8 Now Elisha had spoken unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for Jehovah hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. ² And the woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God; and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³ And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. ⁴ Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. ⁵ And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him that was dead, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. ⁶ And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

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⁷ And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, The man of God is come hither. ⁸ And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thy hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of Jehovah by him, saying, Shall I recover of this sickness? ⁹ So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Ben-hadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this sickness? ¹⁰ And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou shalt surely recover; howbeit Jehovah hath showed me that he shall surely die. ¹¹ And he settled his countenance stedfastly upon him, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept. ¹² And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child. ¹³ And Hazael said, But what is thy servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, Jehovah hath showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. ¹⁴ Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master; who said to him, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou wouldest surely recover. ¹⁵ And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.

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¹⁶ And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. ¹⁷ Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸ And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife; and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. ¹⁹ Howbeit Jehovah would not destroy Judah, for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give unto him a lamp ^‍for his children alway.

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²⁰ In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. ²¹ Then Joram passed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites that compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots; and the people fled to their tents. ²² So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then did Libnah revolt at the same time. ²³ And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁴ And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

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²⁵ In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign. ²⁶ Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷ And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as did the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. ²⁸ And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians wounded Joram. ²⁹ And king Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

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9 And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this vial of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. ² And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber. ³ Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not. ⁴ So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵ And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of us all? And he said, To thee, O captain. ⁶ And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of Jehovah, even over Israel. ⁷ And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah, at the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel. ⁹ And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled.

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¹¹ Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man and what his talk was. ¹² And they said, It is false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus spake he to me, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel. ¹³ Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him ^‍on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, Jehu is king.

¹⁶ And it came to pass, as we were going to the place of prayer, that a certain maid having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. ¹⁷ The same following after Paul and us cried out, saying, These men are ^‍servants of the Most High God, who proclaim unto you the way of salvation. ¹⁸ And this she did for many days. But Paul, being sore troubled, turned and said to the spirit, I charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour.

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¹⁹ But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they laid hold on Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers, ²⁰ and when they had brought them unto the ^‍magistrates, they said, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, ²¹ and set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to receive, or to observe, being Romans. ²² And the multitude rose up together against them: and the ^‍magistrates rent their garments off them, and commanded to beat them with rods. ²³ And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: ²⁴ who, having received such a charge, cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. ²⁵ But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison-house were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened; and every one’s bands were loosed. ²⁷ And the jailor, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. ²⁹ And he called for lights and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, ³⁰ and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ³¹ And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. ³² And they spake the word of the Lord unto him, with all that were in his house. ³³ And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, immediately. ³⁴ And he brought them up into his house, and set ^‍food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his house, having believed in God.

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³⁵ But when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. ³⁶ And the jailor reported the words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore come forth, and go in peace. ³⁷ But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Romans, and have cast us into prison; and do they now cast us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and bring us out. ³⁸ And the ^‍serjeants reported these words unto the magistrates: and they feared when they heard that they were Romans; ³⁹ and they came and besought them; and when they had brought them out, they asked them to go away from the city. ⁴⁰ And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

Prayer for deliverance and guidance.

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A Psalm of David.

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143 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah; give ear to my supplications:
In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
² And enter not into judgment with thy servant;
For in thy sight no man living is righteous.
³ For the enemy hath persecuted my soul;
He hath smitten my life down to the ground:
He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
⁴ Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me;
My heart within me is desolate.
⁵ I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all thy doings;
I muse on the work of thy hands.
⁶ I spread forth my hands unto thee:
My soul thirsteth after thee, as a weary land. Selah
⁷ Make haste to answer me, O Jehovah; my spirit faileth:
Hide not thy face from me,
Lest I become like them that go down into the pit.
⁸ Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning;
For in thee do I trust:
Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk;
For I lift up my soul unto thee.
⁹ Deliver me, O Jehovah, from mine enemies:
^‍I flee unto thee to hide me.
¹⁰ Teach me to do thy will;
For thou art my God:
Thy Spirit is good;
Lead me in the land of uprightness.
¹¹ Quicken me, O Jehovah, for thy name’s sake:
In thy righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
¹² And in thy lovingkindness cut off mine enemies,
And destroy all them that afflict my soul;
For I am thy servant.

²⁶ Also to punish the righteous is not good,
Nor to smite the noble for their uprightness.