The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the NIV. Switch to the NIV to read along with the audio.
18 One day when her child was older, he went out to visit his father, who was working with the reapers. 19 He complained about a headache and soon was moaning in pain. His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”
20 So he took him home, and his mother held him on her lap; but around noontime he died. 21 She carried him up to the bed of the prophet and shut the door; 22 then she sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the prophet and come right back.”
23 “Why today?” he asked. “This isn’t a religious holiday.”
But she said, “It’s important. I must go.”
24 So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry! Don’t slow down for my comfort unless I tell you to.”
25 As she approached Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance and said to Gehazi, “Look, that woman from Shunem is coming. 26 Run and meet her and ask her what the trouble is. See if her husband is all right and if the child is well.”
“Yes,” she told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”
27 But when she came to Elisha at the mountain she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the prophet said, “Leave her alone; something is deeply troubling her and the Lord hasn’t told me what it is.”
28 Then she said, “It was you who said I’d have a son. And I begged you not to lie to me!”
29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Quick, take my staff! Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Hurry! Lay the staff upon the child’s face.”
30 But the boy’s mother said, “I swear to God that I won’t go home without you.” So Elisha returned with her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff upon the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”
32 When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there upon the prophet’s bed. 33 He went in and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he lay upon the child’s body, placing his mouth upon the child’s mouth, and his eyes upon the child’s eyes, and his hands upon the child’s hands. And the child’s body began to grow warm again! 35 Then the prophet went down and walked back and forth in the house a few times; returning upstairs, he stretched himself again upon the child. This time the little boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!
36 Then the prophet summoned Gehazi. “Call her!” he said. And when she came in, he said, “Here’s your son!”
37 She fell to the floor at his feet and then picked up her son and went out.
38 Elisha now returned to Gilgal, but there was a famine in the land. One day as he was teaching the young prophets, he said to Gehazi, “Make some stew for supper for these men.”
39 One of the young men went out into the field to gather vegetables and came back with some wild gourds. He shredded them and put them into a kettle without realizing that they were poisonous. 40 But after the men had eaten a bite or two they cried out, “Oh, sir, there’s poison in this stew!”
41 “Bring me some meal,” Elisha said. He threw it into the kettle and said, “Now it’s all right! Go ahead and eat!” And then it didn’t harm them.
42 One day a man from Baal-shalishah brought Elisha a sack of fresh corn[a] and twenty individual loaves of barley bread made from the first grain of his harvest. Elisha told Gehazi to use it to feed the young prophets.
43 “What?” Gehazi exclaimed. “Feed one hundred men with only this?”
But Elisha said, “Go ahead, for the Lord says there will be plenty for all, and some will even be left over!”
44 And sure enough, there was, just as the Lord had said!
5 The king of Syria had high admiration for Naaman, the commander-in-chief of his army, for he had led his troops to many glorious victories. So he was a great hero, but he was a leper. 2 Bands of Syrians had invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a little girl who had been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid.
3 One day the little girl said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria. He would heal him of his leprosy!”
4 Naaman told the king what the little girl had said.
5 “Go and visit the prophet,” the king told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for you to carry to the king of Israel.”
So Naaman started out, taking gifts of $20,000 in silver, $60,000 in gold, and ten suits of clothing. 6 The letter to the king of Israel said: “The man bringing this letter is my servant Naaman; I want you to heal him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read it, he tore his clothes and said, “This man sends me a leper to heal! Am I God, that I can kill and give life? He is only trying to get an excuse to invade us again.”
8 But when Elisha the prophet heard about the king of Israel’s plight, he sent this message to him: “Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there is a true prophet of God here in Israel.”
9 So Naaman arrived with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s home. 10 Elisha sent a messenger out to tell him to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed of every trace of his leprosy! 11 But Naaman was angry and stalked away.
“Look,” he said, “I thought at least he would come out and talk to me! I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call upon the name of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren’t the Abana River and Pharpar River of Damascus better than all the rivers of Israel put together? If it’s rivers I need, I’ll wash at home and get rid of my leprosy.” So he went away in a rage.
13 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply to go and wash and be cured!”
14 So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the prophet had told him to. And his flesh became as healthy as a little child’s, and he was healed! 15 Then he and his entire party went back to find the prophet; they stood humbly before him and Naaman said, “I know at last that there is no God in all the world except in Israel; now please accept my gifts.”
16 But Elisha replied, “I swear by Jehovah my God that I will not accept them.”
Naaman urged him to take them, but he absolutely refused. 17 “Well,” Naaman said, “all right. But please give me two muleloads of earth to take back with me, for from now on I will never again offer any burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord.[b] 18 However, may the Lord pardon me this one thing—when my master the king goes into the temple of the god Rimmon to worship there and leans on my arm, may the Lord pardon me when I bow too.”
19 “All right,” Elisha said. So Naaman started home again.
20 But Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, said to himself, “My master shouldn’t have let this fellow get away without taking his gifts. I will chase after him and get something from him.”
