The Daily Audio Bible

The Floating Axe Head

6 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we are living with you is too small for us. ² Let us go to the Jordan and take from there one beam per man, and let us make for ourselves a place to live there.”

And Elisha said, “Go.”

³ Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.”

And he said, “I will come.” ⁴ So he went with them.

And they came to the Jordan and cut down trees. ⁵ But as one was cutting down a tree, the axe head fell into the water. He cried, “Ah, master! It was borrowed.”

⁶ Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there, and he made the iron float. ⁷ So Elisha said, “Pick it up.” And he reached out his hand and took it.

The Blinded Arameans Captured

⁸ Then the king of Aram was fighting against Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place will be my camp.”

⁹ But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Take care not to pass through this place, for the Arameans are marching down there.” ¹⁰ The king of Israel sent word to the place of which the man of God spoke. He warned him and was on his guard there more than once.

¹¹ The mind of the king of Aram was troubled by this, so he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me who among us sides with the king of Israel?”

¹² Then one of his servants said, “No one, my lord, O king. Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”

¹³ He said, “Go and see where he is, so that I may send for him and take him.” And it was told to him, “He is in Dothan.” ¹⁴ So he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵ When a servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, a force surrounded the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What will we do?”

¹⁶ And he said, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than with them.”

¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, open his eyes and let him see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.

¹⁸ When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this people with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

¹⁹ Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and let me bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria.

²⁰ When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men and let them see.” And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.

²¹ The king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”

²² And he said, “You shall not kill them. Did you capture with your sword and with your bow those whom you want to kill? Set bread and water before them, and let them eat and drink and then go to their master.” ²³ So he prepared for them a great banquet. When they had eaten and had drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the Aramean raiders did not enter into the land of Israel again.

Ben-Hadad Besieges Samaria

²⁴ After this, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, went up, and besieged Samaria. ²⁵ There was a great famine in Samaria, and they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels^[a] of silver, and one-fourth of a kab^[b] of dove droppings for five shekels^[c] of silver.

²⁶ As the king of Israel was walking across the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord king.”

²⁷ He said, “If the Lord will not help you, how can I help you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” ²⁸ And the king said to her, “What is wrong with you?”

And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son and let us eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”

³⁰ When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And since he was walking across the city wall, the people saw that he had sackcloth on his body underneath. ³¹ Then he said, “So may God do to me, and even more, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stands on his shoulders after today.”

³² Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger, but before the messenger came to him, Elisha said to the elders, “Are you aware that this son of a murderer has sent a man to take off my head? When the messenger enters, shut the door and hold it against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”

³³ And while he was speaking with them, the messenger came down to him, and then the king said, “This calamity is of the Lord! Why should I hope in the Lord any longer?”

7 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure^[d] of fine flour will be sold for a shekel,^[e] and two measures^[f] of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”

² Then an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, “If the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?”

And he said, “You will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat from it.”

The Arameans Flee

³ There were four leprous men at the entry of the gate, and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. But if we sit here, we die also. Now come, let us fall into the camp of the Arameans. If they spare our lives, we will live, and if they kill us, we will die.”

⁵ So they rose at twilight to enter the camp of the Arameans. When they came to the edge of the camp of the Arameans, there was no one there. ⁶ For the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, even the sound of a large army, so that they said to one another, “Listen, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come against us.” ⁷ So they got up and ran away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys. The camp remained just as it was, and they ran for their lives.

⁸ When these leprous men came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent. They ate and drank, carried off silver, gold, and clothes, and went and hid them. Then they went back, entered another tent, and carried off things from there and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right today. This is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, we will be found guilty. Let us go now and enter the city and tell the king’s household.”

¹⁰ So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and they told them, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and there was no one there. There was no sound of a man’s voice, only horses tied, donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” ¹¹ Then the gatekeepers called out and told the king’s household inside.

¹² The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will show you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are starving, so they left the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’ ”

¹³ One of his servants answered, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, since those remaining will suffer the fate of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished already; so let us send them and see.”

¹⁴ So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵ So they went after them to the Jordan, and the whole way was full of clothes and vessels, which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and told the king. ¹⁶ Then the people went out and looted the camp of the Arameans. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.

¹⁷ The king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge over the gate, and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ Then the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹ The officer had answered the man of God, “If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” ²⁰ So it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.

Paul and Barnabas Separate

³⁶ After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit our brothers in every city where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” ³⁷ Barnabas determined to take with them John, who was called Mark. ³⁸ But Paul thought it was not good to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. ³⁹ Then there arose a sharp contention, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, ⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brothers to the grace of God. ⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Timothy Accompanies Paul and Silas

16 Then he came to Derbe and then to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed, but his father was a Greek. ² He was well spoken of by the brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium. ³ Paul wanted him to travel with him. So he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ As they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to observe, that were set forth by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. ⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

Paul’s Vision of the Macedonian

⁶ They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. ⁷ When they came near Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them. ⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. ⁹ During the night a vision appeared to Paul: A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

The Conversion of Lydia

¹¹ From Troas we set sail on a straight course to Samothrace and the next day to Neapolis, ¹² and from there to Philippi, which is the main city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. We stayed in this city several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath we went out of the city to a riverside, where prayer was customarily offered. And we sat down and spoke to the women who had assembled. ¹⁴ A woman named Lydia, a seller of purple fabric of the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to acknowledge what Paul said. ¹⁵ When she and her household were baptized, she entreated us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and remain there.” And she persuaded us.

Psalm 142

A Contemplative Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.