through them, that he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they stayed for some time there with the talmidim.