Day 192 of 365

¹Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.

²Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper room that was in Samaria, and was sick. So he sent messengers, and said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this sickness."

³But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?

⁴Now therefore thus says the Lord, "You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die."'" Elijah departed.

⁵The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, "Why is it that you have returned?"

⁶They said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and said to us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.'"'"

⁷He said to them, "What kind of man was he who came up to meet you, and told you these words?"

⁸They answered him, "He was a hairy man, and wearing a leather belt around his waist." He said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

⁹Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him. He went up to him; and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, "Man of God, the king has said, 'Come down!'"

¹⁰Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!" Fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.

¹¹Again he sent to him another captain of fifty and his fifty. He answered him, "Man of God, the king has said, 'Come down quickly!'"

¹²Elijah answered them, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!" The fire of God came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.

¹³Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him, "Man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty your servants, be precious in your sight.

¹⁴Behold, fire came down from the sky, and consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight."

¹⁵The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, "Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him." He arose, and went down with him to the king.

¹⁶He said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.'"

¹⁷So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Jehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son.

¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

¹It happened, when the Lord would take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

²Elijah said to Elisha, "Please wait here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel." Elisha said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

³The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from your head today?" He said, "Yes, I know it; hold your peace."

⁴Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please wait here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho." He said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." So they came to Jericho.

⁵The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from your head today?" He answered, "Yes, I know it. Hold your peace."

⁶Elijah said to him, "Please wait here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan." He said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." They both went on.

⁷Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood opposite them at a distance; and they both stood by the Jordan.

⁸Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that they two went over on dry ground.

⁹It happened, when they had gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let a double portion of your spirit be on me."

¹⁰He said, "You have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so."

¹¹It happened, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

¹²Elisha saw it, and he cried, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" He saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces.

¹³He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

¹⁴He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" When he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha went over.

¹⁵When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho over against him saw him, they said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

¹⁶They said to him, "See now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up, and put him on some mountain, or into some valley. He said, "You shall not send them."

¹⁷When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, "Send them." They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched for three days, but did not find him.

¹⁸They came back to him, while he stayed at Jericho; and he said to them, "Did I not tell you, 'Do not go?'"

¹⁹The men of the city said to Elisha, "Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land miscarries."

²⁰He said, "Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it." They brought it to him.

²¹He went out to the spring of the waters, and threw salt into it, and said, "Thus says the Lord, 'I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or miscarrying.'"

²²So the waters were healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

²³He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, "Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldhead!"

²⁴He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths.

²⁵He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

¹Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.

²He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.

³Nevertheless he held to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

⁴Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he rendered to the king of Israel the wool of one hundred thousand lambs, and of one hundred thousand rams.

⁵But it happened, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

⁶King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel.

⁷He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?" He said, "I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

⁸He said, "Which way shall we go up?" He answered, "The way of the wilderness of Edom."

⁹So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days' journey. There was no water for the army, nor for the animals that followed them.

¹⁰The king of Israel said, "Alas! For the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab."

¹¹But Jehoshaphat said, "Isn't there here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?" One of the king of Israel's servants answered, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured 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, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother." The king of Israel said to him, "No; for the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab."

¹⁴Elisha said, "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you.

¹⁵But now bring me a minstrel." It happened, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came on him.

¹⁶He said, "Thus says the Lord, 'Make this valley full of trenches.'

¹⁷For thus says the Lord, 'You will not see wind, neither will you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and your animals.

¹⁸This is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.

¹⁹You shall strike every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.'"

²⁰It happened in the morning, about the time of offering the offering, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

²¹Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all who were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border.

²²They rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water over against them as red as blood.

²³They said, "This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!"

²⁴When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward into the land smiting the Moabites.

²⁵They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the springs of water, and felled all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth only they left its stones; however the men armed with slings went about it, and struck it.

²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not.

²⁷Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

¹As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.

²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

³My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"

⁴These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.

⁵Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.

⁶My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

⁸The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I will ask God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"

¹⁰As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"

¹¹Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.

¹My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;

²You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

³Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

⁴Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.

⁵Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁶Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

⁷which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,

⁸provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

⁹How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

¹¹so your poverty will come as a robber, and your scarcity as an armed man.

¹²A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;

¹³who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers;

¹⁴in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.

¹⁵Therefore his calamity will come suddenly. He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.

¹⁶There are six things which the Lord hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood;

¹⁸a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,

¹⁹a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers.

²⁰My son, keep your father's commandment, and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

²¹Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you.

²³For the commandment is a lamp, and the Law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

²⁴to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue.

²⁵Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.

²⁶For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.

²⁷Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?

²⁸Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?

²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

³⁰Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry:

³¹but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.

³²He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.

³³He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

³⁴For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won't spare in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He won't regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.