Study Desk

And, behold, the prophet of God came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said to him, Go, strengthen yourself, and know, and see what you have to do; for at the beginning of the year the king of Aram will come up against you.

And number for yourself an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot; and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened to their voice, and did so.

And Bar-hadad said to him, The cities which my father took from your father, I will restore; and I will make a market place for you in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then Ahab said, I will send you away with a covenant. So he made a covenant with him and sent him away.

So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, and disguised his face with ashes.

And, behold, as the king was passing by, he cried to the king and said, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a soldier to me, and said, Keep this man; if by any means he be missing, then shall your life be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.

And he said to him, Thus says the LORD, Because you have let go out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life and your people for his people.

And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near to my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to you, I will give you its worth in money.

And Ahab went to his house sad and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food.

And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it, better than it; but he answered, I will not give you my vineyard.

And when Jezebel heard that Naboth was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive but dead.

Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, for he has gone there to possess it.

And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation wherewith you have provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin.

And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray, for the word of the LORD this day.

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go to Ramath-gilead to battle or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the LORD will deliver the Arameans into the hand of the king.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may enquire of the LORD; his name is Micah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

And Zedekiah the son of a Canaanitish woman made for himself horns of iron; and he said, Thus says the LORD: With these you shall pierce the Arameans, until you have destroyed them.

And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramath-gilead and you will triumph; for the LORD shall deliver them into your hands, O king.

So he came to the king. And the king said to him, Micah, shall we go to Ramath-gilead to battle or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go up and be victorious; for the LORD shall deliver them into your hand, O king.

And a certain man drew his bow toward him at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the breastplate; wherefore the king said to the driver of his chariot, Turn around and carry me out of the army; for the pangs of death have come upon me.

And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he did not turn aside from doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD; nevertheless he did not remove the temples of idols; for the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.