2 KINGS 8:1-9:13
ACTS 16:16-40
PSALM 143:1-12
PROVERBS 17:26
2 KINGS 8:1-9:13
Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, " Take your family and move to some other place, for the LORD has called for a famine on Israel that will last for seven years." 2 So the woman did as the man of God instructed. She took her family and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. 3 After the famine ended she returned to the land of Israel, and she went to see the king about getting back her house and land. 4 As she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had just said, " Tell me some stories about the great things Elisha has done." 5 And Gehazi was telling the king about the time Elisha had brought a boy back to life. At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in to make her appeal to the king. " Look, my lord!" Gehazi exclaimed. " Here is the woman now, and this is her son--the very one Elisha brought back to life!" 6 " Is this true?" the king asked her. And she told him that it was. So he directed one of his officials to see to it that everything she had lost was restored to her, including the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence. 7 Now Elisha went to Damascus, the capital of Aram, where King Ben-hadad lay sick. Someone told the king that the man of God had come. 8 When the king heard the news, he said to Hazael, " Take a gift to the man of God. Then tell him to ask the LORD if I will get well again." 9 So Hazael loaded down forty camels with the finest products of Damascus as a gift for Elisha. He went in to him and said, " Your servant Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to ask you if he will recover." 10 And Elisha replied, " Go and tell him, ` You will recover.' But the LORD has shown me that he will actually die!" 11 Elisha stared at Hazael with a fixed gaze until Hazael became uneasy. Then the man of God started weeping. 12 " What's the matter, my lord?" Hazael asked him. Elisha replied, " I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Israel. You will burn their fortified cities, kill their young men, dash their children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!" 13 Then Hazael replied, " How could a nobody like me ever accomplish such a great feat?" But Elisha answered, " The LORD has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram." 14 When Hazael went back, the king asked him, " What did Elisha tell you?" And Hazael replied, " He told me that you will surely recover." 15 But the next day Hazael took a blanket, soaked it in water, and held it over the king's face until he died. Then Hazael became the next king of Aram. 16 Jehoram son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah began to rule over Judah in the fifth year of King Joram's reign in Israel. Joram was the son of Ahab. 17 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 18 But Jehoram followed the example of the kings of Israel and was as wicked as King Ahab, for he had married one of Ahab's daughters. So Jehoram did what was evil in the LORD's sight. 19 But the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for he had made a covenant with David and promised that his descendants would continue to rule forever. 20 During Jehoram's reign, the Edomites revolted against Judah and crowned their own king. 21 So Jehoram went with all his chariots to attack the town of Zair. The Edomites surrounded him and his charioteers, but he escaped at night under cover of darkness. Jehoram's army, however, deserted him and fled. 22 Edom has been independent from Judah to this day. The town of Libnah revolted about that same time. 23 The rest of the events in Jehoram's reign and all his deeds are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. 24 When Jehoram died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. Then his son Ahaziah became the next king. 25 Ahaziah son of Jehoram began to rule over Judah in the twelfth year of King Joram's reign in Israel. King Joram was the son of Ahab. 26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. 27 Ahaziah followed the evil example of King Ahab's family, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight, because he was related by marriage to the family of Ahab. 28 Ahaziah joined King Joram of Israel in his war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. When King Joram was wounded in the battle, 29 he returned to Jezreel to recover from his wounds. While Joram was there, King Ahaziah of Judah went to visit him.9:1 MEANWHILE, Elisha the prophet had summoned a member of the group of prophets. " Get ready to go to Ramoth-gilead," he told him. " Take this vial of olive oil with you, 2 and find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat and grandson of Nimshi. Call him into a back room away from his friends, 3 and pour the oil over his head. Say to him, ` This is what the LORD says: I anoint you to be the king over Israel.' Then open the door and run for your life!" 4 So the young prophet did as he was told and went to Ramoth-gilead. 5 When he arrived there, he found Jehu sitting in a meeting with the other army officers. " I have a message for you, Commander," he said. " For which one of us?" Jehu asked. " For you, Commander," he replied. 6 So Jehu left the others and went into the house. Then the young prophet poured the oil over Jehu's head and said, " This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I anoint you king over the LORD's people, Israel. 7 You are to destroy the family of Ahab, your master. In this way, I will avenge the murder of my prophets and all the LORD's servants who were killed by Jezebel. 8 The entire family of Ahab must be wiped out--every male, slave and free alike, in Israel. 9 I will destroy the family of Ahab as I destroyed the families of Jeroboam son of Nebat and of Baasha son of Ahijah. 10 Dogs will eat Ahab's wife, Jezebel, at the plot of land in Jezreel, and no one will bury her." Then the young prophet opened the door and ran. 11 Jehu went back to his fellow officers, and one of them asked him, " What did that crazy fellow want? Is everything all right?" " You know the way such a man babbles on," Jehu replied. 12 " You're lying," they said. " Tell us." So Jehu told them what the man had said and that at the LORD's command he had been anointed king over Israel. 13 They quickly spread out their cloaks on the bare steps and blew a trumpet, shouting, " Jehu is king!"
ACTS 16:16-40
One day as we [Luke, Paul, and their companions] were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. 17 She followed along behind us shouting, " These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved." 18 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and spoke to the demon within her. " I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her," he said. And instantly it left her. 19 Her masters' hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. 20 " The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!" they shouted. 21 " They are teaching the people to do things that are against Roman customs." 22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape. 24 So he took no chances but put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. 25 Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, " Don't do it! We are all here!" 29 Trembling with fear, the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 He brought them out and asked, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They replied, " Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with your entire household." 32 Then they shared the word of the Lord with him and all who lived in his household. 33 That same hour the jailer washed their wounds, and he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. 34 Then he brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God. 35 The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, " Let those men go!" 36 So the jailer told Paul, " You and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace." 37 But Paul replied, " They have publicly beaten us without trial and jailed us--and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!" 38 When the police made their report, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 They came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. 40 Paul and Silas then returned to the home of Lydia, where they met with the believers and encouraged them once more before leaving town.
PSALM 143:1-12
A psalm of David.
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD;
listen to my plea!
Answer me because you are faithful and righteous.
2 Don't bring your servant to trial!
Compared to you, no one is perfect.
3 My enemy has chased me.
He has knocked me to the ground.
He forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave.
4 I am losing all hope;
I am paralyzed with fear.
5 I remember the days of old.
I ponder all your great works.
I think about what you have done.
6 I reach out for you.
I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.
Interlude7 Come quickly, LORD, and answer me,
for my depression deepens.
Don't turn away from me,
or I will die.
8 Let me hear of your unfailing love to me in the morning,
for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk,
for I have come to you in prayer.
9 Save me from my enemies, LORD;
I run to you to hide me.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward
on a firm footing.
11 For the glory of your name, O LORD, save me.
In your righteousness, bring me out of this distress.
12 In your unfailing love, cut off all my enemies
and destroy all my foes,
for I am your servant.
PROVERBS 17:26
It is wrong to fine the godly for being good or to punish nobles for being honest!
