Our Father

Advent Guide: You Belong

Thankful Through the Struggle

Embracing Wonder: A 5-Week Advent Devotional From Matthew West

5 Spiritual Practices for Healing and Transformation

Giving Thanks in Every Season

Moving Toward Each Other in the Middle of a Divisive World

Daily Reading Plan With Christian Mael (December)

El-Roi the God Who Sees Me

Vote With Vision: Praying God’s Will Over Elections

New International Version

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="1KI.16.29+1KI.16.30+1KI.16.31+1KI.16.32+1KI.16.33+1KI.16.34">
 <div class="p">29In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. 31He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.</div><div class="p"> 34In Ahab&#8217;s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun.</div>
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The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch18" data-usfm="1KI.18">
 <div class="label">18</div><div class="s1">Elijah and Obadiah</div><div class="p"> 1After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: &#8220;Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.&#8221; 2So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.</div><div class="p">Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 4While Jezebel was killing off the Lord&#8217;s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5Ahab had said to Obadiah, &#8220;Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.&#8221; 6So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.</div><div class="p"> 7As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, &#8220;Is it really you, my lord Elijah?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Go tell your master, &#8216;Elijah is here.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;What have I done wrong,&#8221; asked Obadiah, &#8220;that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11But now you tell me to go to my master and say, &#8216;Elijah is here.&#8217; 12I don&#8217;t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn&#8217;t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 13Haven&#8217;t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord&#8217;s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14And now you tell me to go to my master and say, &#8216;Elijah is here.&#8217; He will kill me!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Elijah said, &#8220;As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Elijah on Mount Carmel</div><div class="p"> 16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17When he saw Elijah, he said to him, &#8220;Is that you, you troubler of Israel?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18&#8220;I have not made trouble for Israel,&#8221; Elijah replied. &#8220;But you and your father&#8217;s family have. You have abandoned the Lord&#8217;s commands and have followed the Baals. 19Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel&#8217;s table.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21Elijah went before the people and said, &#8220;How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But the people said nothing.</div><div class="p"> 22Then Elijah said to them, &#8220;I am the only one of the Lord&#8217;s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23Get two bulls for us. Let Baal&#8217;s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire&#8212;he is God.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then all the people said, &#8220;What you say is good.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, &#8220;Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.&#8221; 26So they took the bull given them and prepared it.</div><div class="p">Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. &#8220;Baal, answer us!&#8221; they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.</div><div class="p"> 27At noon Elijah began to taunt them. &#8220;Shout louder!&#8221; he said. &#8220;Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.&#8221; 28So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.</div><div class="p"> 30Then Elijah said to all the people, &#8220;Come here to me.&#8221; They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, &#8220;Your name shall be Israel.&#8221; 32With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs#18:32 That is, probably about 24 pounds or about 11 kilograms of seed. 33He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, &#8220;Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34&#8220;Do it again,&#8221; he said, and they did it again.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Do it a third time,&#8221; he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.</div><div class="p"> 36At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: &#8220;Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.</div><div class="p"> 39When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, &#8220;The Lord&#8212;he is God! The Lord&#8212;he is God!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 40Then Elijah commanded them, &#8220;Seize the prophets of Baal. Don&#8217;t let anyone get away!&#8221; They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.</div><div class="p"> 41And Elijah said to Ahab, &#8220;Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.&#8221; 42So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.</div><div class="p"> 43&#8220;Go and look toward the sea,&#8221; he told his servant. And he went up and looked.</div><div class="p">&#8220;There is nothing there,&#8221; he said.</div><div class="p">Seven times Elijah said, &#8220;Go back.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 44The seventh time the servant reported, &#8220;A cloud as small as a man&#8217;s hand is rising from the sea.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So Elijah said, &#8220;Go and tell Ahab, &#8216;Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 45Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch19" data-usfm="1KI.19">
 <div class="label">19</div><div class="s1">Elijah Flees to Horeb</div><div class="p"> 1Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, &#8220;May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Elijah was afraid#19:3 Or Elijah saw and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4while he himself went a day&#8217;s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. &#8220;I have had enough, Lord,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.&#8221; 5Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.</div><div class="p">All at once an angel touched him and said, &#8220;Get up and eat.&#8221; 6He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.</div><div class="p"> 7The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, &#8220;Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.&#8221; 8So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9There he went into a cave and spent the night.</div><div class="s1">The Lord Appears to Elijah</div><div class="p">And the word of the Lord came to him: &#8220;What are you doing here, Elijah?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10He replied, &#8220;I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11The Lord said, &#8220;Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.</div><div class="p">Then a voice said to him, &#8220;What are you doing here, Elijah?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14He replied, &#8220;I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15The Lord said to him, &#8220;Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel&#8212;all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Call of Elisha</div><div class="p"> 19So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. &#8220;Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and then I will come with you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Go back,&#8221; Elijah replied. &#8220;What have I done to you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1KI">
 <div class="chapter ch21" data-usfm="1KI.21.1+1KI.21.2+1KI.21.3+1KI.21.4+1KI.21.5+1KI.21.6+1KI.21.7+1KI.21.8+1KI.21.9+1KI.21.10+1KI.21.11+1KI.21.12+1KI.21.13+1KI.21.14+1KI.21.15+1KI.21.16">
 <div class="p">1Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2Ahab said to Naboth, &#8220;Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3But Naboth replied, &#8220;The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, &#8220;I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.&#8221; He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.</div><div class="p"> 5His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, &#8220;Why are you so sullen? Why won&#8217;t you eat?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6He answered her, &#8220;Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, &#8216;Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.&#8217; But he said, &#8216;I will not give you my vineyard.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Jezebel his wife said, &#8220;Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I&#8217;ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8So she wrote letters in Ahab&#8217;s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth&#8217;s city with him. 9In those letters she wrote:</div><div class="pm">&#8220;Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 10But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth&#8217;s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. 12They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 13Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, &#8220;Naboth has cursed both God and the king.&#8221; So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. 14Then they sent word to Jezebel: &#8220;Naboth has been stoned to death.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, &#8220;Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.&#8221; 16When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth&#8217;s vineyard.</div><div class="p"> </div>
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 <div class="pi1">20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. </div>
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 <div class="q1">5Trust in the Lord with all your heart</div><div class="q2">and lean not on your own understanding;</div><div class="q1"> 6in all your ways submit to him,</div><div class="q2">and he will make your paths straight.#3:6 Or will direct your paths</div>
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