Old/New Testament
Chapter 19
Elijah Flees to Horeb.[a] 1 Now Ahab told Jezebel about everything that Elijah had done, and all about how he had killed all of the prophets by the sword. 2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, “May the gods do this to me and more if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like their lives.”
3 He rose up and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4 He went a day’s journey off into the desert. He came to a broom tree and sat down under it, and he asked to die. He said, “It is enough, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
5 As he lay there, he fell asleep under the broom tree, and, behold, an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around, and by his head there was a piece of bread that had been cooked on coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and then he laid down again.
7 The angel of the Lord touched him a second time and said, “Get up and eat, because the journey is too difficult for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled for forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. 9 He entered a cave and spent the night there. The word of the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He answered, “I have been zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant and torn down your altars and killed your prophets by the sword. I am the only survivor, and they are seeking to take my life away.”
11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord will pass by.” There was a powerful, strong wind that tore the mountain apart and shattered rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a tiny whisper.
13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. The voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He answered, “I have been zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant and torn down your altars and killed your prophets by the sword. I am the only survivor, and they are seeking to take my life away.”
15 The Lord said to him, “Go, return to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael as the king of Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as the king of Israel, and anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah as prophet in your stead. 17 Jehu will put to death those who escape from the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death those who escape from the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet, I have prepared a remnant in Israel of seven thousand,[b] none of whom have bent their knees to Baal nor have any of their mouths kissed him.”
19 Elisha Follows Elijah. So Elijah left that place and found the son of Shaphat who was plowing with twelve yokes of oxen preceding him (he was driving the twelfth pair himself), and he tossed his mantle on him. 20 Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother good-bye and then I will follow you.” But he said, “Go back, what have I done to you?”
21 He went back, and took a yoke of oxen and killed them. He used the oxen’s equipment to boil their meat, and he gave it to the people to eat. He then got up and followed Elijah, ministering to him.[c]
Chapter 20
Ahab’s Victory over the Arameans.[d] 1 Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, gathered together his entire army. He had thirty-two kings with him along with their horses and chariots. They went up and besieged Samaria, fighting against it.
2 He sent messengers into the city, to Ahab, the king of Israel, saying, “Thus says Ben-hadad: 3 ‘Your silver and your gold are mine, as are the best of your wives and your children.’ ” 4 The king of Israel answered, “O king, my lord, I and all that I own are yours.”
5 The messengers came again and said, “Thus says Ben-hadad: ‘I have sent to you demanding that you send me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children. 6 Around this time tomorrow, I will send my servants to you. They will search through your palace and the houses of your servants. They will take hold of whatever they like and carry it away.’ ”
7 The king of Israel summoned all of the elders of the land and said, “See how this man is looking for trouble. He sent a message to me seeking my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, and I did not deny it to him.” 8 The elders and all of the people said to him, “Do not listen to him, do not agree!”
9 So he replied to the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Tell my lord, the king: ‘Your servant will do everything that you demanded the first time, but I cannot do this thing.’ ” The messengers went away and brought him the answer.
10 Then Ben-hadad sent to him, saying, “May the gods do this to me and more if there is enough dust remaining from Samaria to give a handful to each of those who follow me.”[e]
11 The king of Israel answered, “Say: ‘He who is putting on his armor should not boast like someone who is taking it off.’ ” 12 He heard this message while he and the kings were drinking in the tents and he said to his servants, “Get ready!” So they prepared to attack the city.
13 In the meantime, a prophet came to Ahab, the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do you see this enormous mob? Behold, I will deliver them into your hands today so that you might know that I am the Lord.’ ” 14 Ahab said, “Who will do it?” He answered, “Thus says the Lord: ‘The young officers from the provinces.’ ” He asked, “Who should start the battle?” He answered, “You!”[f]
15 So he summoned the young officers from the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two of them. Then he counted all of the Israelites there, and there were seven thousand.
16 They set out at noon when Ben-hadad and the thirty-two kings who were helping him were getting drunk in their tents. 17 The young officers from the provinces went out first. Ben-hadad sent out men who told him, “The men from Samaria are advancing.” 18 He said, “If they are coming out to make peace, take them alive, and even if they have come out to fight, take them alive.”
19 And so the young officers from the provinces came out from the city, and the army followed after them. 20 Each of them killed his opponent, and the Arameans fled away with Israel pursuing them. Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, escaped on a horse with some of his horsemen.
21 The king of Israel went out and defeated the horsemen and the chariots, and he killed a large number of the Arameans. 22 Afterwards, the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, “Go and strengthen yourself, and see what must be done, for next spring the king of Aram will attack you again.”
