The Daily Audio Bible

Elijah’s Word to Ahab

18 After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go show yourself to Ahab. And I will send rain upon the earth.” ² So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the time without food was very hard in Samaria. ³ And Ahab called Obadiah who was the boss over his house. (Now Obadiah had much fear of the Lord. ⁴ For when Jezebel destroyed the men who spoke for the Lord, Obadiah took 100 of these men and hid them by fifties in a cave. And he fed them with bread and water.) ⁵ Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the wells of water and to all the valleys. It may be that we will find grass and keep the horses and donkeys alive, and not lose some of the animals. ⁶ So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went one way by himself. And Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷ As Obadiah was on the way, Elijah met him. Obadiah knew who he was, and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” ⁸ He answered, “It is I. Go and tell your owner, ‘See, Elijah is here.’” ⁹ Obadiah said, “What sin have I done? Why are you giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to be killed? ¹⁰ As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation where the king has not sent men to look for you. And when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the nation prove that they could not find you. ¹¹ Now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your owner, “See, Elijah is here.” ‘ ¹² And after I have left you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you where I do not know. So I will go and tell Ahab, and he will not be able to find you. Then he will kill me. But I your servant have honored the Lord since I was young. ¹³ Have you not been told what I did when Jezebel killed the men who spoke for the Lord? I hid 100 men of the Lord by fifties in a cave. And I gave them bread and water. ¹⁴ Now you are saying, ‘Go and tell your owner, “See, Elijah is here.”’ He will kill me.” ¹⁵ Elijah said, “As the Lord of All lives, before Whom I stand, I will show myself to Ahab today.”

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When he saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, the one who brings trouble to Israel?” ¹⁸ Elijah said, “I have not brought trouble to Israel. But you and your father’s house have. Because you have turned away from the laws of the Lord, and have followed the false gods of Baal. ¹⁹ So now call together all Israel to me at Mount Carmel. And gather together 450 men who speak for Baal and 400 men who speak for the false goddess Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

Elijah on Mount Carmel

²⁰ So Ahab sent news among all the people of Israel. And he brought the men who speak for the false gods together at Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah came near all the people and said, “How long will you be divided between two ways of thinking? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, then follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word. ²² Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only man left who speaks for God. But here are 450 men who speak for Baal. ²³ Bring two bulls to us. Let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it up and put it on the wood. But put no fire under it. I will make the other bull ready and lay it on the wood. And I will put no fire under it. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God Who answers by fire, He is God.” All the people answered and said, “That is a good idea.”

²⁵ So Elijah said to the men who spoke for Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and make it ready first. For there are many of you. Then call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.” ²⁶ So they took the bull which was given to them and made it ready. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us.” But there was no voice. No one answered. They jumped and danced around the altar they had made. ²⁷ At noon Elijah made fun of them. He said, “Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god. It might be that he is in deep thought or has turned away. He could be away traveling. Or it may be that he is asleep and needs to have someone wake him.” ²⁸ So they cried with a loud voice. They cut themselves as they had done in the past, with swords and spears until blood poured out on them. ²⁹ When noon passed, they cried out until the time for giving the evening gift. But there was no voice. No one answered. No one listened.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he built again the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. ³¹ Then Elijah took twelve stones, by the number of the families of Jacob’s sons. The word of the Lord had come to Jacob’s sons, saying, “Israel will be your name.” ³² With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a ditch around the altar, big enough to hold twenty-two jars of seed. ³³ Then he set the wood in place. He cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt gift and on the wood.” ³⁴ Then he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. He said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water flowed around the altar, and filled the ditch also. ³⁶ Then the time came for giving the evening gift. Elijah the man who spoke for God came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that You are God in Israel. Let it be known that I am Your servant, and have done all these things at Your word. ³⁷ Answer me, O Lord. Answer me so these people may know that You, O Lord, are God. Turn their hearts to You again.” ³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell. It burned up the burnt gift, the wood, the stones and the dust. And it picked up the water that was in the ditch. ³⁹ All the people fell on their faces when they saw it. They said, “The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.” ⁴⁰ Then Elijah said to them, “Take hold of the men who speak for Baal. Do not let one of them get away.” So they took hold of them. And Elijah brought them down to the river Kishon, and killed them there.

The Rains Come

⁴¹ Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink. For there is the sound of much rain.” ⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. He got down on the ground and put his face between his knees. ⁴³ And he said to his servant, “Go up now and look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” Seven times Elijah said, “Go again.” ⁴⁴ The seventh time, he said, “I see a cloud as small as a man’s hand coming up from the sea.” Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Make your war-wagon ready and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.’” ⁴⁵ Soon the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was much rain. And Ahab went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ Then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. He pulled his clothing up under his belt and ran before Ahab to Jezreel.

