The Daily Audio Bible

Moab Rebels Against Israel

3 Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria ^(A)in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, though not like his father and his mother; and ^(B)he took away the sacred pillar of Baal ^(C)which his father had made. ³ Nevertheless, ^(D)he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(E)which he made Israel sin; he did not turn away from them.

⁴ Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder and ^(F)used to pay the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. ⁵ But it happened that ^(G)when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶ And King Jehoram went out of Samaria ^[a]at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷ Then he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” And he said, “I will go up; ^(H)I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” ⁸ And he said, “Which way shall we go up?” And he ^[b]answered, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.”

⁹ So ^(I)the king of Israel went with ^(J)the king of Judah and ^(K)the king of Edom; and they went around on a seven days’ journey, and there was no water for the camp or for the cattle that ^[c]followed them. ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! For Yahweh has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹¹ But Jehoshaphat said, “^(L)Is there not a prophet of Yahweh here, that we may inquire of Yahweh by him?” And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, “^(M)Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, ^(N)who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.” ¹² And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of Yahweh is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³ Now Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do I have to do with you? ^(O)Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” And the king of Israel said to him, “No, for Yahweh has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹⁴ And Elisha said, “^(P)As Yahweh of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you. ¹⁵ So now ^(Q)bring me a musician.” And it came about, when the musician played, that ^(R)the hand of Yahweh came upon him. ¹⁶ And he said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’ ¹⁷ For thus says Yahweh, ‘You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley ^(S)shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, both you and your livestock and your cattle. ¹⁸ And this is but a ^(T)light thing in the sight of Yahweh; He will also give the Moabites into your hand. ^19 (U)Then you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’” ²⁰ Then it happened in the morning ^(V)about the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

²¹ Now all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. And they summoned all who were able to ^[d]put on armor and older, and they stood on the border. ²² Then they rose early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³ Then they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together, and they have struck down one another. So now, Moab, to the spoil!” ²⁴ So they came to the camp of Israel. And the Israelites arose and struck the Moabites. So they fled before them; and they went forward ^[e]into the land, striking down the Moabites. ^25 (W)Thus they ^[f]tore down the cities; and each one threw a stone on every piece of good land and filled it. And they stopped all the springs of water and felled all the good trees, until in ^(X)Kir-hareseth they let its stones remain; however, the slingers went about it and struck it. ²⁶ Then the king of Moab saw that the battle was too strong for him, so he took with him 700 men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not. ²⁷ So he took his oldest son, who was to reign in his place, and ^(Y)offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they set out from him and returned to their own land.

The Widow’s Oil

4 Now a certain woman of the wives of ^(Z)the sons of the prophets cried out to ^[g]Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared Yahweh; and ^(AA)the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” ² And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your servant-woman has nothing in the house except ^(AB)a jar of oil.” ³ Then he said, “Go, ask for vessels for yourself, from those outside, from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few. ⁴ And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full.” ⁵ So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured. ⁶ Now it happened that when ^(AC)the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not one vessel more.” And the oil stopped. ⁷ Then she came and told ^(AD)the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

The Shunammite Woman Will Bear a Son

⁸ Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to ^(AE)Shunem, where there was a ^[h]prominent woman, and she prevailed upon him to eat ^[i]food. Now it happened, as often as he passed by, that he turned in there to eat ^[j]food. ⁹ And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy ^(AF)man of God passing by us continually. ¹⁰ Please, let us ^(AG)make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; and it will be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there.”

¹¹ Now it happened that one day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber, and there he ^[k]lay down. ¹² Then he said to ^(AH)Gehazi his young man, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. ¹³ And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have been ^[l]careful for us with all this ^[m]care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the commander of the army?’” And she ^[n]answered, “I live among my own people.” ¹⁴ So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi ^[o]answered, “Truly she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ And he said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Then he said, “^(AI)At this season ^[p]next year you will embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, O man of God, ^(AJ)do not lie to your servant-woman.”

¹⁷ Then the woman conceived and bore a son at that season ^[q]the next year, as Elisha had said to her.

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸ And at ^(A)Lystra ^(B)a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. ⁹ This man listened to Paul as he spoke, who, ^(C)when he fixed his gaze on him and saw that he had ^(D)faith to be ^[a]saved from being lame, ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” ^(E)And he leaped up and began to walk. ¹¹ And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the ^(F)Lycaonian language, “^(G)The gods have become like men and have come down to us.” ¹² And they began calling Barnabas, ^[b]Zeus, and Paul, ^[c]Hermes, because he was ^[d]the chief speaker. ¹³ And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was ^[e]just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and ^(H)was wanting to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when ^(I)the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they ^(J)tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also ^(K)men of the same nature as you, ^(L)proclaiming the gospel to you that you should turn from these ^[f](M)vain things to a ^(N)living God, ^(O)who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ^16 [g]In the generations gone by He ^(P)permitted all the ^[h]nations to ^(Q)go their own ways; ¹⁷ and yet ^(R)He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and ^(S)gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸ And saying these things, with difficulty they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

¹⁹ But ^(T)Jews came from ^(U)Antioch and ^(V)Iconium, and after winning over the crowds and ^(W)stoning Paul, they were dragging him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. ²⁰ But while ^(X)the disciples stood around him, he rose up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to ^(Y)Derbe. ²¹ And after they had ^(Z)proclaimed the gospel to that city and had ^(AA)made many disciples, they returned to ^(AB)Lystra and to ^(AC)Iconium and to ^(AD)Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of ^(AE)the disciples, encouraging them to continue in ^(AF)the faith, and saying, “^(AG)Through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom of God.” ²³ And when ^(AH)they had appointed ^(AI)elders for them in every church, having ^(AJ)prayed with fasting, they ^(AK)commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

The Return to Antioch

²⁴ And when they passed through ^(AL)Pisidia, they came into ^(AM)Pamphylia. ²⁵ And when they had spoken the word in ^(AN)Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ And from there they sailed to ^(AO)Antioch, from ^(AP)where they had been ^(AQ)committed to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. ²⁷ And when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to ^(AR)report all things that God had done with them and ^[i]how He had opened a ^(AS)door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they spent not a little time with ^(AT)the disciples.

Rescue Me, O Yahweh, from Evil Men

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.