The Daily Audio Bible

Elijah Flees From Jezebel

19 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. ² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”

³ When he saw that she was serious, he arose and ran for his life to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. ⁴ But he went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough! Now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”

⁵ As he lay and slept under the juniper tree, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” ⁶ He looked, and there was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water at his head. And he ate and drank and then lay down again.

⁷ The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” ⁸ He arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Elijah Hears the Lord

⁹ He came to a cave and camped there, and the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, Lord of Hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”

¹¹ He said, “Go and stand on the mountain before the Lord.”

And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind split the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake came, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake, a fire came, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire, a still, small voice. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance to the cave.

And a voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

¹⁴ And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, Lord of Hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go, return on the road through the Wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Aram. ¹⁶ And you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be king over Israel, and you shall anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah, to be prophet in your place. ¹⁷ He who escapes the sword of Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and he who escapes the sword of Jehu will be killed by Elisha. ¹⁸ Still, I have preserved seven thousand men in Israel for Myself, all of whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

The Call of Elisha

¹⁹ So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and he with the twelfth, and Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak on him. ²⁰ He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.”

And he said to him, “Go back, for what have I done to you?”

²¹ So he returned from following him and took a yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes from the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up and went after Elijah and ministered to him.

James Killed and Peter Imprisoned

12 About that time King Herod extended his hands to harm certain ones from the church. ² He killed James the brother of John with the sword. ³ Seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to arrest Peter also. This happened during the Days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him before the people after the Passover.

⁵ So Peter was kept in prison. But the church prayed to God without ceasing for him.

Peter Delivered From Prison

⁶ The very night when Herod would have brought him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. And the guards before the door were securing the prison. ⁷ And suddenly an angel of the Lord approached him, and a light shone in the prison. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Rise up, quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.

⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put your sandals on.” And he did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹ He went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and the second guards, they came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened to them by itself. And they went out and went forward one street. And immediately the angel left him.

¹¹ When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I certainly know that the Lord has sent His angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹² Realizing this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. ¹³ As Peter knocked at the door of the porch, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, from joy she did not open the door, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the door.

¹⁵ They said to her, “You are insane.” But she insisted that it was really so. So they said, “It is his angel.”

¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking. And when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ Motioning to them with his hand to be quiet, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸ Now when day came, there was a great disturbance among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ When Herod had searched for him and did not find him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death.

Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

The Death of Herod

²⁰ Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. But they came to him in unity, and having made Blastus, the king’s personal servant, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was fed by the king’s country.

²¹ On an appointed day, Herod, dressed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave a public speech to them. ²² The mob shouted, “It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!” ²³ Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give God the glory. And he was eaten by worms and died.

Psalm 136