The Daily Audio Bible

King Ahaziah dies

1 After King Ahab's death, the country of Moab turned against Israel. ² At this time, Ahaziah was king of Israel. He lived in the city of Samaria. One day he fell from the window of an upstairs room in his palace. He became very ill. So he sent men to the temple of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. He told them, ‘Ask their god if I will become well again after my disease.’

³ Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah.^[a] He was a prophet who came from Tishbe. The angel said, ‘Go and meet the men that the king of Samaria has sent. Say to them, “Do you think that there is no God in Israel? Is that why you are going to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub, to ask if the king will be well again?” ⁴ Because you are doing this, the Lord says to you, Ahaziah, “You will never leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.” ’

⁵ Elijah went to tell the men the Lord's message. So the men returned to the king. He asked them, ‘Why have you returned already?’ ⁶ They replied, ‘A man came to meet us. He told us to go back to the king who had sent us. He says to you, “This is what the Lord says: Why have you sent men to speak to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub? You seem to think that there is no God in Israel. Because of that, you will not leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.” ’

⁷ The king asked them, ‘Describe the man who came to meet you. What did he look like?’ ⁸ They replied, ‘He was wearing rough clothes. He had tied a leather belt around him.’ Then the king said, ‘That was Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe.’

⁹ Then the king sent 50 soldiers with their captain to fetch Elijah. Elijah was sitting on the top of a hill. The captain went up and he said to Elijah, ‘Man of God, the king says, “Come down with us.” ’

¹⁰ Elijah replied to the captain, ‘If I am really a man of God, fire will come down from the sky. It will destroy you and your 50 soldiers.’ Then fire did come down from the sky. It destroyed the captain and his 50 soldiers.

¹¹ Then the king sent another captain with 50 more soldiers to fetch Elijah. The captain went up and he said to Elijah, ‘Man of God, the king says, “Come down immediately!” ’ ¹² Elijah answered, ‘If I am really a man of God, fire will come down from the sky. It will destroy you and your 50 soldiers.’ Then fire from God did come down from the sky. It destroyed the captain and his 50 soldiers.

¹³ So the king sent a third captain, with 50 more soldiers. This captain went up to Elijah. He bent down on his knees in front of Elijah to ask him to be kind to them. He said, ‘Man of God, we are your servants. Please do not kill me and my 50 soldiers. ¹⁴ We know that fire came down from the sky. It destroyed the two captains who came before me and all their soldiers. But now, please be kind and do not kill me.’

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.’ So Elijah went down with the captain to meet the king. ¹⁶ Elijah said to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: You sent men to speak to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub, to find out what would happen to you. Did you think that there is no God in Israel? You did not ask him what would happen. Because of that, you will not leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.’

¹⁷ So Ahaziah died. The Lord had told Elijah that this would happen. Ahaziah had no son, so his brother, Joram, became king after him. This happened in the second year that Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, ruled Judah as king.

¹⁸ The other things that happened while Ahaziah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that King Ahaziah did.^[b]

Elijah goes up to heaven

2 The Lord was now ready to take Elijah up to heaven in a storm of wind. At this time, Elijah and Elisha were travelling from Gilgal. ² Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to Bethel.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you also live.’

So they went down to Bethel together. ³ A group of prophets lived in Bethel. They came out to Elisha and they asked him, ‘Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?’ Elisha replied, ‘Yes, I do know that, but do not talk about it now.’

⁴ Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live.’

So they went to Jericho together. ⁵ A group of prophets lived in Jericho. They went out to Elisha and they asked him, ‘Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?’ Elisha replied, ‘Yes, I do know that, but do not talk about it now.’

⁶ Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to the Jordan River.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live.’

So they continued to travel together. ⁷ 50 men who belonged to the group of prophets went and they stood near the Jordan River. They were standing not far away from Elijah and Elisha. They watched what happened. ⁸ Elijah took off his coat. He rolled it up and he hit the water with it. The water became separate to the left side and to the right side. Elijah and Elisha went across the river on dry ground.

⁹ After they had crossed the river, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘The Lord will soon take me away from you. What do you want me to do for you before that happens?’ Elisha replied, ‘Please let me have twice as much of your spirit.’ ¹⁰ Elijah said, ‘You have asked a difficult thing. But watch carefully when God takes me from you. If you see it happen, you will receive that spirit. If you do not see me, you will not receive it.’

¹¹ So they walked along and they talked together. Suddenly a chariot that was burning with fire appeared. The horses that pulled it were also burning with fire. The chariot went between Elijah and Elisha. Elijah went up to heaven in a storm of wind. ¹² When Elisha saw this, he shouted, ‘My father! My father!^[c] You are riding in Israel's chariot! Israel's men are riding on the horses!’

