The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the NIV. Switch to the NIV to read along with the audio.
Moab's people fight against Israel
3 Ahab's son Jehoram became the king of Israel in Samaria.[a] This happened when Jehoshaphat had been the king of Judah for 18 years. Jehoram ruled Israel as king for 12 years. 2 He did things that the Lord said were evil. But he was not as bad as his father and his mother had been. Jehoram did throw away the stone pillar where people worshipped Baal. His father Ahab had made that pillar.[b] 3 But Jehoram continued to do the same bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins, and Jehoram did not stop doing them himself.
4 Mesha, the king of Moab, was a sheep farmer. Every year he had to pay the king of Israel 100,000 male lambs and the wool from 100,000 male sheep. 5 But after King Ahab died, the king of Moab turned against the king of Israel. 6 So King Jehoram left Samaria to bring all Israel's army together. They were ready to attack Moab. 7 He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah: ‘The king of Moab has turned against me. Will you go with me to fight against the Moabites?’
Jehoshaphat replied, ‘Yes, I will go with you. We will have one army. My soldiers will join with your soldiers. My horses will be under your authority.’
8 King Jehoram asked, ‘What road should we go on to attack Moab?’ King Jehoshaphat replied, ‘We should travel through the Edom desert.’
9 So the king of Israel, the king of Judah and the king of Edom joined together to attack Moab.[c] They were travelling along the road for seven days. After that time, there was no more water for the army or for their animals. 10 The king of Israel was very upset. He said, ‘What has happened? Perhaps the Lord has brought us three kings here to put us under the power of the king of Moab!’ 11 But King Jehoshaphat asked, ‘There must surely be a prophet of the Lord here somewhere. We could ask him what the Lord wants us to do.’
An officer of the king of Israel answered him, ‘Yes, Shaphat's son Elisha is here. He was Elijah's servant.’ 12 Jehoshaphat said, ‘He will tell us what the Lord is saying.’ So the king of Israel, King Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went to meet Elisha.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘We have nothing to say to each other! Instead, go to the prophets that your father and your mother liked to listen to.’ The king of Israel replied, ‘No! The Lord told us three kings to come here together. Now he is putting us under Moab's power.’ 14 Elisha said to him, ‘I serve the Lord Almighty. I promise you, as surely as the Lord lives, I would never even look at you! But I do respect Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who is with you. So I will help you. 15 But now, bring someone to play music on a harp for me.’
While the man was making music, the Lord's power came to Elisha. 16 Elisha said, ‘This is what the Lord says: Dig many holes in this dry valley, 17 because the Lord says this: You will not see any wind or any rain. But this valley will become full of water! You, your cows and your other animals will have water to drink. 18 This is an easy thing for the Lord to do. He will also put the Moabites under your power. 19 You will destroy all their strong cities and all their important towns. You will cut down every good tree. You will stop their springs giving any water. You will cover their fields with stones so that nothing grows there.’
20 The next morning, at the time when they offered the morning sacrifice, the water appeared! It came from the direction of Edom so that the land was full of water!
21 All the people in Moab had heard that the kings had come to attack them. So the leaders of Moab brought together every man who was old enough to fight. They put these men on Moab's border. 22 When the Moabites woke up early the next morning, the sun was shining on the water. When they looked at the water from where they were, it looked like blood! 23 They said to each other, ‘That is blood! The armies of those kings have fought against each other. Now they are all dead! We must go and take all their valuable things!’
24 So the Moabites arrived at the camp of the Israelite army. Then Israel's soldiers attacked the Moabites. The Moabites ran away back to their own land. The Israelites chased them and they completely destroyed them. 25 They destroyed the Moabites' towns. Each Israelite soldier threw a stone onto all the good fields, until they covered them with stones. They filled the springs so that they gave no water. They cut down all the good trees.
Only the city of Kir-Hareseth was still there with its stone walls.[d] But the Israelite soldiers stood all around the city. They attacked it with stones from their slings. 26 The king of Moab realized that he was not winning the battle. So he took 700 of his soldiers who had swords. They tried to attack their enemies and reach the king of Edom. But they failed to do that. 27 So the king of Moab took his oldest son who would have become king after him. He killed him on the wall of the city as a burnt offering to their god.[e] This made the Israelite soldiers become very upset. So they went away from the city and they returned to their own land.
Elisha helps a poor widow
4 There was a woman whose husband belonged to the group of prophets. When her husband died, she called out to Elisha for help. She said, ‘Your servant, my husband, is dead. He served the Lord faithfully. My husband was in debt to a certain man. Now that man wants to take my two children to be his slaves.’
2 Elisha said to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what things do you have in your house?’
She said to Elisha, ‘Please sir, I have nothing in the house. All I have is a small jar of olive oil.’
3 Then Elisha said to her, ‘Go to all your neighbours. Ask them to lend you empty jars. Make sure that you get a lot of them. 4 Then take the jars into your house. Go in with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour the olive oil from your jar into all the other jars. When each jar is full, put it in a safe place.’
5 The widow left Elisha. She went into her house with her sons and she shut the door behind her. They brought the jars to her and she poured the oil into them. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to one of her sons, ‘Bring me another jar.’ But he said, ‘There are no more jars.’ Then there was no more olive oil to pour from her jar.
7 Then the widow went back to Elisha, the man of God. She told him what had happened. He said, ‘Go and sell the oil. Use some of the money to pay the debt to the man. Use the money that remains to buy food for you and your sons. Then you will live.’
Elisha gives life to a boy
8 One day, Elisha went to Shunem. A rich woman lived there. She asked Elisha to eat a meal with her family. So every time that he went near her house, he stopped there to eat a meal. 9 Then the woman said to her husband, ‘Listen! I believe that this man who often eats with us is a holy man who serves God. 10 We should make a small room on the roof of our house for him.[f] We can put a bed, a table, a chair and a lamp in the room. Then, when he comes to visit us, he can stay there.’
