nkjv 2Kings:1-3 SEEK
Seeker Overlay ON
*
Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab .
*
Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria ,
and was injured ;
so he sent messengers and said to them , "
Go ,
inquire of Baal-Zebub ,
the god of Ekron ,
whether I shall recover from this injury ."
*
But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite , "
Arise ,
go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria ,
and say to them , "
Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub ,
the god of Ekron ?'
*
Now therefore ,
thus says the LORD : "
You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up ,
but you shall surely die ."'
So Elijah departed .
*
And when the messengers returned to him ,
he said to them , "
Why have you come back ?"
*
So they said to him , "
A man came up to meet us ,
and said to us , "
Go ,
return to the king who sent you ,
and say to him , "
Thus says the LORD : "
Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub ,
the god of Ekron ?
Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up ,
but you shall surely die ."""
*
Then he said to them , "
What kind of man was it who came up to meet you and told you these words ?"
*
So they answered him , "
A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist ."
And he said , "
It is Elijah the Tishbite ."
*
Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men .
So he went up to him ;
and there he was ,
sitting on the top of a hill .
And he spoke to him : "
Man of God ,
the king has said , "
Come down !"'
*
So Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty , "
If I am a man of God ,
then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men ."
And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty .
*
Then he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men .
And he answered and said to him : "
Man of God ,
thus has the king said , "
Come down quickly !"'
*
So Elijah answered and said to them , "
If I am a man of God ,
let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men ."
And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty .
*
Again ,
he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men .
And the third captain of fifty went up ,
and came and fell on his knees before Elijah ,
and pleaded with him ,
and said to him : "
Man of God ,
please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight .
*
Look ,
fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifties with their fifties .
But let my life now be precious in your sight ."
*
And the angel of the LORD said to Elijah , "
Go down with him ;
do not be afraid of him ."
So he arose and went down with him to the king .
*
Then he 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 to which you have gone up ,
but you shall surely die ."'
*
So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken .
Because he had no son ,
Jehoram became king in his place ,
in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat ,
king of Judah .
*
Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did ,
are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel ?
*
And it came to pass ,
when the LORD was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind ,
that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal .
*
Then Elijah said to Elisha , "
Stay here ,
please ,
for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel ."
But Elisha said , "
As the LORD lives ,
and as your soul lives ,
I will not leave you !"
So they went down to Bethel .
*
Now the 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 over you today ?"
And he said , "
Yes ,
I know ;
keep silent !"
*
Then Elijah said to him , "
Elisha ,
stay here ,
please ,
for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho ."
But he said , "
As the LORD lives ,
and as your soul lives ,
I will not leave you !"
So they came to Jericho .
*
Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him , "
Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today ?"
So he answered , "
Yes ,
I know ;
keep silent !"
*
Then Elijah said to him , "
Stay here ,
please ,
for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan ."
But he said , "
As the LORD lives ,
and as your soul lives ,
I will not leave you !"
So the two of them went on .
*
And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance ,
while the two of them stood by the Jordan .
*
Now Elijah took his mantle ,
rolled it up ,
and struck the water ;
and it was divided this way and that ,
so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground .
*
And so it was ,
when they had crossed over ,
that Elijah said to Elisha , "
Ask !
What may I do for you ,
before I am taken away from you ?"
Elisha said , "
Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me ."
*
So he said , "
You have asked a hard thing .
Nevertheless ,
if you see me when I am taken from you ,
it shall be so for you ;
but if not ,
it shall not be so ."
*
Then it happened ,
as they continued on and talked ,
that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire ,
and separated the two of them ;
and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven .
*
And Elisha saw it ,
and he cried out , "
My father ,
my father ,
the chariot of Israel and its horsemen !"
So he saw him no more .
And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces .
*
He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him ,
and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan .
*
Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him ,
and struck the water ,
and said , "
Where is the LORD God of Elijah ?"
And when he also had struck the water ,
it was divided this way and that ;
and Elisha crossed over .
*
Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him ,
they said , "
The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha ."
And they came to meet him ,
and bowed to the ground before him .
*
Then they said to him , "
Look now ,
there are fifty strong men with your servants .
Please let them go and search for your master ,
lest perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley ."
