1 Heb. a threshingfloor. said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah. shall 'entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall 1Or, deceive at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this man21 ner; and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Heb. the 22 LORD, and said, I will entice him. And the spirit. LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also: go 23 forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets; and the LORD hath spoken 24 evil concerning thee. Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the spirit 25 of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber 26 to hide thyself. And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's 27 son; and say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until 28 I come in peace. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, 'Hear, ye peoples, all See Micah i. of you. 29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the 30 king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel dis31 guised himself, and went into the battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the 32 king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the 3 Or, from chamber chamber to 2. 1 Heb. in his simplicity. 2 Or, the lower armour and the breastplate captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel; and they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. And it came to pass, 33 when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. And a certain man 34 drew his bow 'at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between 'the joints of the harness : wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded. And the battle in- 35 creased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. And there went a 36 cry throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his country. So the king died, 37 and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. And they washed the 38 chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs Or, and they licked up his blood; (now the harlots washed washed the armour 4 See 2 Chr. xx. 31, &c. themselves there;) according unto the word of the LORD which he spake. Now the rest of the 39 acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Ahab 40 slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to 41 reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. Jehoshaphat was thirty and 42 five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in all the way of 43 Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt in44 cense in the high places. And Jehoshaphat made 45 peace with the king of Israel. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of 46 Judah? And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, 47 he put away out of the land. And there was 48 no king in Edom: a deputy was king. Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold but they went not; for the ships were 49 broken at Ezion-geber. Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jeho50 shaphat would not. 'And Jehoshaphat slept See 2 Chr. with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. 51 1 xxi. 1. 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 52 years over Israel. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, 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, 53 'wherein he made Israel to sin. And he served Or, who Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD, the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done. made THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 2 AND Moab rebelled against Israel after the 11 death of Ahab. And Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this sickness. But the angel of the LORD said 3 to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus saith the 4 LORD, Thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed. And the messengers 5 returned unto him, and he said unto them, Why is it that ye are returned? And they said unto 6 him, There came up a man to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And he said unto them, What 7 manner of man was he which came up to meet |