11 One day, Elisha came to Shunem again. He went up to the room on the roof. He lay down to rest there. 12 He told Gehazi, his servant, ‘Ask the woman to come here.’ So Gehazi did that. The woman came and she stood in front of Elisha. 13 Elisha said to Gehazi, ‘Say to her, “You have done a lot to take care of us. So what can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king, or to the officer who leads the army?” ’ The woman replied, ‘I live here safely among my own people.’ 14 But Elisha asked Gehazi again, ‘What can we do to help her?’ Gehazi said, ‘She has no son. But her husband is an old man.’ 15 Elisha said, ‘Ask her to come here.’ When Gehazi did that, she came and she stood near the door. 16 Elisha said to her, ‘About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.’ The woman said, ‘No, my master! You are a man of God. Please do not tell me lies.’
17 But the woman did become pregnant. At that time next year she gave birth to a son. Elisha had said that this would happen.
This is what happened in Lystra
8 There was a man who lived in Lystra. His feet had been weak since he was born. So he had never been able to walk. 9 While Paul was speaking God's message, this man listened to him. Paul looked at him carefully. He could see that the man believed in Jesus. The man believed that God could make him well. 10 So Paul said to him loudly, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ Immediately the man jumped up and he began to walk about.
11 The crowd saw what Paul had done. They began to shout in their own language that the people of Lycaonia spoke. ‘The gods have become like men and they have come down from the sky to us,’ they said. 12 They called Barnabas ‘Zeus’. They called Paul ‘Hermes’, because he was the one who spoke the message to the people.[a]
13 The temple of Zeus was very near to the town. The priest who worked there brought bulls and flowers to the town gate. Many people had come together in that place. The priest and the crowd wanted to kill the animals as sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas.[b]
14 Paul and Barnabas heard what the people wanted to do. So they tore their own clothes to show that they were very upset. They ran into the middle of the crowd, 15 and they shouted, ‘Stop! You people should not do this. We are only men like you. We are not gods. We came here to tell you some good news about the great God. You must stop worshipping these gods who are really nothing. Instead worship the God who lives. He made the sky, the earth and the sea. He also made everything that is in them.
16 In past times, God let people everywhere do what they wanted to do. 17 But God has showed everybody very clearly what he is like. He has showed you that he is kind. He causes the rain to fall from the sky. He causes the plants to give you food at the right time each year. He gives you plenty of food to eat. In these ways he makes you very happy.’
18 Even when Paul had said all this, the people still wanted to offer sacrifices to him and Barnabas. Finally Paul and Barnabas were able to stop them.
19 Then some Jews arrived there in Lystra. They had travelled from Antioch and from Iconium. They talked to the people, so that they turned against Paul. Then these Jews threw stones at Paul to kill him. They pulled his body to outside the town. They thought that he was dead. 20 But some believers came out from the town and they stood around Paul. Then Paul stood up! He went back with them into the town.
Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch in Syria
The next day, Paul and Barnabas left Lystra and they went to Derbe. 21 While they were there, they told people the good news about Jesus. Many people in Derbe became believers. After that, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra. From there they went back to Iconium. Then they returned to Antioch in the region of Pisidia. 22 In all these towns, they taught the believers to be strong. They said to them, ‘Continue to trust in the Lord Jesus! All believers will have trouble at different times. That will continue to happen in our lives. But one day we will go into the kingdom of God where he rules.’
23 Paul and Barnabas chose leaders for each group of believers in these places. They fasted and they prayed to God for some time about this. They asked the Lord Jesus to help these leaders who trusted in him.
24 Then Paul and Barnabas travelled through Pisidia. They arrived in Pamphylia. 25 They spoke God's message to the people in Perga. Then they went down to the coast, to the town of Attalia.
26 From there they went in a ship back to Antioch. That was the place where the believers had chosen them to do God's work. They had asked God to help Paul and Barnabas in this work. Now Paul and Barnabas had finished this work and they had returned home. 27 When they arrived, they sent a message to the group of believers in Antioch. When all the believers had come together, Paul and Barnabas told them about their journey. They told the believers about everything that God had helped them to do. They said, ‘God has made it possible now for Gentiles to believe in Jesus.’
28 Paul and Barnabas stayed there with the believers in Antioch for a long time.
This is a song that David wrote.
It is for the music leader.
Please help me, Lord
140 Lord, please save me from evil people.
Keep me safe from people who like to attack others.
2 They think of evil ideas to hurt people.
They only want to cause trouble!
3 Their words hurt people,
like the tongue of a snake.
They bite with poison,
like a dangerous snake.
Selah
4 Lord, keep me safe from the power of wicked people.
Keep me safe from violent people who want to attack me.
5 Proud people have prepared a trap to catch me.
They have put their nets across my path.[a]
Selah.
6 Lord, I say to you, ‘You are my God.’
Lord, hear my prayer for help!
7 Lord, my Lord, you are my strong helper.
You keep me safe when I fight in a battle.
8 Lord, do not let wicked people do what they want to do.
Stop them when they prepare to attack.
Selah.
9 Give trouble to the people who come round me to attack!
Let the bad things that they say against me
happen to them instead![b]
10 Drop burning coals on them like rain!
Throw those people into the fire!
Let them fall into deep holes that they cannot get out of!
11 People who tell cruel lies should not live in our land.
Trouble will happen to people who like to fight.
Bad trouble will knock them down!
12 I know that the Lord helps poor people.
He makes sure that they receive justice.
13 Your righteous people will always praise you.
Good, honest people will live near to you.
22 If you are happy in life, you will be healthy.
But if you are sad and upset, your body will be weak.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.