Old/New Testament
Whisper at the Cave
19 Then Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, “So let the gods do to me and worse if by this time tomorrow I don’t make your life like the life of one of them.” 3 Frightened, he got up and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, he left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom bush. He prayed that he might die. “It’s too much!” he said. “Now, Adonai, take my life! For I’m no better than my fathers.”
5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom bush. Then behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Get up, and eat.” 6 So he looked, and to his surprise, there by his head was a cake baked on the hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of Adonai came again a second time, touched him and said. “Get up and eat, because the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he arose and ate and drank, and in the strength of that meal forty days and forty nights went to Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 When he arrived there at the cave, he spent the night there. Then behold, the word of Adonai came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 “I have been very zealous for Adonai-Tzva’ot,” he said, “for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and slain Your prophets with the sword—and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it!”[a]
11 Then He said, “Come out and stand on the mount before Adonai.”[b] Behold, Adonai was passing by—a great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and shattering cliffs before Adonai. But Adonai was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but Adonai was not in the fire. After the fire there was a soft whisper of a voice. 13 As soon as Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
Then all of a sudden, a voice addressed him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 “I have been very zealous for Adonai-Tzva’ot,” he said, “for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword—and I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life!”
15 Then Adonai said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram, 16 and anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17 It shall come to pass that whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will slay; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will slay. 18 Yet I have preserved seven thousand in Israel whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouth has not kissed him.”
Calling of Elisha
19 So he departed from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Then Elijah crossed over to him and threw his mantle on him. 20 So he left the oxen and ran after Elijah saying, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.”[c]
“Come back,” he said to him. “For what have I done to you?” 21 So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the oxen’s yoke gear, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, went after Elijah and became his attendant.
Ahab and the Prophets
20 Now King Ben-Hadad of Aram gathered all his army. With him were 32 kings, along with horses and chariots. He marched up, besieged Samaria and attacked it. 2 Then he sent messengers into the city to King Ahab of Israel, 3 and said to him, “Thus says Ben-Hadad: ‘Your silver and gold are mine! Your best wives and children are also mine.”
4 The king of Israel replied, “As you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all I have.”
5 Then the messengers came back and said, “Thus says Ben-Hadad: Indeed I sent word to you, ordering you to give me your silver, your gold, your wives and your children. 6 Now I will send my servants to you tomorrow at this time, and they shall search your palace and the houses of your courtiers. Whatever is valuable in your eyes, they shall seize in their hand and take it away.”
7 Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, “Please know and see how this man is bent on evil! For he sent someone to me for my wives, my children, my silver and my gold, and I didn’t refuse him.”
8 All the elders and all the people said to him, “Don’t listen to him or consent.”
9 So he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, “Tell my lord the king: All that you sent to your servant at first, I will do, but this thing I cannot do,” The messengers departed and reported to him.
10 Then Ben-Hadad sent word to him again saying, “May the gods do so to me and even more, if the dust of Samaria will suffice for handfuls for all the people at my feet.”
11 The king of Israel answered and said, “Tell him: ‘Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.”
12 On hearing this reply—while he and the other kings were drinking in the booths—he said to his servants, “Take your positions.” So they stationed themselves against the city.
13 Then behold, a prophet approached King Ahab of Israel and said, “Thus says Adonai: Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this day, and you will know that I am Adonai.”
14 Ahab asked, “By whom?”
He said, “Thus says Adonai: By the young men of the rulers of the provinces.”
Then he asked, “Who should begin the battle?”
“You!” he answered.
15 So he mustered the young men of the rulers of the provinces. There were 232. After them he mustered all the people of all the children of Israel, 7,000. 16 They marched out at noon, while Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the booths—he and the 32 kings allied with him. 17 The young men of the rulers of the provinces marched out first. Ben-Hadad sent out scouts, who reported to him saying, “There are men coming out from Samaria.”
18 He said, “Whether they are coming out for peace, take them alive, or whether they are coming out for battle, take them alive.”
19 Now when the young men of the rulers of the provinces marched out of the city, with the army following them, 20 each man struck down his foe. Then the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them, but King Ben-Hadad of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen. 21 Then the king of Israel went out, struck the horses and chariots, and inflicted on the Arameans a great defeat.
22 The prophet then approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself. Consider carefully what you should do, for at the turn of the year the king of Aram will march up against you.”
