Study Desk

Azariah went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you look for Him, He will let you find Him. But if you leave Him, He will leave you.

But in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel. They looked for Him, and He let them find Him.

But you be strong. Do not lose strength of heart. For you will be paid for your work."

But the high places were not taken away from Israel. Yet Asa's heart was without blame all his days.

Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a very large army with war-wagons? But because you trusted in the Lord, He gave them into your hand.

A disease came into Asa's feet in the thirty-ninth year of his rule. His disease was bad. But even in his disease, he did not trust in the Lord, but in the doctors.

But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not another man who speaks for the Lord here whom we may ask?"

The king of Israel said to him, "There is yet one man whom we may ask of the Lord. But I hate him. For he never tells me anything good, only bad. He is Micaiah, the son of Imla." But Jehoshaphat said, "You should not say that."

But Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, I will speak what my God says."

Then the king said to him, "How many times must I tell you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?"

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he would not tell me anything good, but bad?"

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will dress up to look like someone else and go into battle. But you wear your king's clothing." So the king of Israel dressed up to look like someone else, and they went into battle.

Now the king of Syria had told the captains of his war-wagons, "Do not fight with small or great, but only with the king of Israel."

So when the captains of the war-wagons saw Jehoshaphat, they said, "It is the king of Israel." And they turned to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God made them go away from him.

But a certain man happened to shoot an arrow and hit the king of Israel in a joint of the battle-clothes. So the king said to the man on the war-wagon, "Turn around, and take me out of the battle. For I am hurt."

But there is some good in you. For you have destroyed from the land the false goddess Asherah. And you have set your heart to follow God."

And he said to the judges, "Think about what you do. For you do not judge for man, but for the Lord. He is with you when you judge between right and wrong.

O our God, will You not punish them? For we have no power against all these men who are coming against us. We do not know what to do. But our eyes look to You."

He said, "Listen, all Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. The Lord says to you, ‘Do not be afraid or troubled because of these many men. For the battle is not yours but God's.

But the high places were not taken away. The people had not yet set their hearts on the God of their fathers.