Elijah Flees Jezebel

¹Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how qhe had killed all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, r“So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ³Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to sBeersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

⁴But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. tAnd he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” ⁵And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” ⁶And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. ⁷And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” ⁸And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food uforty days and forty nights to vHoreb, the mount of God.

The Lord Speaks to Elijah

⁹There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, wthe word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰He said, “I have been very xjealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, ythrown down your altars, and zkilled your prophets with the sword, aand I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” ¹¹And he said, “Go out and bstand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and ca great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind dan earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹²And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.1 ¹³And when Elijah heard it, ehe wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, fthere came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴He said, x“I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, ythrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” ¹⁵And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. ¹⁶gAnd Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and hElisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. ¹⁷And the one who escapes from ithe sword of Hazael jshall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu kshall Elisha put to death. ¹⁸lYet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not mkissed him.”

The Call of Elisha

¹⁹So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast nhis cloak upon him. ²⁰And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, o“Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” ²¹And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh pwith the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.

Paul's Ministry to the Thessalonians

¹For you yourselves know, brothers,1 that our fcoming to you gwas not in vain. ²But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated hat Philippi, as you know, iwe had boldness in our God jto declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much kconflict. ³For lour appeal does not spring from merror or nimpurity or oany attempt to deceive, ⁴but just as we have been approved by God pto be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not qto please man, but to please God rwho tests our hearts. ⁵sFor we never came with words of flattery,2 as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—tGod is witness. ⁶uNor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, vthough we could have made wdemands as xapostles of Christ. ⁷But we were ygentle3 among you, zlike a nursing mother taking care of her own children. ⁸So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God abut also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

⁹For you remember, brothers, bour labor and toil: we cworked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and dGod also, ehow holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. ¹¹For you know how, flike a father with his children, ¹²we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and gcharged hyou to walk in a manner worthy of God, iwho calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

¹³And jwe also thank God constantly4 for this, that when you received kthe word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it lnot as the word of men5 but as what it really is, the word of God, mwhich is at work in you believers. ¹⁴For you, brothers, nbecame imitators of othe churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For pyou suffered the same things from your own countrymen qas they did from the Jews,6 ¹⁵rwho killed both the Lord Jesus and sthe prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and toppose all mankind ¹⁶uby hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always vto fill up the measure of their sins. But wwrath has come upon them at last!7

Paul's Longing to See Them Again

¹⁷But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, xin person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire yto see you face to face, ¹⁸because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan zhindered us. ¹⁹For what is our hope or ajoy or crown of boasting bbefore our Lord Jesus at his ccoming? Is it not you? ²⁰For you are our glory and joy.

Daniel Taken to Babylon

¹In the third year of athe reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ²And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of bthe vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to cthe land of Shinar, to the house of his god, dand placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. ³Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, ehis chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family1 and of fthe nobility, ⁴youths without gblemish, of good appearance and hskillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to iteach them the literature and language of the jChaldeans. ⁵The king assigned them a daily portion of kthe food that the king ate, and of lthe wine that he drank. They were to be educated for mthree years, and at the end of that time they were to nstand before the king. ⁶Among these were oDaniel, pHananiah, pMishael, and pAzariah of the tribe of Judah. ⁷And ethe chief of the eunuchs qgave them names: rDaniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

Daniel's Faithfulness

⁸But Daniel sresolved that he would not tdefile himself with kthe king's food, or with lthe wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to tdefile himself. ⁹uAnd God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, ¹⁰and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” ¹¹Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹²“Test your servants for vten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat kthe king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” ¹⁴So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. ¹⁵At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate kthe king's food. ¹⁶wSo the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them xvegetables.

¹⁷As for these four youths, yGod gave them learning and zskill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had aunderstanding in all visions and dreams. ¹⁸At the end of bthe time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore cthey stood before the king. ²⁰And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all dthe magicians and eenchanters that were in all his kingdom. ²¹And Daniel fwas there until the first year of gKing Cyrus.

Tell of All His Wondrous Works

¹tOh give thanks to the Lord; ucall upon his name;

vmake known his deeds among the peoples!

²Sing to him, sing praises to him;

wtell of all his wondrous works!

³Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

⁴Seek the Lord and his xstrength;

yseek his presence continually!

⁵Remember the zwondrous works that he has done,

his miracles, and athe judgments he uttered,

⁶O offspring of bAbraham, his servant,

children of Jacob, his cchosen ones!

⁷He is the Lord our God;

his djudgments are in all the earth.

⁸He eremembers his covenant forever,

the word that he commanded, for fa thousand generations,

⁹gthe covenant that he made with Abraham,

his hsworn promise to Isaac,

¹⁰which he confirmed to iJacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

¹¹saying, j“To you I will give the land of Canaan

as kyour portion for an inheritance.”

¹²When they were lfew in number,

of little account, and msojourners in it,

¹³wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

¹⁴he nallowed no one to oppress them;

he orebuked kings on their account,

¹⁵saying, p“Touch not my anointed ones,

do my prophets no harm!”

¹⁶When he qsummoned a famine on the land

and rbroke all supply1 of bread,

¹⁷he had ssent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was tsold as a slave.

¹⁸His ufeet were hurt with fetters;

his neck was put in a collar of iron;

¹⁹until vwhat he had said came to pass,

the word of the Lord wtested him.

²⁰xThe king sent and yreleased him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free;

²¹he zmade him lord of his house

and ruler of all his possessions,

²²to bind2 his princes at his pleasure

and to teach his elders wisdom.

²³Then aIsrael came to Egypt;

Jacob bsojourned in cthe land of Ham.

²⁴And the Lord dmade his people very fruitful

and made them stronger than their foes.

²⁵He eturned their hearts to hate his people,

to fdeal craftily with his servants.

²⁶He gsent Moses, his servant,

and Aaron, hwhom he had chosen.

²⁷iThey performed his signs among them

and miracles in cthe land of Ham.

²⁸He jsent darkness, and made the land dark;

they kdid not rebel3 against his words.

²⁹He turned their waters into blood

and lcaused their fish to die.

³⁰Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in mthe chambers of their kings.

³¹He spoke, and there came nswarms of flies,

oand gnats throughout their country.

³²He gave them hail for rain,

and fiery plightning bolts through their land.

³³He struck down their vines and fig trees,

and qshattered the trees of their country.

³⁴He spoke, and the rlocusts came,

young locusts without number,

³⁵which devoured all the vegetation in their land

and ate up the fruit of their ground.

³⁶He sstruck down all the firstborn in their land,

sthe firstfruits of all their strength.

³⁷Then he brought out Israel with tsilver and gold,

and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.

³⁸uEgypt was glad when they departed,

for vdread of them had fallen upon it.

³⁹He wspread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light by night.

⁴⁰xThey asked, and he ybrought quail,

and gave them zbread from heaven in abundance.

⁴¹He opened the rock, and awater gushed out;

it flowed through bthe desert like a river.

⁴²For he cremembered his holy promise,

and dAbraham, his servant.

⁴³So he brought his people out with joy,

his dchosen ones with esinging.

⁴⁴And he fgave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil,

⁴⁵that they might gkeep his statutes

and hobserve his laws.

iPraise the Lord!