23 The servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are the gods of the hills. That is why they were stronger than we were. We should fight against them in the plain, and we will surely be stronger than they are. 24 Just do this, remove all of the kings from their command and replace them with the officers. 25 You must assemble an army as large as the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will be able to fight against them in the plain. We will certainly be stronger than they are.” He listened to their advice and followed it.
26 In the spring of the year, Ben-hadad assembled the Arameans and went to Aphek to fight against Israel. 27 When the Israelites were assembled and given provisions, they went out against them. The Israelites camped opposite them, and they looked like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.
28 The man of God arrived and spoke to the king of Israel, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘The Arameans think that the Lord is the God of the hills but not the God of the lowlands. I will therefore deliver this enormous army into your hands, and thus you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”
29 They camped opposite one another for seven days, and then on the seventh day they joined in battle. The Israelites killed one hundred thousand of the Aramean infantry in one day. 30 The rest of them escaped into the city of Aphek, but a wall collapsed upon twenty-seven thousand of the survivors.
Ben-hadad fled into the city and hid in an inner room. 31 His servants said to him, “Behold, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.” 32 So they put sackcloth around their waists and they put ropes around their heads and they went out to the king of Israel and said, “Ben-hadad said, ‘Please let me live.’ ” He answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”[g]
33 The men were listening carefully and they quickly took up his refrain, “Ben-hadad is your brother!” He said, “Go and bring him here.” When Ben-hadad came out to him, he had him join him in the chariot.
34 Ben-hadad said to him, “I will give back the cities that my father took from your father. You can set up marketplaces in Damascus just like my father did in Samaria.” He answered, “I will release you on the basis of this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and released him.
35 Ahab Is Condemned by a Prophet.[h] One of the sons of the prophets, inspired by the word of the Lord, said to his companion, “Please strike me,” but the man refused to strike him. 36 So he said to him, “You have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, so as soon as you leave me, you will be killed by a lion.” As soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him.
37 The prophet found another man and said, “Please strike me.” So the man struck and wounded him. 38 The prophet left and waited for the king along the road, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.
39 As the king passed by, he cried out to the king, “Your servant went out into the heat of the battle. A man came over and brought a man to me saying, ‘Guard this man. If he escapes, then you will pay a life for a life, or else you will have to pay a talent of silver.’ 40 While your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared.” The king of Israel said to him, “That will be your judgment; you have decided it for yourself.” 41 He quickly removed the bandage from his face, and the king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets. 42 He then said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have released from your hands a man whom I had designated for total destruction, your life will stand for his life, your people for his people.’ ” 43 The king of Israel, therefore, returned to his palace deeply troubled, and he arrived in Samaria.
Chapter 23
Jesus before Pilate.[a] 1 Then the entire assembly rose and brought Jesus before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We charge this man with subverting our nation, opposing the payment of taxes to Caesar, and claiming that he is the Christ, a king.” 3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He replied, “You have said so.”
4 Pilate then said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no evidence of a crime in this man.” 5 But they continued to insist, saying, “He is stirring up the people by his teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee, where he started, all the way to here.”
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean, 7 and upon learning that he came under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Jesus before Herod.[b] 8 Herod was delighted when he saw Jesus, for he had heard about him and had been hoping for some time to see him and perhaps to witness him perform some sign. 9 He questioned him at length, but Jesus gave him no reply.
10 The chief priests and the scribes meanwhile were present, and they vehemently made accusations against him. 11 Herod and his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then Herod had him clothed in an elegant robe and sent him back to Pilate. 12 That very day Herod and Pilate became friends, although previously they had been enemies.
13 Jesus before Pilate Again.[c]Pilate then summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man before me and accused him of inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him here in your presence and have not found him guilty of any of the charges you have brought against him. 15 Nor did Herod, for he has sent him back to us. It is clear that he has done nothing deserving of death. 16 Therefore, I will have him scourged and then release him.”
Jesus Is Condemned to Death. [17 Now Pilate was obliged to release one man to them at the time of the festival.][d] 18 And then the crowd all shouted in unison, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” 19 (He had been imprisoned for an insurrection that had occurred in the city as well as for murder.) 20 In his desire to release Jesus, Pilate again pleaded with them, 21 but, they continued to shout, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 22 A third time he addressed them: “Why? What evil has he done? I have not found in him any crime that deserves death. Therefore, I will have him scourged and let him go.”
23 However, with loud shouts they continued to insist that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. 24 Pilate ordered that what they wanted was to be granted. 25 He released the man they asked for, who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed over Jesus to them to deal with as they wished.
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