Study Desk

When the messengers returned to Ahaziah, he asked, "Why are you back so soon?"

So at once he sent an army officer and fifty soldiers to meet Elijah. Elijah was sitting on top of a hill at the time. The officer went up to him and said, "Man of God, the king orders you to come down and talk with him."

The angel from the Lord said to Elijah, "Go with him and don't be afraid." So Elijah got up and went with the officer.

Elijah then said to Elisha, "Now the Lord wants me to go to the Jordan River, but you must stay here." Elisha replied, "I swear by the living Lord and by your own life that I will never leave you!" So the two of them walked on together.

After they had reached the other side, Elijah said, "Elisha, the Lord will soon take me away. What can I do for you before that happens?" Elisha answered, "Please give me twice as much of your power as you give the other prophets, so I can be the one who takes your place as their leader."

Elijah's coat had fallen off, so Elisha picked it up and walked back to the Jordan River.

One day the people of Jericho said, "Elisha, you can see that our city is in a good spot. But the water from our spring is so bad that it even keeps our crops from growing."

and disobeyed the Lord by doing wrong. He tore down the stone image his father had made to honor Baal, and so he wasn't as sinful as his parents.

For many years the country of Moab had been controlled by Israel and was forced to pay taxes to the kings of Israel. King Mesha of Moab raised sheep, so he paid the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool from one hundred thousand rams.

So Joram, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom led their troops out. But seven days later, there was no drinking water left for them or their animals.

and he asked Joram, "Why did you come to me? Go talk to the prophets of the foreign gods your parents worshiped." "No," Joram answered. "It was the Lord who led us out here, so that Moab's army could capture us."

King Mesha of Moab saw that he was about to be defeated. So he took along seven hundred soldiers with swords and tried to break through the front line where the Edomite troops were positioned. But he failed.

He then grabbed his oldest son who was to be the next king and sacrificed him as an offering on the city wall. The Israelite troops were so horrified that they left the city and went back home.

Some time later the woman said to her husband, "I'm sure the man who comes here so often is a prophet of God.

The woman called to her husband, "I need to see the prophet. Let me use one of the donkeys. Send a servant along with me, and let me leave now, so I can get back quickly."

But the boy's mother said to Elisha, "I swear by the living Lord and by your own life that I won't leave without you." So Elisha got up and went with them.

A man from the town of Baal-Shalishah brought Elisha some freshly cut grain and twenty loaves of bread made from the first barley that was harvested. Elisha said, "Give it to the people so they can eat."

So the servant served the bread and grain to the people. They ate and still had some left over, just as the Lord had promised.

Naaman was the commander of the Syrian army. The Lord had helped him and his troops defeat their enemies, so the king of Syria respected Naaman very much. Naaman was a brave soldier, but he had leprosy.

As soon as Elisha the prophet heard what had happened, he sent the Israelite king this message: "Why are you so afraid? Send the man to me, so that he will know there is a prophet in Israel."