The Daily Audio Bible
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Floating Ax Head
6 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place where we are living in your presence is too cramped for us. 2 So please, let’s go to the Jordan and pick from there each one a beam, and make ourselves a place there to live.”
“Go,” he answered.
3 Then one of them said, “Will you please come with your servants?”
“I will go,” he answered. 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down trees. 5 But as one of them was cutting down a beam, the axe-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, “Ah, my master! It was borrowed.”
6 Then the man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it there, and made the ax head float. 7 Then he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
Fiery Armies of Heaven
8 Now the king of Aram was warring against Israel. He consulted with his officers, saying, “In such and such a place will be my camp.”
9 But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful not to pass this place, for the Arameans are coming down there.” 10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God told him and warned him about, and so he was on his guard there—more than once or twice.
11 His heart upset over this matter, the king of Aram summoned his officers and said to them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the king of Israel’s side?”
12 But one of his officers said, “No, my lord the king. Rather, Elisha the prophet who is in Israel keeps telling the king of Israel the very words that you speak in your bedroom!”
13 So he said, “Go, see where he is, so I may send and seize him.”
Then it was reported to him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” 14 So he sent horses, chariots and a great army there. They arrived at night and surrounded the city.
15 Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was surrounding the city. So his attendant said to him, “Alas, my master! What are we going to do?”
16 “Fear not,” he replied, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “Adonai, please open his eyes that he may see.” Then Adonai opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Adonai and said, “Please strike this people with blinding light.” So He struck them with blinding light according to the word of Elisha. 19 Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the road, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man whom you seek.” So he led them to Samaria. 20 Upon their arrival in Samaria, Elisha said, “Adonai, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So Adonai opened their eyes, and they could see—behold, they were in the middle of Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Shall I surely strike them down, Avi?”
22 “Don’t strike them down,” he replied. “Would you strike down those whom you have captured with your own sword and bow? Set before them bread and water that they may eat and drink and go back to their master.” 23 So he prepared a great feast for them. After they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went back to their master. Ever since, the marauding bands of Aram stopped invading the land of Israel.
24 Now it came to pass after this, that King Ben-hadad of Aram gathered all his army and marched against Samaria and besieged it. 25 Now there was a great famine in Samaria, since they were besieging it, until a donkey’s head was sold for 80 pieces of silver, and the quarter of a kav[a] of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying, “My lord the king, help!”
27 But he said, “If Adonai doesn’t help you, how would I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” 28 Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter with you?”
She answered, “This woman said to me: ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her: ‘Give your son that we may eat him’—but she hid her son.”
30 Now it came to pass when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes—as he was passing by on the wall, the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath upon his flesh. 31 Then he said, “May God do so to me and even more, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.”
32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king had sent a messenger ahead, yet even before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see, this son of a murderer was sent to take away my head! Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” 33 While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. So the king said, “Look! This evil is from Adonai—why should I wait for Adonai any longer?”
Scattering an Aramean Army
7 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of Adonai. Thus says Adonai: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”
2 Then the officer on whose hand the king was leaning responded to the man of God and said, “Look, even if Adonai should make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?”
He announced, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but will not eat any of it!”
3 Now there were four men with tza’arat at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why should we sit here till we die? 4 If we say: ‘Let’s go into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, so we will die there; but if we sit still here, we’ll die also. So come, let’s go into the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we’ll live; and if they kill us, we’ll just die.”
5 So they got up at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans. But when they arrived at the edge of the Aramean camp, behold, no one was there! 6 For Adonai had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses—indeed a noise of a huge army. So they said one to another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians to assault us.” 7 So they got up and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents, their horses and their donkeys—the entire camp just as it was—and fled for their lives.
8 When these men with tza’arat came to the edge of the camp, they entered into one tent, ate and drank, and took from there silver, gold, and clothes, then went and hid them. Then they returned and went into another tent, and took from there too, and went and hid them. 9 Then they said to each other, “It’s not right, what we’re doing. This day is a day of good news, and we’re keeping silent! If we wait till the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go now and report to the king’s household.”
10 So they came and called out to the city gatekeepers, and told them, “We went to the camp of the Arameans, and look, there was not a single soul there, no human voice—just the horses and the donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were.” 11 Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was reported to the royal palace inside.
12 When the king got up in the night, he said to his courtiers, “Let me tell you now what the Arameans have contrived against us. They know that we are hungry, so they went out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we’ll capture them alive and get into the city.’”
13 But one of his courtiers answered and said, “Please let some men take five of the remaining horses left in the city—look, they are just like the whole multitude left in it, and look, they will be just like the whole multitude of Israel that has already perished—so let’s send and see.”
14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.” 15 They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was strewn with clothes and equipment, which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 So the people went out and ransacked the camp of the Arameans. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel—just as was the word of Adonai.
17 Now the king appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned, to have charge of the gate—but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died—just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 For when the man of God had spoken to the king, “Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria,” 19 that officer had answered the man of God and said, “Look, even if Adonai should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” and he replied, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but will not eat any of it!” 20 That’s what happened to him—for the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died.
New Teams Strengthen Communities
36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return and visit the brothers and sisters in every city where we have proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are.” 37 Barnabas was planning to take along John, called Mark. 38 But Paul was insisting that they shouldn’t take him along—the one who had deserted them in Pamphylia, not accompanying them in the work. 39 A sharp disagreement took place, so that they split off from one another. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40 But Paul selected Silas and went out, being entrusted by the brothers and sisters to the gracious care of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the communities.
16 Now Paul came to Derbe and Lystra. There was a disciple there named Timothy, son of a woman who was a Jewish believer and a Greek father, 2 who was well-spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted this man to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him for the sake of the Jewish people in those places—for they all knew that his father was Greek.
4 As they were traveling through the cities, they were handing down the rulings that had been decided upon by the emissaries and elders in Jerusalem, for them to keep. 5 So Messiah’s communities were strengthened in the faith and kept increasing daily in number.
Going West to Macedonia
6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Ruach ha-Kodesh to speak the word in Asia. [a] 7 When they came to Mysia, they were trying to proceed into Bithynia, but the Ruach of Yeshua would not allow them. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
9 Now a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man from Macedonia was standing and pleading with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 As soon as he had seen the vision, immediately we tried to go to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.
11 So we put out to sea from Troas and made a straight course for Samothrace, the next day on to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi—which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia as well as a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for several days.
13 On Yom Shabbat, we went outside the gate to the river, where we expected a place of prayer to be. We sat down and began speaking with the women who had gathered. 14 A woman named Lydia—a seller of purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a God-fearer—was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.
15 When she was immersed, along with her household, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she insisted.[b]
A Refuge from Trouble
Psalm 142
1 A contemplative poem of David, when he was in the cave, a prayer.
2 I cry aloud with my voice to Adonai.
With my voice I seek favor from Adonai.
3 I pour out my complaint before Him,
before Him I tell my trouble.
4 When my spirit grows faint within me,
You know my path.
In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.
5 Look at my right hand and see,
for no one cares about me.
I have no refuge—
no one cares for my soul.
6 I have cried out to You, Adonai.
I said: “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
7 Listen to my cry,
for I am brought very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
8 Bring my soul out of prison,
so I may praise Your Name.
The righteous will triumph through me,
for You will reward me.
24 Wisdom is before the person of understanding,
but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
25 A foolish son is grief to his father
and bitterness to her that bore him.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.