July
4
1
Kings 19-22
1Ki
19:1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had
killed all the prophets with the sword.
1Ki
19:2 Then Jezebel send a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the
gods do to me, and more also, if I don't make your life as the life
of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
1Ki
19:3 When he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to
Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
1Ki
19:4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and
came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself
that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Yahweh, take away
my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
1Ki
19:5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an
angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat.
1Ki
19:6 He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on
the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and laid down again.
1Ki
19:7 The angel of Yahweh came again the second time, and touched
him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for
you.
1Ki
19:8 He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that
food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the Mount of God.
1Ki
19:9 He came there to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word
of Yahweh came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here,
Elijah?
1Ki
19:10 He said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of
Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant,
thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword: and
I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
1Ki
19:11 He said, Go forth, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.
Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the
mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh
was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Yahweh was
not in the earthquake:
1Ki
19:12 and after the earthquake a fire; but Yahweh was not in the
fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
1Ki
19:13 It was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in
his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave.
Behold, there came a voice to him, and said, What are you doing here,
Elijah?
1Ki
19:14 He said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of
Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant,
thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and
I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
1Ki
19:15 Yahweh said to him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness
of Damascus: and when you come, you shall anoint Hazael to be king
over Syria;
1Ki
19:16 and you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over
Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel
Meholah to be prophet in your place.
1Ki
19:17 It shall happen, that he who escapes from the sword of Hazael
shall Jehu kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall
Elisha kill.
1Ki
19:18 Yet will I leave me
seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal,
and every mouth which has not kissed him.
1Ki
19:19 So he departed there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who
was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen
before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed over to him,
and cast his mantle on him.
1Ki
19:20 He left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me
please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. He
said to him, Go back again; for what have I done to you?
1Ki
19:21 He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and
killed them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen,
and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after
Elijah, and ministered to him.
1Ki
20:1 Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together; and
there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots: and he
went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.
1Ki
20:2 He sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and
said to him, Thus says Ben Hadad,
1Ki
20:3 Your silver and your gold is mine; your wives also and your
children, even the best, are mine.
1Ki
20:4 The king of Israel answered, It is according to your saying, my
lord, O king; I am yours, and all that I have.
1Ki
20:5 The messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben Hadad,
saying, I sent indeed to you, saying, You shall deliver me your
silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children;
1Ki
20:6 but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time,
and they shall search your house, and the houses of your servants;
and it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they shall
put it in their hand, and take it away.
1Ki
20:7 Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and
said, Please notice how this man seeks mischief: for he sent to me
for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my
gold; and I didn't deny him.
1Ki
20:8 All the elders and all the people said to him, Don't listen,
neither consent.
1Ki
20:9 Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, Tell my lord
the king, All that you did send for to your servant at the first I
will do; but this thing I may not do. The messengers departed, and
brought him word again.
1Ki
20:10 Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, The gods do so to me, and
more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all
the people who follow me.
1Ki
20:11 The king of Israel answered, Tell him, Don't let him who girds
on his armor
boast himself as he who puts it off.
1Ki
20:12 It happened, when Ben Hadad
heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the
pavilions, that he said to his servants, "Prepare to attack!"
They prepared to attack the city.
1Ki
20:13 Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said,
Thus says Yahweh, Have you seen all this great multitude? behold, I
will deliver it into your hand this day; and you shall know that I am
Yahweh.
1Ki
20:14 Ahab said, By whom? He said, Thus says Yahweh, By the young
men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin
the battle? He answered, You.
1Ki
20:15 Then he mustered the young men of the princes of the
provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two: and after them
he mustered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being
seven thousand.
1Ki
20:16 They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself
drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who
helped him.
1Ki
20:17 The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first;
and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come
out from Samaria.
1Ki
20:18 He said, Whether they are come out for peace, take them alive,
or whether they are come out for war, taken them alive.
1Ki
20:19 So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of
the provinces, and the army which followed them.
1Ki
20:20 They killed everyone his man; and the Syrians fled, and Israel
pursued them: and Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with
horsemen.
1Ki
20:21 The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and
chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.
1Ki
20:22 The prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him,
Go, strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you do; for at the
return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.
1Ki
20:23 The servants of the king of Syria said to him, Their god is a
god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we: but let us
fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than
they.
1Ki
20:24 Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his
place, and put captains in their room;
1Ki
20:25 and muster 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. He listened to
their voice, and did so.
1Ki
20:26 It happened at the return of the year, that Ben Hadad mustered
the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.
1Ki
20:27 The children of Israel were mustered, and were provisioned,
and went against them: and the children of Israel encamped before
them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the
country.
