Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible




Now Elisha advised the woman whose son he had brought back to life, "You and your family should go and live somewhere else for a while, for the Lord has decreed that a famine will overtake the land for seven years." So the woman did as the prophet said. She and her family went and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. After seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to ask the king to give her back her house and field. read more.
Now the king was talking to Gehazi, the prophet's servant, and said, "Tell me all the great things which Elisha has done." While Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life, the woman whose son he had brought back to life came to ask the king for her house and field. Gehazi said, "My master, O king, this is the very woman and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life!" The king asked the woman about it, and she gave him the details. The king assigned a eunuch to take care of her request and ordered him, "Give her back everything she owns, as well as the amount of crops her field produced from the day she left the land until now."

Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, "What city are you from?" The person would answer, "I, your servant, am from one of the tribes of Israel."

May the Lord your God be praised because he favored you by placing you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, he made you king so you could make just and right decisions."

For Solomon. O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! Grant the king's son the ability to make fair decisions! Then he will judge your people fairly, and your oppressed ones equitably. The mountains will bring news of peace to the people, and the hills will announce justice. read more.
He will defend the oppressed among the people; he will deliver the children of the poor and crush the oppressor.

If then I am in the wrong and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, but if not one of their charges against me is true, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!" Then, after conferring with his council, Festus replied, "You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go!"

Indeed, the leaders sit there on thrones and make legal decisions, on the thrones of the house of David.

Because I was at a loss how I could investigate these matters, I asked if he were willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges.


After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. While they were staying there many days, Festus explained Paul's case to the king to get his opinion, saying, "There is a man left here as a prisoner by Felix. When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. read more.
I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met his accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the accusation. So after they came back here with me, I did not postpone the case, but the next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought. When his accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the evil deeds I had suspected. Rather they had several points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a man named Jesus who was dead, whom Paul claimed to be alive. Because I was at a loss how I could investigate these matters, I asked if he were willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges. But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of His Majesty the Emperor, I ordered him to be kept under guard until I could send him to Caesar." Agrippa said to Festus, "I would also like to hear the man myself." "Tomorrow," he replied, "you will hear him." So the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience hall, along with the senior military officers and the prominent men of the city. When Festus gave the order, Paul was brought in. Then Festus said, "King Agrippa, and all you who are present here with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish populace petitioned me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting loudly that he ought not to live any longer. But I found that he had done nothing that deserved death, and when he appealed to His Majesty the Emperor, I decided to send him. But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this preliminary hearing I may have something to write. For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without clearly indicating the charges against him."