The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday June 25, 2019 (NIV)

The Woman from Shunem Is Given Back Her Land

8 Elisha told the woman whose son he had brought back to life,^[a] “The Lord has warned that there will be no food here for seven years. Take your family and go live somewhere else for a while.” ² The woman did exactly what Elisha had said and went to live in Philistine territory.

She and her family lived there seven years. ³ Then she returned to Israel and immediately begged the king to give back her house and property.

⁴ Meanwhile, the king was asking Gehazi the servant of Elisha about the amazing things Elisha had been doing. ⁵ While Gehazi was telling him that Elisha had brought a dead boy back to life, the woman and her son arrived.

“Here’s the boy, Your Majesty,” Gehazi said. “And this is his mother.”

⁶ The king asked the woman to tell her story, and she told him everything that had happened. He then said to one of his officials, “I want you to make sure that this woman gets back everything that belonged to her, including the money her crops have made since the day she left Israel.”

Hazael Kills Benhadad

⁷ Some time later Elisha went to the capital city of Damascus to visit King Benhadad of Syria, who was sick. And when Benhadad was told he was there, ⁸ he said to Hazael,^[b] “Go meet with Elisha the man of God and have him ask the Lord if I will get well. And take along a gift for him.”

⁹ Hazael left with forty camel loads of the best things made in Damascus as a gift for Elisha. He found the prophet and said, “Your servant, King Benhadad, wants to know if he will get well.”

¹⁰ “Tell him he will,” Elisha said to Hazael. “But the Lord has already told me that Benhadad will definitely die.” ¹¹ Elisha stared at him until Hazael was embarrassed, then Elisha began crying.^[c]

¹² “Sir, why are you crying?” Hazael asked.

Elisha answered, “Because I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Israel. You will burn down their walled cities and slaughter their young men. You will even crush the heads of their babies and rip open their pregnant women.”

¹³ “How could I ever do anything like that?” Hazael replied. “I’m only a servant and don’t have that kind of power.”

“Hazael, the Lord has told me that you will be the next king of Syria.”

¹⁴ Hazael went back to Benhadad and told him, “Elisha said that you will get well.” ¹⁵ But the very next day, Hazael got a thick blanket; he soaked it in water and held it over Benhadad’s face until he died. Hazael then became king.

King Jehoram of Judah

¹⁶ Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat became king of Judah in Joram’s fifth year as king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was still king of Judah.^{[d] 17} Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled eight years from Jerusalem.

¹⁸ Jehoram disobeyed the Lord by doing wrong. He married Ahab’s daughter and was as sinful as Ahab’s family and the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ But the Lord refused to destroy Judah, because he had promised his servant David that someone from his family would always rule in Judah.

²⁰ While Jehoram was king, the people of Edom rebelled and chose their own king. ²¹ So Jehoram^[e] and his cavalry marched to Zair, where the Edomite army surrounded him and his commanders. During the night he attacked the Edomites, but he was defeated, and his troops escaped to their homes.^{[f] 22} Judah was never able to regain control of Edom. Even the town of Libnah^[g] rebelled at that time.

²³ Everything else Jehoram did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. ²⁴ Jehoram died and was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem.^[h] His son Ahaziah then became king.

King Ahaziah of Judah

²⁵ Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah in the twelfth year of Joram’s rule in Israel. ²⁶ Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled from Jerusalem for only one year. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. ²⁷ Since Ahaziah was related to Ahab’s family,^[i] he acted just like them and disobeyed the Lord by doing wrong.

²⁸ Ahaziah went with King Joram of Israel to attack King Hazael and the Syrian troops at Ramoth in Gilead. Joram was wounded in that battle, ²⁹ so he went to the town of Jezreel to recover. Ahaziah went there to visit him.

Jehu Becomes King of Israel

9 One day, Elisha called for one of the other prophets and said:

⁴ The young prophet left for Ramoth. ⁵ When he arrived, the army officers were meeting together. “Sir, I have a message for you,” he said.

“For which one of us?” Jehu asked.

“You, sir,” the prophet answered. ⁶ So Jehu got up and went inside.^[j] The prophet poured olive oil on Jehu’s head and told him:

Then the young prophet opened the door and ran out.

¹¹ Jehu went back to his officers, and one of them asked, “What did that crazy prophet want? Is everything all right?”

“You know him and how he talks,” Jehu answered.

¹² “No, we don’t. What did he say?” they asked.

“He had a message from the Lord,” Jehu replied. “He said that the Lord has chosen me to be the next king of Israel.”

¹³ They quickly grabbed their coats and spread them out on the steps where Jehu was standing. Someone blew a trumpet, and everyone shouted, “Jehu is king!”

Paul and Silas Are Put in Jail

¹⁶ One day on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl. She had a spirit in her that gave her the power to tell the future. By doing this she made a lot of money for her owners. ¹⁷ The girl followed Paul and the rest of us and kept yelling, “These men are servants of the Most High God! They are telling you how to be saved.”

¹⁸ This went on for several days. Finally, Paul got so upset that he turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I order you to leave this girl alone!” At once the evil spirit left her.

¹⁹ When the girl’s owners realized that they had lost all chances for making more money, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them into court. ²⁰ They told the officials, “These Jews are upsetting our city! ²¹ They are telling us to do things we Romans are not allowed to do.”

²² The crowd joined in the attack on Paul and Silas. Then the officials tore the clothes off the two men and ordered them to be beaten with a whip. ²³ After they had been badly beaten, they were put in jail, and the jailer was told to guard them carefully. ²⁴ The jailer did as he was told. He put them deep inside the jail and chained their feet to heavy blocks of wood.

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to God, while the other prisoners listened. ²⁶ Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the jail to its foundations. The doors opened, and the chains fell from all the prisoners.

²⁷ When the jailer woke up and saw that the doors were open, he thought that the prisoners had escaped. He pulled out his sword and was about to kill himself. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! No one has escaped.”

²⁹ The jailer asked for a torch and went into the jail. He was shaking all over as he knelt down in front of Paul and Silas. ³⁰ After he had led them out of the jail, he asked, “What must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They replied, “Have faith in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved! This is also true for everyone who lives in your home.”

³² Then Paul and Silas told him and everyone else in his house about the Lord. ³³ While it was still night, the jailer took them to a place where he could wash their cuts and bruises. Then he and everyone in his home were baptized. ³⁴ They were very glad that they had put their faith in God. After this, the jailer took Paul and Silas to his home and gave them something to eat.

³⁵ The next morning the officials sent some police with orders for the jailer to let Paul and Silas go. ³⁶ The jailer told Paul, “The officials have ordered me to set you free. Now you can leave in peace.”

³⁷ But Paul told the police, “We are Roman citizens,^[a] and the Roman officials had us beaten in public without giving us a trial. They threw us into jail. Now do they think they can secretly send us away? No, they cannot! They will have to come here themselves and let us out.”

³⁸ When the police told the officials that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, the officials were afraid. ³⁹ So they came and apologized. They led them out of the jail and asked them to please leave town. ⁴⁰ But Paul and Silas went straight to the home of Lydia, where they saw the Lord’s followers and encouraged them. Then they left.

(A psalm by David.)

A Prayer in Time of Danger