The Daily Audio Bible

Elijah Gets Away from Jezebel

19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. He told her how Elijah had killed with the sword all the men who spoke for Baal. ² Then Jezebel sent news to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ³ Elijah was afraid. He got up and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba of Judah, he left his servant there. ⁴ But he himself traveled for a day into the desert. He came and sat down under a juniper tree. There he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough now, O Lord. Take my life. For I am not better than my fathers.” ⁵ When he lay down and slept under the juniper tree, an angel touched him. The angel said to him, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ Then Elijah looked and saw by his head a loaf of bread made ready on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. ⁷ The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him, and said, “Get up and eat. Because this traveling is too hard for you.” ⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. And he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

⁹ He came to a cave, and stayed there. The word of the Lord came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ Elijah said, “I have been very careful to serve the Lord, the God of All. For the people of Israel have turned away from Your agreement. They have torn down Your altars and have killed with the sword the men who speak for You. Only I am left, and they want to kill me.”

God Speaks to Elijah

¹¹ So the angel said, “Go and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And the Lord passed by. A strong wind tore through the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind the earth shook. But the Lord was not in the shaking of the earth. ¹² After the earth shook, a fire came. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a sound of gentle blowing. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he put his coat over his face, and went out and stood at the opening of the hole. Then a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴ He said, “I have been very careful to serve the Lord, the God of All. For the people of Israel have turned away from Your agreement. They have torn down Your altars. And they have killed with the sword the men who speak for You. Only I am left, and they want to kill me.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, set apart Hazael to be the king of Syria. ¹⁶ Set apart Nimshi’s son Jehu to be the king of Israel. And set apart Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to speak for God in your place. ¹⁷ Jehu will kill the one who gets away from the sword of Hazael. Elisha will kill the one who gets away from the sword of Jehu. ¹⁸ But I will leave 7,000 in Israel whose knees have not bowed down in front of Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

God Calls Elisha

¹⁹ So Elijah left there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat. Elisha was plowing with twenty-four bulls, and was with the last two. Elijah passed by him and threw his coat on him. ²⁰ And he left the bulls and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and mother. Then I will follow you.” And Elijah said to him, “Return. For what have I done to you?” ²¹ So Elisha returned from following him. He took his two bulls and killed them. Then he boiled their flesh over a fire, burning the wood cross-pieces the bulls used to pull the load. And he gave the meat to the people, and they ate. Then Elisha got up and followed Elijah and served him.

The King Makes It Hard for the Church

12 At that time King Herod used his power to make it hard for the Christians in the church. ² He killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. ³ When he saw that it made the Jews happy, he took hold of Peter also. This was during the special religious gathering to remember how the Jews left Egypt. ⁴ Herod took Peter and put him in prison and had sixteen soldiers watch him. After the special religious gathering was over, he planned to bring Peter out to the people.

Peter Goes Free

⁵ So Peter was held in prison. But the church kept praying to God for him. ⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him out for his trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. He was tied with two chains. Soldiers stood by the door and watched the prison.

⁷ All at once an angel of the Lord was seen standing beside him. A light shone in the building. The angel hit Peter on the side and said, “Get up!” Then the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ The angel said, “Put on your belt and shoes!” He did. The angel said to Peter, “Put on your coat and follow me.” ⁹ Peter followed him out. He was not sure what was happening as the angel helped him. He thought it was a dream.

¹⁰ They passed one soldier, then another one. They came to the big iron door that leads to the city and it opened by itself and they went through. As soon as they had gone up one street, the angel left him.

The Christians Find It Hard to Believe Peter Is Free

¹¹ As Peter began to see what was happening, he said to himself, “Now I am sure the Lord has sent His angel and has taken me out of the hands of Herod. He has taken me also from all the things the Jews wanted to do to me.” ¹² After thinking about all this, he went to Mary’s house. She was the mother of John Mark. Many Christians were gathered there praying.

¹³ When Peter knocked at the gate, a girl named Rhoda went to see who it was. ¹⁴ She knew Peter’s voice, but in her joy she forgot to open the gate. She ran in and told them that Peter was standing outside the gate.

¹⁵ They said to her, “You are crazy.” But she said again that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶ Peter kept knocking. When they opened the gate and saw him, they were surprised and wondered about it. ¹⁷ He raised his hand and told them not to talk but to listen to him. He told them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. He said, “Tell all these things to James and to the other Christian brothers.” Then he went to another place.

The Death of Herod

¹⁸ In the morning the soldiers were very troubled about what had happened to Peter. ¹⁹ Herod looked for him but could not find him. He asked the soldiers who watched the prison about Peter. Herod said that the soldiers must be killed because Peter got away. Then Herod went down from the country of Judea to the city of Caesarea to stay for awhile.

²⁰ Herod was very angry with the people of the cities of Tyre and Sidon. They went to him and asked for peace to be made between them and the king. They asked this because their country got food from the king’s country. The people made friends with Blastus, the king’s helper. ²¹ A day was set aside. On that day Herod put on purple clothes a king wears. He sat on his throne and spoke to the people. ²² They all started to speak with a loud voice, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” ²³ The angel of the Lord knocked him down because he did not give honor to God. He was eaten by worms and died.

A Song of Thanks

136 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ² Give thanks to the God of gods, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁴ Give thanks to Him Who alone does great works, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁵ Give thanks to Him Who by wisdom made the heavens, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁶ Give thanks to Him Who spread out the earth upon the waters, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁷ Give thanks to Him Who made the great lights, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁸ He made the sun to rule during the day, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁹ He made the moon and stars to rule during the night, for His loving-kindness lasts forever.

¹⁰ Give thanks to Him Who killed the first-born of Egypt, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹¹ He brought Israel out from among them, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹² He put out His arm and brought them out with a strong hand, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹³ Give thanks to Him Who divided the Red Sea in two, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁴ He led Israel through, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁵ But He caused the death of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁶ Give thanks to Him Who led His people through the desert, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁷ Give thanks to Him Who destroyed great kings, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁸ He killed powerful kings, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁹ He put to death Sihon, king of the Amorites, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²⁰ He put to death Og, king of Bashan, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²¹ He gave their land as a gift, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²² He gave it as a gift to Israel His servant, for His loving-kindness lasts forever.

²³ Give thanks to Him Who remembered us when we had nothing, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²⁴ He took us away from those who hated us, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²⁵ He gives food to all men, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His loving-kindness lasts forever.

¹⁴ The beginning of trouble is like letting out water. So stop arguing before fighting breaks out.

¹⁵ He who says that the sinful are right, and he who says those who do right are wrong, both are hated by the Lord.