And he said , "
You shall not send anyone ."
*
But when they urged him till he was ashamed ,
he said , "
Send them !"
Therefore they sent fifty men ,
and they searched for three days but did not find him .
*
And when they came back to him ,
for he had stayed in Jericho ,
he said to them , "
Did I not say to you , "
Do not go '?"
*
Then the men of the city said to Elisha , "
Please notice ,
the situation of this city is pleasant ,
as my lord sees ;
but the water is bad ,
and the ground barren ."
*
And he said , "
Bring me a new bowl ,
and put salt in it ."
So they brought it to him .
*
Then he went out to the source of the water ,
and cast in the salt there ,
and said , "
Thus says the LORD : "
I have healed this water ;
from it there shall be no more death or barrenness ."'
*
So the water remains healed to this day ,
according to the word of Elisha which he spoke .
*
Then he went up from there to Bethel ;
and as he was going up the road ,
some youths came from the city and mocked him ,
and said to him , "
Go up ,
you baldhead !
Go up ,
you baldhead !"
*
So he turned around and looked at them ,
and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD .
And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths .
*
Then he went from there to Mount Carmel ,
and from there he returned to Samaria .
*
Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah ,
and reigned twelve years .
*
And he did evil in the sight of the LORD ,
but not like his father and mother ;
for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made .
*
Nevertheless he persisted in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat ,
who had made Israel sin ;
he did not depart from them .
*
Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheepbreeder ,
and he regularly paid the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams .
*
But it happened ,
when Ahab died ,
that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel .
*
So King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel .
*
Then he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah ,
saying , "
The king of Moab has rebelled against me .
Will you go with me to fight against Moab ?"
And he said , "
I will go up ;
I am as you are ,
my people as your people ,
my horses as your horses ."
*
Then he said , "
Which way shall we go up ?"
And he answered , "
By way of the Wilderness of Edom ."
*
So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom ,
and they marched on that roundabout route seven days ;
and there was no water for the army ,
nor for the animals that followed them .
*
And the king of Israel said , "
Alas !
For the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab ."
*
But Jehoshaphat said , "
Is there no prophet of the LORD here ,
that we may inquire of the LORD by him ?"
So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said , "
Elisha the son of Shaphat 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 .
*
Then Elisha said to the king of Israel , "
What have I to do with you ?
Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother ."
But 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 ."
*
And Elisha said , "
As the LORD of hosts lives ,
before whom I stand ,
surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah ,
I would not look at you ,
nor see you .
*
But now bring me a musician ."
Then it happened ,
when the musician played ,
that the hand of the LORD came upon him .
*
And he said , "
Thus says the LORD : "
Make this valley full of ditches .'
*
For thus says the LORD : "
You shall not see wind ,
nor shall you see rain ;
yet that valley shall be filled with water ,
so that you ,
your cattle ,
and your animals may drink .'
*
And this is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD ;
He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand .
*
Also you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city ,
and shall cut down every good tree ,
and stop up every spring of water ,
and ruin every good piece of land with stones ."
*
Now it happened in the morning ,
when the grain offering was offered ,
that suddenly water came by way of Edom ,
and the land was filled with water .
*
And when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them ,
all who were able to bear arms and older were gathered ;
and they stood at the border .
*
Then they rose up early in the morning ,
and the sun was shining on the water ;
and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood .
*
And they said , "
This is blood ;
the kings have surely struck swords and have killed one another ;
now therefore ,
Moab ,
to the spoil !"
*
So when they came to the camp of Israel ,
Israel rose up and attacked the Moabites ,
so that they fled before them ;
and they entered their land ,
killing the Moabites .
*
Then they destroyed the cities ,
and each man threw a stone on every good piece of land and filled it ;
and they stopped up all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees .
But they left the stones of Kir Haraseth intact .
However the slingers surrounded and attacked it .
*
And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him ,
he took with him seven hundred men who drew swords ,
to break through to the king of Edom ,
but they could not .
*
Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place ,
and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall ;
and there was great indignation against Israel .
So they departed from him and returned to their own land .
*
A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha ,
saying , "
Your servant my husband is dead ,
and you know that your servant feared the LORD .
And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves ."