Rights and Duties of an Apostle

1 Corinthians 9 Am I not a free man? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus our Lord? And aren't you the result of my work for the Lord? ²Even if others do not accept me as an apostle, surely you do! Because of your life in union with the Lord you yourselves are proof of the fact that I am an apostle.
³When people criticize me, this is how I defend myself: ⁴Don't I have the right to be given food and drink for my work? ⁵Don't I have the right to follow the example of the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter, by taking a Christian wife with me on my trips? ⁶Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have to work for our living? ⁷What soldiers ever have to pay their own expenses in the army? What farmers do not eat the grapes from their own vineyard? What shepherds do not use the milk from their own sheep?
⁸I don't have to limit myself to these everyday examples, because the Law says the same thing. ⁹We read in the Law of Moses, "Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh grain." Now, is God concerned about oxen? ¹⁰Didn't he really mean us when he said that? Of course that was written for us. Anyone who plows and anyone who reaps should do their work in the hope of getting a share of the crop. ¹¹We have sown spiritual seed among you. Is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? ¹²If others have the right to expect this from you, don't we have an even greater right?
But we haven't made use of this right. Instead, we have endured everything in order not to put any obstacle in the way of the Good News about Christ. ¹³Surely you know that the men who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and that those who offer the sacrifices on the altar get a share of the sacrifices. ¹⁴In the same way, the Lord has ordered that those who preach the gospel should get their living from it.
¹⁵But I haven't made use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this now in order to claim such rights for myself. I would rather die first! Nobody is going to turn my rightful boast into empty words! ¹⁶I have no right to boast just because I preach the gospel. After all, I am under orders to do so. And how terrible it would be for me if I did not preach the gospel! ¹⁷If I did my work as a matter of free choice, then I could expect to be paid; but I do it as a matter of duty, because God has entrusted me with this task. ¹⁸What pay do I get, then? It is the privilege of preaching the Good News without charging for it, without claiming my rights in my work for the gospel.
¹⁹I am a free man, nobody's slave; but I make myself everybody's slave in order to win as many people as possible. ²⁰While working with the Jews, I live like a Jew in order to win them; and even though I myself am not subject to the Law of Moses, I live as though I were when working with those who are, in order to win them. ²¹In the same way, when working with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, outside the Jewish Law, in order to win Gentiles. This does not mean that I don't obey God's law; I am really under Christ's law. ²²Among the weak in faith I become weak like one of them, in order to win them. So I become all things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever means are possible.
²³All this I do for the gospel's sake, in order to share in its blessings. ²⁴Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize. ²⁵Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever. ²⁶That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches. ²⁷I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.

The Second Book of
KINGS

Elijah and King Ahaziah

2 Kings 1 After the death of King Ahab of Israel the country of Moab rebelled against Israel.
²King Ahaziah of Israel fell off the balcony on the roof of his palace in Samaria and was seriously injured. So he sent some messengers to consult Baalzebub, the god of the Philistine city of Ekron, in order to find out whether or not he would recover. ³But an angel of the LORD commanded Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe, to go and meet the messengers of King Ahaziah and ask them, "Why are you going to consult Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Is it because you think there is no god in Israel? ⁴Tell the king that the LORD says, 'You will not recover from your injuries; you will die!'"
Elijah did as the LORD commanded, ⁵and the messengers returned to the king. "Why have you come back?" he asked.
⁶They answered, "We were met by a man who told us to come back and tell you that the LORD says to you, 'Why are you sending messengers to consult Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Is it because you think there is no god in Israel? You will not recover from your injuries; you will die!'"
⁷"What did the man look like?" the king asked.
⁸"He was wearing a cloak made of animal skins, tied with a leather belt," they answered.
"It's Elijah!" the king exclaimed.
⁹Then he sent an officer with fifty men to get Elijah. The officer found him sitting on a hill and said to him, "Man of God, the king orders you to come down."
¹⁰"If I am a man of God," Elijah answered, "may fire come down from heaven and kill you and your men!" At once fire came down and killed the officer and his men.
¹¹The king sent another officer with fifty men, who went up and said to Elijah, "Man of God, the king orders you to come down at once!"
¹²"If I am a man of God," Elijah answered, "may fire come down from heaven and kill you and your men!" At once the fire of God came down and killed the officer and his men.
¹³Once more the king sent an officer with fifty men. He went up the hill, fell on his knees in front of Elijah, and pleaded, "Man of God, be merciful to me and my men. Spare our lives! ¹⁴The two other officers and their men were killed by fire from heaven; but please be merciful to me!"
¹⁵The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him, and don't be afraid." So Elijah went with the officer to the king ¹⁶and said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because you sent messengers to consult Baalzebub, the god of Ekron--as if there were no god in Israel to consult--you will not get well; you will die!'"
¹⁷Ahaziah died, as the LORD had said through Elijah. Ahaziah had no sons, so his brother Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
¹⁸Everything else that King Ahaziah did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel.

Elijah Is Taken Up to Heaven

2 Kings 2 The time came for the LORD to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha set out from Gilgal, ²and on the way Elijah said to Elisha, "Now stay here; the LORD has ordered me to go to Bethel."
But Elisha answered, "I swear by my loyalty to the living LORD and to you that I will not leave you." So they went on to Bethel.
³A group of prophets who lived there went to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master away from you today?"
"Yes, I know," Elisha answered. "But let's not talk about it."
⁴Then Elijah said to Elisha, "Now stay here; the LORD has ordered me to go to Jericho."
But Elisha answered, "I swear by my loyalty to the living LORD and to you that I will not leave you." So they went on to Jericho.
⁵A group of prophets who lived there went to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master away from you today?"
"Yes, I know," Elisha answered. "But let's not talk about it."
⁶Then Elijah said to Elisha, "Now stay here; the LORD has ordered me to go to the Jordan River."
But Elisha answered, "I swear by my loyalty to the living LORD and to you that I will not leave you." So they went on, ⁷and fifty of the prophets followed them to the Jordan. Elijah and Elisha stopped by the river, and the fifty prophets stood a short distance away. ⁸Then Elijah took off his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water with it; the water divided, and he and Elisha crossed to the other side on dry ground. ⁹There, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what you want me to do for you before I am taken away."
"Let me receive the share of your power that will make me your successor," Elisha answered.
¹⁰"That is a difficult request to grant," Elijah replied. "But you will receive it if you see me as I am being taken away from you; if you don't see me, you won't receive it."
¹¹They kept talking as they walked on; then suddenly a chariot of fire pulled by horses of fire came between them, and Elijah was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind. ¹²Elisha saw it and cried out to Elijah, "My father, my father! Mighty defender of Israel! You are gone!" And he never saw Elijah again.
In grief Elisha tore his cloak in two. ¹³Then he picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴He struck the water with Elijah's cloak and said, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" Then he struck the water again, and it divided, and he walked over to the other side. ¹⁵The fifty prophets from Jericho saw him and said, "The power of Elijah is on Elisha!" They went to meet him, bowed down before him, ¹⁶and said, "There are fifty of us here, all strong men. Let us go and look for your master. Maybe the spirit of the LORD has carried him away and left him on some mountain or in some valley."
"No, you must not go," Elisha answered.
¹⁷But they insisted until he gave in and let them go. The fifty of them went and looked high and low for Elijah for three days, but didn't find him. ¹⁸Then they returned to Elisha, who had waited at Jericho, and he said to them, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"

Miracles of Elisha

¹⁹Some men from Jericho went to Elisha and said, "As you know, sir, this is a fine city, but the water is bad and causes miscarriages."
²⁰"Put some salt in a new bowl and bring it to me," he ordered. They brought it to him, ²¹and he went to the spring, threw the salt in the water, and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'I make this water pure, and it will not cause any more deaths or miscarriages.'" ²²And that water has been pure ever since, just as Elisha said it would be.
²³Elisha left Jericho to go to Bethel, and on the way some boys came out of a town and made fun of him. "Get out of here, baldy!" they shouted.
²⁴Elisha turned around, glared at them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys to pieces.
²⁵Elisha went on to Mount Carmel and later returned to Samaria.

A Vision of Locusts

Amos 7 I had a vision from the Sovereign LORD. In it I saw him create a swarm of locusts just after the king's share of the hay had been cut and the grass was starting to grow again. ²In my vision I saw the locusts eat up every green thing in the land, and then I said, "Sovereign LORD, forgive your people! How can they survive? They are so small and weak!"
³The LORD changed his mind and said, "What you saw will not take place."

A Vision of Fire

⁴I had another vision from the Sovereign LORD. In it I saw him preparing to punish his people with fire. The fire burned up the great ocean under the earth and started to burn up the land. ⁵Then I said, "Stop, O Sovereign LORD! How can your people survive? They are so small and weak!"
⁶The LORD changed his mind again and said, "This will not take place either."

A Vision of a Plumb Line

⁷I had another vision from the LORD. In it I saw him standing beside a wall that had been built with the use of a plumb line, and there was a plumb line in his hand. ⁸He asked me, "Amos, what do you see?"
"A plumb line," I answered.
Then he said, "I am using it to show that my people are like a wall that is out of line. I will not change my mind again about punishing them. ⁹The places where Isaac's descendants worship will be destroyed. The holy places of Israel will be left in ruins. I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to an end."

Amos and Amaziah

¹⁰Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, then sent a report to King Jeroboam of Israel: "Amos is plotting against you among the people. His speeches will destroy the country. ¹¹This is what he says: 'Jeroboam will die in battle, and the people of Israel will be taken away from their land into exile.'"
¹²Amaziah then said to Amos, "That's enough, prophet! Go on back to Judah and do your preaching there. Let them pay you for it. ¹³Don't prophesy here at Bethel any more. This is the king's place of worship, the national temple."
¹⁴Amos answered, "I am not the kind of prophet who prophesies for pay. I am a herdsman, and I take care of fig trees. ¹⁵But the LORD took me from my work as a shepherd and ordered me to come and prophesy to his people Israel. ¹⁶So now listen to what the LORD says. You tell me to stop prophesying, to stop raving against the people of Israel. ¹⁷And so, Amaziah, the LORD says to you, 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your children will be killed in war. Your land will be divided up and given to others, and you yourself will die in a heathen country. And the people of Israel will certainly be taken away from their own land into exile.'"