The Daily Audio Bible

Jehoram Restores the Shunammite’s Land

8 Now ^(A)Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go ^[a]with your household, and sojourn wherever you can sojourn; for ^(B)Yahweh has called for a famine, and ^(C)it will even come on the land for seven years.” ² So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God, and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³ Now it happened at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went out to cry out to the king for her house and for her field. ⁴ Now the king was speaking with ^(D)Gehazi, the young man of the man of God, saying, “Please recount to me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵ Now it happened as he was recounting to the king ^(E)how he had restored to life the one who was dead, that behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life was crying out to the king for her house and for her field. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ Then the king asked the woman, and she recounted it to him. So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now.”

Elisha Weeps over Hazael’s Evil

⁷ Then Elisha came to ^(F)Damascus. Now ^(G)Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and it was told to him, saying, “^(H)The man of God has come here.” ⁸ And the king said to ^(I)Hazael, “^(J)Take a present in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and ^(K)inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, ‘Will I be restored to life from this sickness?’” ⁹ So Hazael went to meet him and took a present in his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “^(L)Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I be restored to life from this sickness?’” ¹⁰ Then Elisha said to him, “^(M)Go, say to him, ‘You will surely be restored to life,’ but ^(N)Yahweh has shown me that he will certainly die.” ¹¹ And he ^[b]fixed his gaze steadily on him ^(O)until he was ashamed, and ^(P)the man of God wept. ¹² Then Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” Then he said, “Because ^(Q)I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their fortifications you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their infants you ^(R)will dash in pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip up.” ¹³ Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, ^(S)who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” And Elisha ^[c]answered, “^(T)Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Aram.” ¹⁴ So he went from Elisha and came to his master. And he said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he said, “He said to me that ^(U)you would surely be restored to life.” ¹⁵ Now it happened that on the following day, he took the cover and dipped it in water and spread it on his face; ^(V)so he died. And Hazael became king in his place.

Jehoram Reigns over Judah

¹⁶ Now in the fifth year of ^(W)Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king. ¹⁷ He was ^(X)thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for ^(Y)the daughter of Ahab became his wife; and he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh. ¹⁹ However, Yahweh was not willing to make Judah a ruin, for the sake of David His servant, ^(Z)since He had ^[d]promised him to give a ^[e]lamp to him through his sons always.

²⁰ In his days ^(AA)Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah and made a king over themselves. ²¹ Then Joram crossed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him. And he arose by night and struck the Edomites who were surrounding him and the commanders of the chariots; ^(AB)but ^[f]his army fled to their tents. ^22 (AC)So Edom revolted ^[g]against Judah to this day. Then ^(AD)Libnah revolted at the same time. ²³ Now the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

Ahaziah Reigns over Judah

²⁴ So Joram slept with his fathers and ^(AE)was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and ^(AF)Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

^25 (AG)In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah became king. ^26 (AH)Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. ^27 (AI)He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, like the house of Ahab had done, because he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

²⁸ Then he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war with ^(AJ)Hazael king of Aram at ^(AK)Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans struck Joram. ²⁹ So ^(AL)King Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Arameans had caused by striking him at ^(AM)Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then ^(AN)Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was sick.

Jehu Anointed King over Israel

9 Now Elisha the prophet called one of ^(AO)the sons of the prophets and said to him, “^(AP)Gird up your loins, and ^(AQ)take this flask of oil in your hand and go to ^(AR)Ramoth-gilead. ² And you will come there and look there for ^(AS)Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi. And you will come in and ^[h](AT)bid him arise from among his brothers. And you will cause him to come in to an inner room. ³ Then you will take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “^(AU)I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door and flee and do not wait.”

⁴ So ^(AV)the young man—the young man of the prophet—went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵ Then he came, and behold, the commanders of the military were sitting, and he said, “I have a word for you, O commander.” And Jehu said, “^[i]For which one of us?” And he said, “For you, O commander.” ⁶ And he arose and came into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘^(AW)I have anointed you king over the people of Yahweh, even over Israel. ⁷ And you shall strike the house of Ahab your master, ^(AX)that I may avenge ^(AY)the blood of My slaves the prophets, and the blood of all the slaves of Yahweh, ^(AZ)at the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and ^(BA)I will cut off from Ahab ^(BB)every ^[j]male person ^(BC)both bond and free in Israel. ^9 (BD)And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and ^(BE)like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ^10 (BF)And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the ^[k]property of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.’” Then he opened the door and fled.

¹¹ Now Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, “^(BG)Is all well? Why did this ^(BH)mad fellow come to you?” And he said to them, “You know the man and his talk.” ¹² And they said, “It is a lie, declare it to us now.” And he said, “Thus and thus he said to me, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’” ¹³ Then ^(BI)they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and ^(BJ)blew the trumpet, saying, “Jehu is king!”

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶ Now it happened that as we were going to ^(A)the place of prayer, a servant-girl having ^(B)a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are slaves of ^(C)the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you ^[a]the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And she continued doing this for many days. But being greatly annoyed, Paul turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^(D)in the name of Jesus Christ to leave her!” And it left at that very ^[b]moment.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of ^(E)profit had left, they seized ^(F)Paul and Silas and ^(G)dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, ²¹ and ^(H)are proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being ^(I)Romans.” ²² And the crowd joined together to attack them, and the chief magistrates, tearing their garments off of them, proceeded to order them to be ^(J)beaten with rods. ²³ And when they had inflicted them with many wounds, they threw them into prison, commanding ^(K)the jailer to guard them securely, ²⁴ who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^(L)the ^[c]stocks.

The Philippian Jailer Converted

²⁵ But about midnight ^(M)Paul and Silas were praying and ^(N)singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ And suddenly ^(O)there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the jailhouse were shaken; and immediately ^(P)all the doors were opened and everyone’s ^(Q)chains were unfastened. ²⁷ And when ^(R)the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about ^(S)to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before ^(T)Paul and Silas, ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, ^(U)what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ And they said, “^(V)Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^(W)your house.” ³² And they spoke the word of ^[d]the Lord to him together with all who were in his household. ³³ And he took them ^(X)that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set ^[e]food before them, and rejoiced ^[f]greatly with ^(Y)his whole household, because he had believed in God.

³⁵ Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶ And ^(Z)the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go ^(AA)in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “Having beaten us in public without trial, ^(AB)men who are Romans, they have thrown us into prison. And now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” ³⁸ And the policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. ^(AC)They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, ³⁹ and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept requesting them ^(AD)to leave the city. ⁴⁰ And they went out of the prison and entered the house of ^(AE)Lydia, and when they saw ^(AF)the brothers, they ^[g]encouraged them and left.

My Soul Reaches for You

A Psalm of David.