Bible Reading Plan

Day 171 - Read 2 Kings 3-4

Jehoram, another son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria. He reigned twelve years. The king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. Jehoram, Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom went to fight against the king of Moab. The king of Moab offered his oldest son as a sacrifice on the wall. The three kings withdrew from the king of Moab and returned to their land. Elisha was used by God to perform miracles. God caused a small amount of oil to multiply so a widow could sell it to repay creditors who threatened to make her sons slaves. God gave a woman and her husband a son. God raised this same boy from death. God used Elisha to purify stew that would have killed the sons of the prophets.

Broadcast on:: 11 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

Hello and welcome to today's Bible reading. Today we're looking at 2 Kings, chapters 3 and 4. Jehoram, another son of Ahab, became king over Israel and Samaria. He reigned 12 years. The king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. Jehoram, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and the king of Edom went to fight against the king of Moab. The king of Moab offered his oldest son as a sacrifice on the wall. The three kings withdrew from the king of Moab and returned to their land. Elisha was used by God to perform miracles. God caused a small amount of oil to multiply, so a widow could use it to repay creditors who threatened to make her sons slaves. God gave a woman and her husband a son, and God later raised this same boy from death. God used Elisha to purify Stu that would have killed the sons of prophets. Follow along with me as I begin to read 2 Kings, chapter 3, verse 1. In the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned 12 years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Bel that his father had made. Nevertheless, he clung to the son of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. He did not depart from it. Now Misha, king of Moab, was a sheep breeder, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel, so king Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab? And he said, I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses. Then he said, by which way shall we march? Jehoram answered, by the way of the wilderness of Edom. So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a sakuitist march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. Then the king of Israel said, Alas, the Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab. And Jehoshaphat said, is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord? Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, Alisha the son of Shafat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat 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. And Alisha 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. But the king of Israel said to him, no, it is the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab. And Alisha said, as the Lord of host lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you, but now bring me a musician. And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, thus says the Lord, I will make this dry stream bed full of pools. For thus says the Lord, you shall not see wind or rain, but that stream bed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink you, your livestock, and your animals. This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand. And you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones. The next morning about the time of offering and sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom till the country was filled with water. When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor from the youngest to the oldest were called out and were drawn up at the border. And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. And they said, this is blood. The kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then Moab, to the spool. But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went. And they overthrew the cities. And on every good piece of land, every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees until only its stones were left in Kir Hereseth. And the slingers surrounded and attacked it. Then the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him. He took with him 700 swordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land. Chapter 4. Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, cried to Elisha, your servant, my husband is dead. And you know that your servant feared the Lord, but my creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves. And Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house?" And she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil." Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside." So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured, they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her, "Son, bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another. Then the oil stopped flowing." She came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest." One day Elisha went on to Shunam, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. And she said to her husband, "Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lap, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there." One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. And he said to Ghezah to servant, "Call this Shunamite." When he had called her, she stood before him. And he said to him, "Say now to her, 'See, you have taken all this trouble for us. What is to be done for you?' Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?" She answered, "I dwell among my own people." And he said, "What then is to be done for her?" Ghezah answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." He said, "Call her." And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. And he said, "At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son." And she said, "No, my Lord, O men of God, do not lie to your servant." But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her. When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. And he said to his father, "Oh, my head, my head." The father said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother." And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind him, and went out. Then she called to her husband, and said, "Send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to the man of God, and come back again." And he said, "Why will you go to him today?" "It is neither New Moon nor Sabbath." She said, "All is well." Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, "Urge the animal on. Do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you." So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehesa, his servant, "Look, there is the sonomite. Run it once to meet her, and say to her, "Is all well with you?" "Is all well with your husband?" "Is all well with the child?" And she answered, "All is well." And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehesa came to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me." Then she said, "Did I ask my Lord for a son? Did I not say, do not deceive me?" He said to Gehesa, "Tie up your garments, and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child." Then the mother of the child said, "As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So he arose and followed her. Gehesa went on ahead and laid his staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, "The child has not awakened." Then Elisha came into the house. He saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times and the child opened his eyes. Then he summoned Gehesa and said, "Call this Shunamite." So he called her, and when she came to him, he said, "Pick up your son." She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out. And Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophet were sitting before him, he said to his servant, "Set on the large pot and bowl stew for the sons of the prophets." One of them went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered from it, his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew that cried out, "O men of God, there is death in the pot," and they could not eat it. He said, "Then bring flour," and he threw it into the pot and said, "Porse some out for the men that they may eat." And there was no harm in the pot. A man came from Baal, Shilasha, bringing the man of God bread of the first fruits, 20 loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, "Give to the men that they may eat." But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" So he repeated, "Give them to the men that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, they shall eat and have some left." So he said it before them, and they ate and had some left according to the word of the Lord.