Moab Revolts

3 Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years.²He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made.³Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them.

⁴Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.⁵But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.⁶So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel.⁷He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”

“I will go with you,” he replied. “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

⁸“By what route shall we attack?” he asked.

“Through the Desert of Edom,” he answered.

⁹So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them.

¹⁰“What!” exclaimed the king of Israel. “Has the LORD called us three kings together only to deliver us into the hands of Moab?”

¹¹But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?”

An officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”

¹²Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the LORD is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why do you want to involve me? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.”

“No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the LORD who called us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab.”

¹⁴Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you.¹⁵But now bring me a harpist.”

While the harpist was playing, the hand of the LORD came on Elisha¹⁶and he said, “This is what the LORD says: I will fill this valley with pools of water.¹⁷For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink.¹⁸This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD; he will also deliver Moab into your hands.¹⁹You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.”

²⁰The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was—water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.

²¹Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border.²²When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red—like blood.²³“That’s blood!” they said. “Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!”

²⁴But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites.²⁵They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it.

²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed.²⁷Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.

The Widow’s Olive Oil

4 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

²Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

³Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.⁴Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

⁵She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.⁶When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

⁷She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

The Shunammite’s Son Restored to Life

⁸One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat.⁹She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God.¹⁰Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”

¹¹One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there.¹²He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him.¹³Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”

She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”

¹⁴“What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.

Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

¹⁵Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway.¹⁶“About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”

“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”

¹⁷But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked.⁹He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed¹⁰and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

¹¹When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:¹⁵“Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.¹⁶In the past, he let all nations go their own way.¹⁷Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”¹⁸Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.²⁰But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

The Return to Antioch in Syria

²¹They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,²²strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.²³Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.²⁴After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia,²⁵and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

²⁶From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.²⁷On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.²⁸And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

Psalm 140

140 Rescue me, LORD, from evildoers;
    protect me from the violent,
²who devise evil plans in their hearts
    and stir up war every day.
³They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
    the poison of vipers is on their lips.

⁴Keep me safe, LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
    protect me from the violent,
    who devise ways to trip my feet.
⁵The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
    they have spread out the cords of their net
    and have set traps for me along my path.

⁶I say to the LORD, “You are my God.”
    Hear, LORD, my cry for mercy.
⁷Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer,
    you shield my head in the day of battle.
⁸Do not grant the wicked their desires, LORD;
    do not let their plans succeed.

⁹Those who surround me proudly rear their heads;
    may the mischief of their lips engulf them.
¹⁰May burning coals fall on them;
    may they be thrown into the fire,
    into miry pits, never to rise.
¹¹May slanderers not be established in the land;
    may disaster hunt down the violent.

¹²I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor
    and upholds the cause of the needy.
¹³Surely the righteous will praise your name,
    and the upright will live in your presence.

²²A cheerful heart is good medicine,
    but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.