1Ki
20:28 A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and
said, Thus says Yahweh, Because the Syrians have said, Yahweh is a
god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys; therefore will
I deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know
that I am Yahweh.
1Ki
20:29 They encamped one over against the other seven days. So it
was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children
of Israel killed of the Syrians one hundred thousand footmen in one
day.
1Ki
20:30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell
on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled, and came
into the city, into an inner chamber.
1Ki
20:31 His servants said to him, See now, we have heard that the
kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: please let us put
sackcloth on our bodies, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the
king of Israel. Maybe he will save your life.
1Ki
20:32 So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their
heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Your servant Ben
Hadad says, please let me live. He said, Is he yet alive? he is my
brother.
1Ki
20:33 Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to catch whether
it were his mind; and they said, Your brother Ben Hadad. Then he
said, Go, bring him. Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused
him to come up into the chariot.
1Ki
20:34 Ben Hadad
said to him, The cities which my father took from your father I will
restore; and you shall make streets for you in Damascus, as my father
made in Samaria. I, said Ahab,
will let you go with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him,
and let him go.
1Ki
20:35 A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow
by the word of Yahweh, Please strike me. The man refused to strike
him.
1Ki
20:36 Then said he to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of
Yahweh, behold, as soon as you are departed from me, a lion shall
kill you. As soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and
killed him.
1Ki
20:37 Then he found another man, and said, Please strike me. The man
struck him, smiting and wounding him.
1Ki
20:38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way,
and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes.
1Ki
20:39 As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, Your
servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a man
turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, Keep this man: if by
any means he be missing, then your life shall be for his life, or
else you shall pay a talent of silver.
1Ki
20:40 As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. The king
of Israel said to him, So your judgment shall be; yourself have
decided it.
1Ki
20:41 He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the
king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.
1Ki
20:42 He said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Because you have let go out
of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore
your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.
1Ki
20:43 The king of Israel went to his house sullen and angry, and
came to Samaria.
1Ki
21:1 It happened after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had
a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of
Samaria.
1Ki
21:2 Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may
have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house; and I
will give you for it a better vineyard than it: or, if it seems good
to you, I will give you its worth in money.
1Ki
21:3 Naboth said to Ahab, Yahweh forbid it me, that I should give
the inheritance of my fathers to you.
1Ki
21:4 Ahab came into his house sullen and angry 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. He laid him down on
his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
1Ki
21:5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, Why is your
spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?
1Ki
21:6 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 pleases
you, I will give you another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will
not give you my vineyard.
1Ki
21:7 Jezebel his wife said to him, Do you now govern the kingdom of
Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry: I will
give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
1Ki
21:8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his
seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were
in his city, and
who lived with Naboth.
1Ki
21:9 She wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set
Naboth on high among the people:
1Ki
21:10 and set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them
testify against him, saying, You cursed God and the king. Then carry
him out, and stone him to death.
1Ki
21:11 The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived
in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was
written in the letters which she had sent to them.
1Ki
21:12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the
people.
1Ki
21:13 The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him: and
the base fellows bore witness against him, even against Naboth, in
the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did curse God and the
king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to
death with stones.
1Ki
21:14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is
dead.
1Ki
21:15 It happened, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and
was dead, that 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.
1Ki
21:16 It happened, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab
rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take
possession of it.
1Ki
21:17 The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
1Ki
21:18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in
Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone
down to take possession of it.
1Ki
21:19 You shall speak to him, saying, Thus says Yahweh, Have you
killed and also taken possession? You shall speak to him, saying,
Thus says Yahweh, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth
shall dogs lick your blood, even yours.
1Ki
21:20 Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, my enemy? He answered,
I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is
evil in the sight of Yahweh.
1Ki
21:21 Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you
away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall,
and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel:
1Ki
21:22 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 with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made
Israel to sin.
1Ki
21:23 Of Jezebel also spoke Yahweh, saying, The dogs shall eat
Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel.
1Ki
21:24 Him who dies of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him
who dies in the field shall the birds of the sky eat.
1Ki
21:25 (But there was none like Ahab, who did sell himself to do that
which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, whom Jezebel his wife stirred
up.
1Ki
21:26 He did very abominably in following idols, according to all
that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the children of
Israel.)
1Ki
21:27 It happened, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his
clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in
sackcloth, and went softly.
1Ki
21:28 The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
1Ki
21:29 See how Ahab humbles himself before me? because he humbles
himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but in his
son's days will I bring the evil on his house.
