Bible In A Year

¹> I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises.

²I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart.

³I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.

⁴A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil.

⁵I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won't tolerate one who is haughty and conceited.

⁶My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, He will serve me.

⁷He who practices deceit won't dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won't be established before my eyes.

⁸Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land; To cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh's city.

¹Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. ²Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this sickness. ³But the angel of Yahweh 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 Yahweh, You shall not come down from the bed where you are 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, There came up a man to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king who sent you, and tell him, Thus says Yahweh, 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 are gone up, but shall surely die. ⁷He said to them, What manner of man was he who came up to meet you, and told you these words? ⁸They answered him, He was a hairy man, and girt with a belt of leather about his loins. He said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. ⁹Then [the king] sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. He went up to him: and, behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. He spoke to him, man of God, the king has said, Come down. ¹⁰Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, If I be 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, thus has the king said, Come down quickly. ¹²Elijah answered them, If I be 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 Yahweh said to Elijah, Go down with him: don't be afraid of him. He arose, and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶He said to him, Thus says Yahweh, 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 are gone up, but shall surely die. ¹⁷So he died according to the word of Yahweh 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 Yahweh would take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ²Elijah said to Elisha, Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel. Elisha said, As Yahweh 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 forth to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh 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 Yahweh has sent me to Jericho. He said, As Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan." He said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." They two went on. ⁷Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood over against them afar off: and they two 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: [nevertheless], if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so to you; but if not, it shall not be so. ¹¹It happened, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, [there appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both apart; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen of it! 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 Yahweh, the God of Elijah? and 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 does rest 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; let them go, we pray you, and seek your master, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up, and cast him on some mountain, or into some valley. He said, You shall not send. ¹⁷When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but didn't find him. ¹⁸They came back to him, while he stayed at Jericho; and he said to them, "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't go?'" ¹⁹The men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, we pray you, 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 therein. They brought it to him. ²¹He went forth to the spring of the waters, and cast salt therein, and said, Thus says Yahweh, 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; and as he was going up by the way, there came forth young lads 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 Yahweh. There came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and mauled forty-two lads of them. 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 Yahweh, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³Nevertheless he cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he didn't depart from it. ⁴Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master; 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: and there was no water for the host, nor for the animals that followed them. ¹⁰The king of Israel said, Alas! for Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. ¹¹But Jehoshaphat said, Isn't there here a prophet of Yahweh, that we may inquire of Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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? get you to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother. The king of Israel said to him, No; for Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. ¹⁴Elisha said, As Yahweh of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard 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 Yahweh came on him. ¹⁶He said, Thus says Yahweh, Make this valley full of trenches. ¹⁷For thus says Yahweh, You shall not see wind, neither shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, both you and your cattle and your animals. ¹⁸This is but a light thing in the sight of Yahweh: 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, there came water 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: ²³and they said, This is blood; the kings are surely destroyed, and they have struck each man his fellow: 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 the stones of it; 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.