Study Desk

The messengers said to Ahaziah, "A man came up to meet us and told us to go back to the king who sent us and tell him what the Lord says: ‘There is a God in Israel, so why did you send messengers to ask questions of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Since you did this, you will not get up from your bed. You will die!'"

Ahaziah sent a captain and 50 men to Elijah. The captain went to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill. The captain said to Elijah, "Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!'"

Elijah answered the captain of 50, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your 50 men!" So fire came down from heaven and destroyed the captain and his 50 men.

Ahaziah sent another captain with 50 men to Elijah. He said to Elijah, "Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down quickly!'"

Elijah told the captain and his 50 men, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your 50 men!" Then God's fire came down from heaven and destroyed the captain and his 50 men.

Ahaziah sent a third captain with 50 men. The third captain came to Elijah. He fell down on his knees and begged Elijah, saying to him, "Man of God, I ask you, please let my life and the lives of your 50 servants be valuable to you.

Elijah told Ahaziah, "This is what the Lord says: ‘There is a God in Israel, so why did you send messengers to ask questions of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Since you did this, you will not get up from your bed. You will die!'"

After they crossed the river, Elijah said to Elisha, "What do you want me to do for you before God takes me away from you?" Elisha said, "I ask you for a double share of your spirit on me."

He hit the water and said, "Where is the Lord , the God of Elijah?" Just as Elisha hit the water, the water separated to the right and to the left! Then Elisha crossed the river.

When she told the man of God what had happened, Elisha said to her, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt. You and your sons can live on the money that is left."

The woman said to her husband, "Look, I can see that Elisha is a holy man of God. He passes by our house all the time.

Elisha said, "About this time next spring, you will be holding your own baby boy in your arms." The woman said, "No, sir! Man of God, don't lie to me!"

The woman laid the boy on the bed of Elisha, the man of God. Then she shut the door to that room and went outside.

She called to her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and a donkey. Then I will go quickly to get the man of God and come back."

The woman's husband said, "Why would you want to go to the man of God today? It isn't the New Moon or Sabbath day." She said, "Goodbye!"

The woman went to Mount Carmel to get the man of God. The man of God saw the Shunammite woman coming from far away and said to his servant Gehazi, "Look, there's the Shunammite woman!

But the Shunammite woman went up the hill to the man of God. She bowed down and touched Elisha's feet. Gehazi came near to pull her away. But the man of God said to Gehazi, "Leave her alone! She's very upset, and the Lord didn't tell me about it. He hid this news from me."

Then they poured some of the soup for the men to eat. But when they began to eat the soup, they shouted out, "Man of God! There's poison in the pot!" The food tasted like poison, so they could not eat that food.

A man from Baal Shalishah came and brought bread from the first harvest to the man of God. This man brought 20 loaves of barley bread and fresh grain in his sack. Then Elisha said, "Give this food to the people, so that they can eat."

When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes to show he was sad and upset. He said, "Am I God? I don't have the power over life and death. So why did the king of Aram send a man sick with leprosy for me to heal? Think about it, and you will see that it is a trick. The king of Aram is trying to start a fight."