The Daily Audio Bible

King Ahab Defeats King Benhadad

20 King Benhadad of Aram gathered together his whole army. With him were 32 kings along with their horses and chariots. He went to blockade Samaria and fight against it. ² He sent messengers into the city to King Ahab of Israel. They told Ahab, “This is what Benhadad says: ³ Your silver and gold are mine. Your beloved wives and children are mine.”

⁴ The king of Israel answered, “As you say, Your Majesty. I and everything I have are yours.”

⁵ But Benhadad sent messengers back ⌞to Ahab⌟. They said, “Benhadad has sent this message to you: ‘Your silver, gold, wives, and children are mine. Give ⌞them to me⌟. ⁶ At this time tomorrow I’m going to send my servants to search your palace and your servants’ houses. They will take anything that you consider valuable.’ ”

⁷ Then the king of Israel called for all the leaders of the country. He said, “You can see how this man is looking for trouble. When he sent for my wives, children, silver, and gold, I didn’t refuse him.”

⁸ All the leaders and all the people told him, “Don’t listen to him. Don’t agree ⌞to his demands⌟.”

⁹ Ahab told Benhadad’s messengers, “Tell His Majesty, ‘I did everything your messengers told me the first time, but I can’t do this.’ ” The messengers left to take back his answer.

¹⁰ Then Benhadad sent Ahab the following message: “May the gods strike me dead if there will be enough dust left from Samaria to give a handful to each soldier who follows me.”

¹¹ The king of Israel answered, “The saying goes, ‘Don’t brag about a victory before you have even dressed for battle.’ ”

¹² Benhadad heard this as he and his allies were drinking in their tents. He told his officers to get ready. So they got ready ⌞to attack⌟ the city.

¹³ Then a prophet came to King Ahab of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: Have you seen this large army? I will hand it over to you today. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁴ Ahab asked, “How ⌞will this be done⌟?”

The prophet answered, “This is what the Lord says: by using the young officers of the district governors.”

“Who will start the battle?” Ahab asked.

“You will,” the prophet answered.

¹⁵ Ahab counted the young officers of the district governors. There were 232. After counting them, he counted all the Israelite soldiers. There were 7,000. ¹⁶ They attacked at noon, when Benhadad was in his tent getting drunk with the 32 kings who were his allies. ¹⁷ The young officers of the district governors went out first.

Benhadad had sent men ⌞to watch the city⌟. They informed him that some men had come out of Samaria.

¹⁸ He said, “Take them alive, whether they have come out to make peace or to fight.”

¹⁹ The young officers of the district governors led an attack, and the troops followed them. ²⁰ Each officer killed his opponent. The Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them. King Benhadad of Aram escaped on a horse with the cavalry. ²¹ The king of Israel went out and destroyed the horses and chariots and decisively defeated the Arameans.

Ahab Spares Benhadad

²² Then the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, “Reinforce your army. Consider what you have to do. When spring comes, the king of Aram will attack ⌞again⌟.”

²³ Meanwhile, the officers of King Benhadad of Aram told him, “Their god is a god of the hills. That is why they were stronger than we were. However, if we fight them on the plain, we will be stronger than they are. ²⁴ This is what we must do: Remove all of the kings from their positions, and substitute governors for them. ²⁵ Recruit an army with as many horses and chariots as the one which was defeated. Then, if we fight them on the plain, we will be stronger than they are.” He took their advice and followed it.

²⁶ Spring came, and Benhadad organized the Aramean army and went to Aphek to fight Israel. ²⁷ When the Israelite ⌞troops⌟ had been organized and given provisions, they went to meet the enemy. The Israelites, while camped opposite the Arameans who filled the country, seemed like two newborn goats.

²⁸ The man of God came again. He said to the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: Because the Arameans said that the Lord is a god of the hills but not a god of the valleys, I will hand over their entire army to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

²⁹ They camped facing one another for seven days, and on the seventh day the battle started. The Israelites killed 100,000 Aramean foot soldiers in one day. ³⁰ The survivors fled to Aphek, the city where the wall fell on 27,000 of them. Benhadad had also fled. He came to the city and hid in an inner room.

