Study Desk

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."

But he kept doing the sinful things that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to do.

But soon after the death of Ahab, Mesha rebelled against Israel.

But which way should we go?" "We will march through Edom Desert," Joram replied.

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.

You won't feel any wind or see any rain, but there will be plenty of water for you and your animals.

But when they arrived at Israel's camp, the Israelite soldiers came out and attacked them, until they turned and ran away. Israel's army chased them all the way back to Moab, and even there they kept up the attack.

The Israelites destroyed the Moabite towns. They chopped down the good trees and stopped up the springs of water, then covered the fertile fields with rocks. Finally, the only city left standing was Kir-Hareseth, but soldiers armed with slings surrounded and attacked it.

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.

One day the widow of one of the Lord 's prophets said to Elisha, "You know that before my husband died, he was a follower of yours and a worshiper of the Lord . But he owed a man some money, and now that man is on his way to take my two sons as his slaves."

"Maybe there's something I can do to help," Elisha said. "What do you have in your house?" "Sir, I have nothing but a small bottle of olive oil."

But a few months later, the woman got pregnant. She gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had promised.

But as soon as she got to the top of the mountain, she went over and grabbed Elisha by the feet. Gehazi started toward her to push her away, when Elisha said, "Leave her alone! Don't you see how sad she is? But the Lord hasn't told me why."

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.

Gehazi ran on ahead and laid Elisha's walking stick on the boy's face, but the boy didn't move or make a sound. Gehazi ran back to Elisha and said, "The boy didn't wake up."

One of them went out into the woods to gather some herbs. He found a wild vine and picked as much of its fruit as he could carry, but he didn't know that the fruit was very sour. When he got back, he cut up the fruit and put it in the stew.

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.

But Naaman stormed off, grumbling, "Why couldn't he come out and talk to me? I thought for sure he would stand in front of me and pray to the Lord his God, then wave his hand over my skin and cure me.

"I am a servant of the living Lord ," Elisha answered, "and I swear that I will not take anything from you." Naaman kept begging, but Elisha kept refusing.

But I pray that the Lord will forgive me when I go into the temple of the god Rimmon and bow down there with the king of Syria."