So all the people of Israel, from one end of the country to the other, knew that Samuel was indeed a prophet of the LORD.

so he sent some men to arrest him. They saw the group of prophets dancing and shouting, with Samuel as their leader. Then the spirit of God took control of Saul's men, and they also began to dance and shout.

A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, "In the name of the LORD, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so."

and when Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets, Obadiah took a hundred of them, hid them in caves in two groups of fifty, and provided them with food and water.)

anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.

Meanwhile, a prophet went to King Ahab and said, "The LORD says, 'Don't be afraid of that huge army! I will give you victory over it today, and you will know that I am the LORD.' "

At the LORD's command a member of a group of prophets ordered a fellow prophet to hit him. But he refused,

The prophet tore the cloth from his face, and at once the king recognized him as one of the prophets.

Ahab answered, "There is one more, Micaiah son of Imlah. But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad." "You shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.

and 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.

Then 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.

One day the group of prophets that Elisha was in charge of complained to him, "The place where we live is too small!

The LORD had sent his messengers and prophets to warn Israel and Judah: "Abandon your evil ways and obey my commands, which are contained in the Law I gave to your ancestors and which I handed on to you through my servants the prophets."

The LORD, the God of their ancestors, had continued to send prophets to warn his people, because he wanted to spare them and the Temple.

Above all else, however, remember that none of us can explain by ourselves a prophecy in the Scriptures.

For no prophetic message ever came just from the human will, but people were under the control of the Holy Spirit as they spoke the message that came from God.

to give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Any of you, male or female, who make a special vow to become a nazirite and dedicate yourself to the LORD

Be sure not to drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food;

Then the woman went and told her husband, "A man of God has come to me, and he looked as frightening as the angel of God. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name.

Our princes were undefiled and pure as snow, vigorous and strong, glowing with health.

And so, Your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you.

During the time when Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife's name was Elizabeth; she also belonged to a priestly family.

They had no children because Elizabeth could not have any, and she and Zechariah were both very old.

According to the custom followed by the priests, he was chosen by lot to burn incense on the altar. So he went into the Temple of the Lord,

An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar where the incense was burned.

But the angel said to him, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You are to name him John.

John will be great in the Lord's sight. He must not drink any wine or strong drink. From his very birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit,

He will go ahead of the Lord, strong and mighty like the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again; he will turn disobedient people back to the way of thinking of the righteous; he will get the Lord's people ready for him."

So now my friend says, "You people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me.

Is there anything I failed to do for it? Then why did it produce sour grapes and not the good grapes I expected?

The LORD says: "What accusation did your ancestors bring against me? What made them turn away from me? They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

People of Israel, listen to what I am saying. Have I been like a desert to you, like a dark and dangerous land? Why, then, do you say that you will do as you please, that you will never come back to me?

The LORD says, "My people, what have I done to you? How have I been a burden to you? Answer me.

I brought you out of Egypt; I rescued you from slavery; I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.

Amaziah then said to Amos, "That's enough, prophet! Go on back to Judah and do your preaching there. Let them pay you for it.

Don't prophesy here at Bethel any more. This is the king's place of worship, the national temple."

They tell the prophets to keep quiet. They say, "Don't talk to us about what's right. Tell us what we want to hear. Let us keep our illusions.

Get out of our way and stop blocking our path. We don't want to hear about your holy God of Israel."

The people of Anathoth wanted me killed, and they told me that they would kill me if I kept on proclaiming the LORD's message.

Then the priests and the prophets said to the leaders and to the people, "This man deserves to be sentenced to death because he has spoken against our city. You heard him with your own ears."

The people preach at me and say, "Don't preach at us. Don't preach about all that. God is not going to disgrace us.

When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest.

Again the man sent other slaves, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and we will get his property!'

So they called them back in and told them that under no condition were they to speak or to teach in the name of Jesus.

"We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of this man," he said; "but see what you have done! You have spread your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you want to make us responsible for his death!"

"How stubborn you are!" Stephen went on to say. "How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit!

who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us. How displeasing they are to God! How hostile they are to everyone!

They even tried to stop us from preaching to the Gentiles the message that would bring them salvation. In this way they have brought to completion all the sins they have always committed. And now God's anger has at last come down on them!