He answered him, “Go up and prosper; and the LORD will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
16 The king said to him, “How many times do I have to adjure you that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the LORD’s name?”
17 He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. The LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’ ”
18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”
19 Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the LORD’s word. I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 20 The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ One said one thing, and another said another.
21 A spirit came out and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
22 The LORD said to him, ‘How?’
He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
He said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’ 23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.”
24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the LORD’s Spirit go from me to speak to you?”
25 Micaiah said, “Behold, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”
26 The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son. 27 Say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.” ’ ”
28 Micaiah said, “If you return at all in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, all you people!”
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. 30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” The king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.
31 Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, “Don’t fight with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel.”
32 When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely that is the king of Israel!” and they came over to fight against him. Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 When the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 34 A certain man drew his bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armour. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around, and carry me out of the battle, for I am severely wounded.” 35 The battle increased that day. The king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, and died at evening. The blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. 36 A cry went throughout the army about the going down of the sun, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”
37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. 38 They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood where the prostitutes washed themselves, according to the LORD’s word which he spoke.
39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.
41 Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He didn’t turn away from it, doing that which was right in the LORD’s eyes. However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places. 44 Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he fought, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 46 The remnant of the sodomites, that remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land. 47 There was no king in Edom. A deputy ruled. 48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they didn’t go, for the ships wrecked at Ezion Geber. 49 Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat would not. 50 Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in his father David’s city. Jehoram his son reigned in his place.
51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 52 He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, in which he made Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshipped him, and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger in all the ways that his father had done so.
† 1:14: “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
‡ 1:17: When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).
§ 1:17: The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
† 2:6: Sheol is the place of the dead.
‡ 2:9: Sheol is the place of the dead.
§ 2:26: The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”
† 2:33: or, seed
† 4:22: 1 cor is the same as a homer, or about 55.9 U. S. gallons (liquid) or 211 litres or 6 bushels
† 5:11: 20,000 cors would be about 120,000 bushels or about 4.2 megalitres of wheat, which would weigh about 3,270 metric tonnes.
‡ 5:11: 20 cors is about 1,100 gallons or about 4220 litres.
† 6:2: A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.
‡ 6:23: “Cherubim” is plural of “cherub”, an angelic being.
† 7:2: A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.
‡ 7:38: 1 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 litres, so 40 baths was about 224 gallons or 840 litres.
† 9:13: “Cabul” sounds like Hebrew for “good-for-nothing”.
‡ 9:14: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 120 talents is about 3.6 metric tonnes
§ 9:28: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 420 talents is about 12.6 metric tonnes
† 10:11: possibly an Indian sandalwood, with nice grain and a pleasant scent, and good for woodworking
‡ 10:14: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 666 talents is about 20 metric tonnes
§ 10:16: A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 600 shekels is about 6 kilograms or 13.2 pounds or 192 Troy ounces.
† 10:17: A mina is about 600 grams or 1.3 U. S. pounds.
‡ 10:29: A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.
† 14:10: or, male
‡ 14:15: That is, the Euphrates.
† 16:11: or, male
‡ 16:24: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds.
† 18:32: 1 seah is about 7 litres or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks
† 20:39: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds
† 21:21: or, male
2 Kings
The Second Book of Kings
1
1 Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
2 Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper room that was in Samaria, and was sick. So he sent messengers, and said to them, “Go, enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this sickness.”
3 But the LORD’s† angel said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, ‘Is it because there is no God‡ in Israel that you go to enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? 4 Now therefore the LORD says, “You will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.” ’ ” Then Elijah departed.
5 The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, “Why is it that you have returned?”
6 They said to