Peter Tells Why He Preached to the People Who Are Not Jews

11 The missionaries and followers who were in the country of Judea heard that the people who were not Jews also had received the Word of God. ² When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the Jewish followers argued with him. ³ They said, “Why did you visit those people who are not Jews and eat with them?”

⁴ Then Peter began to tell all that had happened from the beginning to the end. He said, ⁵ “While I was praying in the city of Joppa, I saw in a dream something coming down from heaven. It was like a large linen cloth let down by the four corners until it came to me. ⁶ As I looked at it, I saw four-footed animals and snakes of the earth and birds of the sky. ⁷ I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill something and eat it.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘No, Lord! Nothing that is unclean has ever gone into my mouth.’ ⁹ The voice from heaven said the second time, ‘What God has made clean you must not say is unclean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times and then it was taken up again to heaven.

¹¹ “Three men had already come to the house where I was staying. They had been sent to me from the city of Caesarea. ¹² The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not doubt about going. These six men also went with me to this man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel in his own home. The angel had stood in front of him and said, ‘Send men to Joppa to ask for Simon Peter. ¹⁴ He will tell you and all your family how you can be saved from the punishment of sin.’

¹⁵ “As I began to talk to them, the Holy Spirit came down on them just as He did on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the Lord had said, ‘John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If God gave to them the same gift He gave to us after we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I stand against God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these words, they said nothing more. They thanked God, saying, “Then God has given life also to the people who are not Jews. They have this new life by being sorry for their sins and turning from them.”

The Followers Are Called Christians First In Antioch

¹⁹ Those who went different places because of the trouble that started over Stephen had gone as far as the cities of Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch. They had preached the Word, but only to the Jews. ²⁰ Some of the men from Cyprus and Cyrene returned to Antioch. They preached the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Greek people there. ²¹ The Lord gave them power. Many people put their trust in the Lord and turned to Him.

²² The news of this came to the church in Jerusalem. They sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he got there and saw how good God had been to them, he was full of joy. He told them to be true and faithful to the Lord. ²⁴ Barnabas was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And many people became followers of the Lord.

²⁵ From there Barnabas went on to the city of Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When he found Saul, he brought him back with him to Antioch. For a year they taught many people in the church. The followers were first called Christians in Antioch.

The Antioch Church Helps the Jerusalem Church

²⁷ At that time some men who preached God’s Word came to Antioch and told what was going to happen. They were from Jerusalem. ²⁸ One of them was Agabus. The Holy Spirit told him to stand up and speak. He told them there would be very little food to eat over all the world. This happened when Claudius was leader of the country. ²⁹ The Christians agreed that each one should give what money he could to help the Christians living in Judea. ³⁰ They did this and sent it to the church leaders with Barnabas and Saul.

A Song of Praise

135 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! Praise Him, O servants of the Lord, ² you who stand in the house of the Lord, within the walls of the house of our God. ³ Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises to His name, for it is sweet. ⁴ For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself. Israel belongs to Him.

⁵ I know that the Lord is great. He is greater than all gods. ⁶ The Lord does whatever is pleasing to Him, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all waters. ⁷ He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning come with the rain. He brings the wind out from where He stores His riches.

⁸ He killed the first-born of Egypt, both man and animal. ⁹ He sent special things to see and did great works among you, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. ¹⁰ He crushed many nations and killed powerful kings, ¹¹ King Sihon of the Amorites, King Og of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan. ¹² And He gave their land as a gift, a gift to Israel His people. ¹³ O Lord, Your name lasts forever. O Lord, You will be remembered for all time. ¹⁴ For the Lord will decide in favor of His people. He will have loving-pity on His servants. ¹⁵ The gods of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. ¹⁶ They have mouths but they do not speak. They have eyes but they do not see. ¹⁷ They have ears but they do not hear. And there is no breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them and those who trust in them will be like them.

¹⁹ O house of Israel, give honor and thanks to the Lord. O house of Aaron, give honor and thanks to the Lord. ²⁰ O house of Levi, give honor and thanks to the Lord. You who fear the Lord, give honor and thanks to the Lord. ²¹ Honor and thanks be to the Lord from Zion, Who lives in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

¹² A man meeting a bear robbed of her little ones is better than meeting a fool in his foolish way.

¹³ If a man returns bad for good, trouble will not leave his house.