Study Desk

Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were each sitting on his throne, dressed in their [royal] robes, [in an open place] at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

And he said, "I saw all Israel Scattered upon the mountains, Like sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, 'These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace.'"

Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host (army) of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left.

"The LORD said to him, 'How?' And he said, 'I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' Then the LORD said, 'You are to entice him and also succeed. Go and do so.'

Now the king of Aram (Syria) had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, "Do not fight with [anyone, either] small or great, but with [Ahab] the king of Israel alone."

But one man drew a bow at random and struck the king of Israel in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, "Turn around and take me out of the fight, because I have been seriously wounded."

The battle raged that day, and [Ahab] the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans (Syrians). And in the evening he died, and the blood from his wound ran down into the bottom of the chariot.

Then about sundown a resounding cry passed throughout the army, saying, "Every man to his city and every man to his own country!"

They washed the chariot by the pool [on the outskirts] of Samaria, where the prostitutes bathed, and the dogs licked up his blood, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He had spoken.

So Ahab slept with his fathers [in death], and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.

He walked in all the ways of Asa his father, without turning from them, doing right in the sight of the LORD. However, the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, his might which he displayed and how he made war, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

And the remnant of the sodomites (male cult prostitutes) who remained in the days of his father Asa, Jehoshaphat expelled from the land.

Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers [in death] and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David, and Jehoram his son became king in his place.

He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the [idolatrous] way of his father [Ahab] and of his mother [Jezebel], and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.

He served Baal and worshiped him, and he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger, in accordance with everything that his father [Ahab] had done.

Ahaziah [the king of Israel] fell through the lattice (grid) in his upper chamber which was in Samaria, and became sick [from the injury]. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will recover from this sickness."

They answered him, "He was a hairy man with a [wide] leather band bound around his loins." And Ahaziah said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

Then the king sent to Elijah a captain of fifty with his fifty [fighting men to seize the prophet]. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of a hill. And the captain said to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"