After that, Elisha could not see Elijah again. He took hold of his own clothes and he tore them into pieces because he was very upset. ¹³ He picked up Elijah's coat that had fallen off. He went and he stood on the shore of the Jordan River. ¹⁴ He took Elijah's coat and he hit the water with it. He said, ‘Now is the Lord, Elijah's God, with me?’ When he hit the water with Elijah's coat, the water became separate, to the left side and to the right side. Elisha went across the river.

¹⁵ The group of prophets from Jericho were standing not far away. They saw what happened. They said, ‘The spirit that gave power to Elijah is now with Elisha.’ They went to meet Elisha. They bent down low to the ground to respect him. ¹⁶ They said to him, ‘Please, sir! We are your servants. We have 50 strong men with us. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit^[d] of the Lord has carried him away. Maybe it has dropped him somewhere on a mountain or in a valley.’ But Elisha replied, ‘No. Do not send them to look for him.’

¹⁷ But the prophets asked him many times to do this. Elisha was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, ‘Send them to look.’ They sent 50 men who looked for Elijah for three days. But they did not find him. ¹⁸ When they returned, Elisha was waiting for them in Jericho. He said to them, ‘I told you not to go and look for Elijah.’

Elisha shows that he has God's authority

¹⁹ One day, the leaders in Jericho said to Elisha, ‘Please listen to us, sir. You can see that our city is in a good place. But the water here is bad. The land does not give us good crops.’ ²⁰ Elisha said, ‘Bring a new bowl to me with some salt in it.’ So they brought it to him. ²¹ Then Elisha went out to the city's spring of water. He threw the salt into it. He said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have made this water clean again. It will no longer cause people to die. The land will no longer be useless for crops.” ’

²² Since that time, the water has always been pure. This is what Elisha had said would happen.

²³ Elisha went from Jericho to Bethel. While he travelled along the road, some boys came out of the town. They laughed at Elisha. They shouted at him, ‘Bald man, move on! Go away, you bald man!’ ²⁴ Elisha turned around and he looked at them. He asked the Lord to punish them. Two bears came out from the forest. They tore 42 of the boys in pieces.

²⁵ Then Elisha travelled to Mount Carmel. From there, he returned to Samaria.

⁴² After Paul spoke this message, he and Barnabas were leaving the meeting place. The people there said to them, ‘Please return on our next day of rest. Then you can tell us more about what you have already told us.’ ⁴³ When the meeting finished, many people followed Paul and Barnabas. Some of them were Jews. Others were Gentiles who now worshipped God. Paul and Barnabas said to them, ‘God has been very kind to you. You should continue to trust him.’

⁴⁴ On the next Jewish day of rest, almost everyone in the town came together to hear the Lord God's message. ⁴⁵ But when some Jews saw the crowds of people, they became angry. They were very jealous because the people listened to Paul and Barnabas. They said that Paul was teaching wrong things. They also said bad things against him.

⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas were not afraid of them. They said to them, ‘It was right that we first tell you who are Jews the message from God. But now you say that God's message is not true. You have shown that you do not deserve true life with God. So we will leave you now. We will go and tell this message to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷ The Lord God has also told us to do this. He said:

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles there heard this, they were very happy. They thanked God for the message about the Lord Jesus. Many people believed in Jesus. They were the people that God had chosen to have true life with him.

⁴⁹ Many people in that part of the country heard the message about the Lord Jesus. ⁵⁰ But the Jewish leaders spoke to the important men in the city. They also spoke to some rich women who worshipped God. The Jewish leaders told them bad things about Paul and Barnabas. So these important people started to speak against Paul and Barnabas. They caused Paul and Barnabas to leave that region. ⁵¹ So Paul and Barnabas cleaned the dirt of that place off their feet. This showed that the people in that town had done a bad thing. Paul and Barnabas then travelled to a town called Iconium.

⁵² The believers in Antioch continued to be very happy. The Holy Spirit completely filled them.

This is what happened in Iconium

14 When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Iconium, they did the same as they had done before. They went to the Jewish meeting place and they spoke God's message there. They spoke very clearly, so that many Jews and Gentiles believed in Jesus. ² But some of the Jews refused to believe God's message. They told the Gentiles that they too should not believe it. The Jews put bad thoughts into the minds of the Gentiles so that they became angry against the believers. ³ So Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium for a long time. They were not afraid to tell people the message about the Lord Jesus. The Lord gave them power to do miracles. These showed the people that God was with Paul and Barnabas and that their message was true. They taught that God saves people because he is very kind. ⁴ The people in the city did not agree with each other. Some of them believed the message from the apostles, Paul and Barnabas. But some people agreed with the Jews who did not believe their message. ⁵ Some of the Jews and the Gentiles met with their leaders. They decided to do bad things to Paul and Barnabas. They wanted to throw stones at them and kill them. ⁶ Paul and Barnabas heard that these people wanted to hurt them. So they left Iconium quickly and they went to Lystra and Derbe, and other places near there. These cities were in the region called Lycaonia. ⁷ In all these places, they continued to tell people the good news about Jesus.

This is a song that David wrote.

It is for the music leader.

God understands me^[a]