³¹ His officers told him, “We have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful. Allow us to dress in sackcloth, put ropes around our necks, and go to the king of Israel. Maybe he’ll let you live.” ³² So they dressed in sackcloth and put ropes around their necks. They went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Benhadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ”

Ahab asked, “He’s still alive? He’s my brother.”

³³ The men, watching for a good sign, were quick to take him at his word. “Benhadad is your brother,” they said.

Ahab said, “Bring him here.” When Benhadad arrived, Ahab had him come up on the chariot with him.

³⁴ Benhadad told him, “I will give back the towns my father took from your father. You may set up trading centers in Damascus as my father did in Samaria.”

Ahab said, “If you will put this into a treaty, I will let you go.” So Ahab made a treaty with Benhadad and let him go.

³⁵ A disciple of the prophets spoke to a friend as the Lord’s word had told him. ⌞The disciple said,⌟ “Punch me,” but the man refused to punch him. ³⁶ The disciple said, “Since you didn’t obey the Lord, a lion will kill you when you leave me.” When the friend left, a lion found him and killed him.

³⁷ Then the disciple found another man. He said, “Punch me.” The man punched him hard and wounded him.

³⁸ Then the prophet, disguised with a bandage over his eyes, waited for the king by the road. ³⁹ When the king passed by, the disciple called to him. “I went to fight in the battle. A man turned around and brought a prisoner to me. He said, ‘Guard this prisoner. If he gets away, you will pay for his life with your own life or be fined 75 pounds of silver.’ ⁴⁰ But while I was busy doing other things, he got away.”

The king of Israel told him, “That’s your own penalty. You have determined it yourself.”

⁴¹ Then he quickly took the bandage off his eyes. The king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

⁴² The prophet told him, “This is what the Lord says: You let the man go. He was claimed by God and should have been killed. For that reason your life will be taken in place of his life and your people in place of his people.”

⁴³ Resentful and upset, the king of Israel went home to Samaria.

Ahab Takes Naboth’s Vineyard

21 This is what happened next. Naboth from Jezreel had a vineyard in Jezreel next to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria.

² Ahab told Naboth, “Give me your vineyard. It will become my vegetable garden because it is near my house. I will give you a better vineyard for it. Or if you prefer, I will pay you a fair price for it.”

³ Naboth told Ahab, “The Lord has forbidden me to give you what I inherited from my ancestors.”

⁴ Resentful and upset, Ahab went home because of what Naboth from Jezreel had told him. (⌞Naboth had said,⌟ “I will not give you what I inherited from my ancestors.”) So Ahab lay on the couch, turned his face ⌞from everyone⌟, and refused to eat.

⁵ His wife Jezebel came to him and asked, “Why are you so resentful of everything? Why don’t you eat?”

⁶ He told her, “I talked to Naboth from Jezreel. I said to him, ‘Sell me your vineyard. Or, if you like, I’ll give you another vineyard for it.’ But he said, ‘I won’t give you my vineyard.’ ”

⁷ His wife Jezebel said to him, “Aren’t you king of Israel? Get up, eat, and cheer up. I’ll give you the vineyard belonging to Naboth from Jezreel.”

⁸ So Jezebel wrote letters, signed them with Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal. She sent them to the respected leaders and nobles living in Naboth’s city. ⁹ In these letters she wrote: “Announce a fast. Seat Naboth as leader of the people. ¹⁰ Have two good-for-nothing men sit opposite him and accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then stone him to death outside the city.”

¹¹ The men in Naboth’s city—the respected leaders and nobles who lived there—did what Jezebel asked them to do. They did just as she had written in the letters she sent. ¹² They announced a fast and had Naboth seated as the leader of the people. ¹³ The two good-for-nothing men came in and sat opposite him. In front of the people, these men accused Naboth of cursing God and the king. So the people stoned him to death outside the city. ¹⁴ Then the leaders sent ⌞this message⌟ to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”

¹⁵ Jezebel received the message and said to Ahab, “Get up! Confiscate the vineyard which Naboth from Jezreel refused to sell you. He’s dead now.”