23 Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their God is a God of the mountains—that’s why they were stronger than us. But let’s fight against them in the plain. Then surely we’ll be stronger than them. 24 So this is what you should do: remove the kings, each from his post, and appoint governors in their place. 25 Then muster an army like the army that you lost—horse for horse and chariot for chariot—and let’s fight against them in the plain, and surely we’ll be stronger than them!” He listened to their advice and acted accordingly.
26 It came about at the turn of the year that Ben-Hadad mustered the Arameans and marched up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. 27 Now the children of Israel were mustered, given provisions, and marched against them. But when the children of Israel encamped before them, they looked like two little flocks of goats while the Arameans covered the land.
28 Then a man of God approached the king of Israel and spoke to him saying, “Thus says Adonai: Because the Arameans have said, ‘Adonai is a God of the mountains, but He is not a God of the valleys,’ therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Adonai.”
29 So they encamped one over against the other seven days. On the seventh day the battle was joined, and the children of Israel struck down 100,000 of the Aramean foot soldiers in a single day. 30 The rest fled to Aphek into the city and the wall fell upon 27,000 men that were left. But Ben-Hadad fled into the city, into an inner chamber. 31 His officials said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let’s put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and surrender to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”
32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins, put ropes on their heads, came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says: ‘Please let me live.’”
He replied, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
33 The men took it as a good sign and were quick to catch on, so they said, “Yes, Ben-Hadad is your brother.”
“Go, bring him,” he said. So Ben-Hadad came out to him and he took him up into his chariot.
34 Then he said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will give back, and you may set up markets for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.”
“Then I will let you go with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.
35 Now a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by the word of Adonai, “Strike me please!” But the man refused to strike him. 36 Then he said to him, “Because you did not obey the voice of Adonai, behold, as soon as you leave me, a lion shall kill you.” As soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him.
37 Then he found another man, and said, “Strike me please!” So the man struck him and wounded him. 38 Then the prophet left and waited for the king by the road, disguising himself with a headband over his eyes. 39 As the king was passing by, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a man turned aside and brought another man to me and said, ‘Guard this man! If by any means he is missing, then your life will be for his life, or else you will weigh out a talent of silver.’ 40 Then as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.”
The king of Israel said to him, “So will your sentence be—you yourself have decided it.”
41 Then he quickly took the headband away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. 42 Then he said to him, “Thus says Adonai: ‘Because you have released out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life will be in place of his life and your people in place of his people.’”
43 Then the king of Israel went home to Samaria sullen and resentful.
Brought Before Pilate
23 Then the entire assembly got up and brought Yeshua to Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow subverting our nation, forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar and saying that He Himself is Messiah—a king.”
3 So Pilate questioned Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
“As you say,” Yeshua replied.
4 Then Pilate said to the ruling kohanim and the crowds, “I find no case against this Man.”
5 But they kept insisting, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, starting from the Galilee to as far as here.”
6 But when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the Man was a Galilean. 7 And when he learned that Yeshua was from Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
Brought Before Herod
8 Now Herod was overjoyed when he saw Yeshua, for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had heard about Him and was hoping to see some miracle done by Him. 9 He was questioning Yeshua on many issues, but Yeshua did not answer at all. [a] 10 And the ruling kohanim and the Torah scholars stood their ground, strongly accusing Him.
11 Now Herod together with his soldiers were treating Him with contempt and mocking Him.[b] They put splendid clothing on Him and sent Him back to Pilate. 12 And Herod and Pilate became friends with one another from that very day, for previously they had been enemies with one another.
Pilate’s Decree
13 Now Pilate called together the ruling kohanim, the leaders, and the people. 14 And he said to them, “You brought this Man to me as one who incites the people to revolt. But having examined Him in your presence, I have found no case against this Man regarding what you accuse Him of doing. 15 Nor did Herod, for he sent Him back to us. Indeed, He has done nothing that is worthy of death. 16 Therefore I will scourge Him and release Him.” (17 )[c]
18 But they shouted out all together, saying, “Take this fellow away! Release to us Bar-Abba!” [d] 19 (He was someone who had been thrown into prison for a rebellion in the city and murder.)
20 Again Pilate addressed them, wanting to release Yeshua; 21 but they kept shouting out, saying, “Execute, execute Him!”
22 And a third time he spoke to them, “Why? What evil has this One done? I have found in Him no fault deserving of death. Therefore, I will scourge and release Him.”
23 But they were insistent, demanding with loud shouts that He be executed. And their voices prevailed. 24 So Pilate decreed that their demand be put into effect. 25 And He released the one they were asking for, the one thrown in jail for insurrection and murder. But he handed over Yeshua to their will.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.