21 So Gehazi caught up with him. When Naaman saw him coming, he jumped down from his chariot and ran to meet him.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
22 “Yes,” he said, “but my master has sent me to tell you that two young prophets from the hills of Ephraim have just arrived, and he would like $2,000 in silver and two suits to give to them.”
23 “Take $4,000,” Naaman insisted. He gave him two expensive robes, tied up the money in two bags, and gave them to two of his servants to carry back with Gehazi. 24 But when they arrived at the hill where Elisha lived,[c] Gehazi took the bags from the servants and sent the men back. Then he hid the money in his house.
25 When he went in to his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”
“I haven’t been anywhere,” he replied.
26 But Elisha asked him, “Don’t you realize that I was there in thought when Naaman stepped down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to receive money and clothing and olive farms and vineyards and sheep and oxen and servants? 27 Because you have done this, Naaman’s leprosy shall be upon you and upon your children and your children’s children forever.”
And Gehazi walked from the room a leper, his skin as white as snow.
15 While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers that unless they adhered to the ancient Jewish custom of circumcision, they could not be saved. 2 Paul and Barnabas argued and discussed this with them at length, and finally the believers sent them to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local men, to talk to the apostles and elders there about this question. 3 After the entire congregation had escorted them out of the city, the delegates went on to Jerusalem, stopping along the way in the cities of Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers, telling them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.
4 Arriving in Jerusalem, they met with the church leaders—all the apostles and elders were present—and Paul and Barnabas reported on what God had been doing through their ministry. 5 But then some of the men who had been Pharisees before their conversion stood to their feet and declared that all Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow all the Jewish customs and ceremonies.
6 So the apostles and church elders set a further meeting to decide this question.
7 At the meeting, after long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you long ago to preach the Good News to the Gentiles so that they also could believe. 8 God, who knows men’s hearts, confirmed the fact that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he gave him to us. 9 He made no distinction between them and us, for he cleansed their lives through faith, just as he did ours. 10 And now are you going to correct God by burdening the Gentiles with a yoke that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? 11 Don’t you believe that all are saved the same way, by the free gift of the Lord Jesus?”
12 There was no further discussion, and everyone now listened as Barnabas and Paul told about the miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles.
13 When they had finished, James took the floor. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to bring honor to his name. 15 And this fact of Gentile conversion agrees with what the prophets predicted. For instance, listen to this passage from the prophet Amos:[a]
16 ‘Afterwards’ (says the Lord),[b] ‘I will return and renew the broken contract with David, 17 so that Gentiles, too, will find the Lord—all those marked with my name.’
18 That is what the Lord says, who reveals his plans made from the beginning.
19 “And so my judgment is that we should not insist that the Gentiles who turn to God must obey our Jewish laws, 20 except that we should write to them to refrain from eating meat sacrificed to idols, from all fornication, and also from eating unbled meat of strangled animals. 21 For these things have been preached against in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”
22 Then the apostles and elders and the whole congregation voted to send delegates to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders—Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas.
23 This is the letter they took along with them:
“From: The apostles, elders and brothers at Jerusalem.
“To: The Gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. Greetings!
24 “We understand that some believers from here have upset you and questioned your salvation,[c] but they had no such instructions from us. 25 So it seemed wise to us, having unanimously agreed on our decision, to send to you these two official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul. 26 These men—Judas and Silas, who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ—will confirm orally what we have decided concerning your question.
27-29 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden of Jewish laws on you than to abstain from eating food offered to idols and from unbled meat of strangled animals,[d] and, of course, from fornication. If you do this, it is enough. Farewell.”
30 The four messengers went at once to Antioch, where they called a general meeting of the Christians and gave them the letter. 31 And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read it.
32 Then Judas and Silas, both being gifted speakers,[e] preached long sermons to the believers, strengthening their faith. 33 They stayed several days,[f] and then Judas and Silas returned to Jerusalem taking greetings and appreciation to those who had sent them. 34-35 Paul and Barnabas stayed on at Antioch to assist several others who were preaching and teaching there.
141 Quick, Lord, answer me—for I have prayed. Listen when I cry to you for help! 2 Regard my prayer as my evening sacrifice and as incense wafting up to you.
3 Help me, Lord, to keep my mouth shut and my lips sealed. 4 Take away my lust for evil things; don’t let me want to be with sinners, doing what they do, sharing their delicacies. 5 Let the godly smite me! It will be a kindness! If they reprove me, it is medicine! Don’t let me refuse it. But I am in constant prayer against the wicked and their deeds. 6-7 When their leaders are condemned, and their bones are strewn across the ground,[a] then these men will finally listen to me and know that I am trying to help them.
8 I look to you for help, O Lord God. You are my refuge. Don’t let them slay me. 9 Keep me out of their traps. 10 Let them fall into their own snares, while I escape.
23 It is wrong to accept a bribe to twist justice.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.