¹⁶ When he heard about Naboth’s death, Ahab went to confiscate the vineyard.

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah from Tishbe: ¹⁸ “Go, meet King Ahab of Israel, who lives in Samaria. He went to confiscate Naboth’s vineyard. ¹⁹ Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord asks: Have you murdered someone just to confiscate ⌞a vineyard⌟?’ Then tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: At the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, the dogs will lick up your blood.’ ”

²⁰ Ahab asked Elijah, “So you’ve found me, my enemy?”

Elijah answered, “I found you. Because you sold yourself to do what the Lord considers evil. ²¹ So I am going to bring evil on you. I will destroy your descendants. I will destroy every male ^[a] in Ahab’s ⌞house⌟, whether slave or freeman in Israel. ²² I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) and like the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because you made me furious. You led Israel to sin.”

²³ Then the Lord also spoke ⌞through Elijah⌟ about Jezebel: “The dogs will eat Jezebel inside the walls of Jezreel. ²⁴ If anyone from Ahab’s ⌞house⌟ dies in the city, dogs will eat him. If anyone dies in the country, birds will eat him.”

²⁵ There was no one else like Ahab. At the urging of his wife, he sold himself to do what the Lord considered evil. ²⁶ He did many disgusting things as a result of worshiping idols as the Amorites had done. (The Lord confiscated their land for Israel.)

²⁷ When Ahab heard these things, he tore his clothes ⌞in distress⌟ and dressed in sackcloth. He fasted, lay in sackcloth, and walked around depressed.

²⁸ Then the Lord spoke his word to Elijah from Tishbe: ²⁹ “Do you see how Ahab is humbling himself in my presence? Because he’s humbling himself in my presence, I will not let any evil happen to his family while he is alive. I will bring evil on it during his son’s lifetime.”

²⁴ But God’s word continued to spread and win many followers.

Barnabas and Saul Travel to Cyprus

²⁵ After Barnabas and Saul delivered the contribution ⌞to the leaders in Jerusalem⌟, they returned ⌞to Antioch⌟ from Jerusalem. They brought John Mark with them.

13 Barnabas, Simeon (called the Black), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (a close friend of Herod since childhood), and Saul were prophets and teachers in the church in Antioch.

² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me. I want them to do the work for which I called them.” ³ After fasting and praying, Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen placed their hands on Barnabas and Saul, and released them ⌞from their work in Antioch⌟.

⁴ After Barnabas and Saul were sent by the Holy Spirit, they went to the city of Seleucia and from there sailed to the island of Cyprus. ⁵ Arriving in the city of Salamis, they began to spread God’s word in the synagogues. John Mark had gone along to help them. ⁶ They went through the whole island as far as the city of Paphos.

In Paphos they met a Jewish man named Barjesus. He was an astrologer who claimed to be a prophet. ⁷ He was associated with an intelligent man, Sergius Paulus, who was the governor of the island. The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear God’s word. ⁸ Elymas, whose name means astrologer, opposed them and tried to distort the meaning of the faith so that the governor wouldn’t believe.

⁹ But Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He stared at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “You are full of dirty tricks and schemes, you son of the devil! You hate everything that has God’s approval. Quit trying to distort the truth about the way the Lord wants people to live. ¹¹ The Lord is against you now. For a while you will be blind, unable to see the light of day.”

Suddenly, Elymas couldn’t see a thing. He tried to find people to lead him. ¹² When the governor saw what had happened, he believed. The Lord’s teachings amazed him.

Paul and Barnabas Go to Antioch Near Pisidia

¹³ Paul and his men took a ship from Paphos and arrived in Perga, a city in Pamphylia. John Mark deserted them there and went back to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Paul and Barnabas left Perga and arrived in Antioch, a city near Pisidia. On the day of rest—a holy day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵ After reading from Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent ⌞a message⌟ to Paul and Barnabas. The message said, “Brothers, if you have any words of encouragement for the people, feel free to speak.”