Moab Rebels Against Israel

1 ^fIn the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the ^gpillar of Baal ^hthat his father had made. 3 Nevertheless, he clung to ⁱthe sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^jwhich he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, ^kand he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. 5 But ^lwhen Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. 7 And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. ^mI am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 8 Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”

9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and ⁿthe king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. 10 Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! ^oThe Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 11 ^pAnd Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the king of Israel’s servants answered, ^q“Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, ^rwho poured water on the hands of Elijah.” 12 And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, ^s“What have I to do with you? Go to ^tthe prophets of your father and to ^uthe prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is ^othe Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” 14 And Elisha said, ^v“As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. 15 But now ^wbring me a musician.” And when the musician played, ^xthe hand of the Lord came upon him. 16 And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ 17 For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ 18 This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, 19 and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water ^yand ruin every good piece of land with stones.” 20 The next morning, about the time of ^zoffering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.

21 When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border. 22 And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. 23 And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” 24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went.¹ 25 And they overthrew the cities, and ^aon every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in ^bKir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. 26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 ^cswordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. 27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place ^dand offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

Pray for Us

1 Finally, brothers,^{1 j}pray for us, that ^kthe word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored,² as happened among you, 2 and ^lthat we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For ^mnot all have faith. 3 But ⁿthe Lord is faithful. He will establish you and ^oguard you against ^pthe evil one.³ 4 And ^qwe have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. 5 May the Lord ^rdirect your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Warning Against Idleness

6 Now we command you, brothers, ^sin the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^tthat you keep away from any ^ubrother ^vwho is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know ^whow you ought to imitate us, because ^xwe were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but ^ywith toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was ^znot because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves ^aan example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: ^bIf anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you ^cwalk in idleness, not busy at work, but ^dbusybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.⁴

13 As for you, brothers, ^edo not grow weary in doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and ^fhave nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 ^gDo not regard him as an enemy, but ^hwarn him as a brother.

Benediction

16 Now may ⁱthe Lord of peace himself ^jgive you peace at all times in every way. ^kThe Lord be with you all.

17 I, Paul, write ^lthis greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. 18 ^mThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts

1 In the first year of ^pBelshazzar king of Babylon, ^qDaniel saw a dream and ^rvisions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. 2 Daniel declared,¹ “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, ^sthe four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great beasts ^tcame up out of the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. 5 And behold, ^uanother beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ 6 After this I looked, and behold, another, like a ^vleopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and ^wdominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, ^xterrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; ^xit devoured and broke in pieces ^xand stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and ^yit had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, ^zthere came up among them another horn, a little one, ^zbefore which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and ^aa mouth speaking great things.

The Ancient of Days Reigns

9 “As I looked,

11 “I looked then because of the sound of ^athe great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, ^mthe beast was killed, and its body destroyed ^mand given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, ⁿtheir dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

13 “I saw in the night visions,

Daniel’s Vision Interpreted

15 “As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me² was anxious, and ^sthe visions of my head alarmed me. 16 I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things. 17 ^t‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. 18 But ^uthe saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’

19 “Then I desired to know the truth about ^vthe fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, 20 ^wand about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. 21 As I looked, this horn ^xmade war with the saints and prevailed over them, 22 until the ^yAncient of Days came, and ^ujudgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when ^uthe saints possessed the kingdom.

23 “Thus he said: ‘As for ^vthe fourth beast,

28 “Here is the end of the matter. ^hAs for me, Daniel, my ⁱthoughts greatly alarmed me, ^jand my color changed, but ^kI kept the matter in my heart.”

Tremble at the Presence of the Lord

To Your Name Give Glory