1Ki
22:1 They continued three years without war between Syria and
Israel.
1Ki
22:2 It happened in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of
Judah came down to the king of Israel.
1Ki
22:3 The king of Israel said to his servants, "You know that
Ramoth Gilead is ours, and we are still, and don't take it out of the
hand of the king of Syria?"
1Ki
22:4 He said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to battle to Ramoth
Gilead? Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are, my
people as your people, my horses as your horses.
1Ki
22:5 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Please inquire first
for the word of Yahweh.
1Ki
22:6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about
four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead
to battle, or shall I forbear? They said, Go up; for the Lord will
deliver it into the hand of the king.
1Ki
22:7 But Jehoshaphat said, Isn't there here a prophet of Yahweh
besides, that we may inquire of him?
1Ki
22:8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man by
whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah: but I hate
him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.
Jehoshaphat said, "Don't let the king say so."
1Ki
22:9 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Get
quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.
1Ki
22:10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were
sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place
at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were
prophesying before them.
1Ki
22:11 Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and
said, Thus says Yahweh, With these you shall push the Syrians, until
they are consumed.
1Ki
22:12 All the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth
Gilead, and prosper; for Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the
king.
1Ki
22:13 The messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying,
See now, the words of the prophets declare
good to the king with one mouth: please let your word be like the
word of one of them, and speak good.
1Ki
22:14 Micaiah said, As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that
will I speak.
1Ki
22:15 When he was come to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah,
shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? He
answered him, Go up and prosper; and Yahweh will deliver it into the
hand of the king.
1Ki
22:16 The king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that
you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Yahweh?
1Ki
22:17 He said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep
that have no shepherd: and Yahweh said, These have no master; let
them return every man to his house in peace.
1Ki
22:18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Didn't I tell you that
he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?
1Ki
22:19 Micaiah
said, "Therefore hear the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting
on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his
right hand and on his left.
1Ki
22:20 Yahweh said, 'Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and
fall at Ramoth Gilead?' One said on this manner; and another said on
that manner.
1Ki
22:21 There came forth a spirit, and stood before Yahweh, and said,
'I will entice him.'
1Ki
22:22 Yahweh said to him, 'How?' He said, 'I will go forth, and will
be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' He said, 'You
shall entice him, and shall prevail also: go forth, and do so.'
1Ki
22:23 Now therefore, behold, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the
mouth of all these your prophets; and Yahweh has spoken evil
concerning you."
1Ki
22:24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck
Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of Yahweh
from me to speak to you?
1Ki
22:25 Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see on that day, when you
shall go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.
1Ki
22:26 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;
1Ki
22:27 and say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison,
and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction,
until I come in peace.
1Ki
22:28 Micaiah said, If you return at all in peace, Yahweh has not
spoken by me. He said, Hear, you peoples, all of you.
1Ki
22:29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went
up to Ramoth Gilead.
1Ki
22:30 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.
1Ki
22:31 Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of
his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only
with the king of Israel.
1Ki
22:32 It happened, when the 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.
1Ki
22:33 It happened, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was
not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.
1Ki
22:34 A certain man drew his bow at a venture, and struck the king
of Israel between the joints of the armor: therefore he said to the
driver of his chariot, Turn your hand, and carry me out of the army;
for I am severely wounded.
1Ki
22:35 The battle increased 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.
1Ki
22:36 There went a cry throughout the army about the going down of
the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his country.
1Ki
22:37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried
the king in Samaria.
1Ki
22:38 They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs
licked up his blood (now the prostitutes washed themselves there);
according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke.
1Ki
22:39 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?
1Ki
22:40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in
his place.
1Ki
22:41 Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the
fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.
1Ki
22:42 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.
1Ki
22:43 He walked in all the way of Asa his father; He didn't turn
aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh:
however the high places were not taken away; the people still
sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.
1Ki
22:44 Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
1Ki
22:45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he
showed, and how he warred, aren't they written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Judah?
1Ki
22:46 The remnant of the sodomites, that remained in the days of his
father Asa, he put away out of the land.
1Ki
22:47 There was no king in Edom: a deputy was king.
1Ki
22:48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold:
but they didn't go; for the ships were broken at Ezion Geber.
1Ki
22:49 Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab to Jehoshaphat, Let my
servants go with your servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would
not.
1Ki
22:50 Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his
fathers in the city of David his father; Jehoram his son reigned in
his place.
1Ki
22:51 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.
1Ki
22:52 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, 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.
1Ki
22:53 He served Baal, and worshiped him, and provoked to anger
Yahweh, the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.
