1Ki 20:1 Now Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got all his army together, and thirty-two kings with him, and horses and carriages of war; he went up and made war on Samaria, shutting it in.
1Ki 20:2 And he sent representatives into the town to Ahab, king of Israel;
1Ki 20:3 And they said to him, Ben-hadad says, Your silver and your gold are mine; and your wives and children are mine.
1Ki 20:4 And the king of Israel sent him an answer saying, As you say, my lord king, I am yours with all I have.
1Ki 20:5 Then the representatives came back again, and said, These are the words of Ben-hadad: I sent to you saying, Give up to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children;
1Ki 20:6 But I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, to make a search through your house and the houses of your people, and everything which is pleasing in your eyes they will take away in their hands.
1Ki 20:7 Then the king of Israel sent for all the responsible men of the land, and said, Now will you take note and see the evil purpose of this man: he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I did not keep them back.
1Ki 20:8 And all the responsible men and the people said to him, Do not give attention to him or do what he says.
1Ki 20:9 So he said to the representatives of Ben-hadad, Say to my lord the king, All the orders you sent the first time I will do; but this thing I may not do. And the representatives went back with this answer.
1Ki 20:10 Then Ben-hadad sent to him, saying, May the gods’ punishment be on me if there is enough of the dust of Samaria for all the people at my feet to take some in their hands.
1Ki 20:11 And the king of Israel said in answer, Say to him, The time for loud talk is not when a man is putting on his arms, but when he is taking them off.
1Ki 20:12 Now when this answer was given to Ben-hadad, he was drinking with the kings in the tents, and he said to his men, Take up your positions. So they put themselves in position for attacking the town.
1Ki 20:13 Then a prophet came up to Ahab, king of Israel, and said, The Lord says, Have you seen all this great army? See, I will give it into your hands today, and you will see that I am the Lord.
1Ki 20:14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, The Lord says, By the servants of the chiefs who are over the divisions of the land. Then he said, By whom is the fighting to be started? And he made answer, By you.
1Ki 20:15 Then he got together the servants of all the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land, two hundred and thirty-two of them; and after them, he got together all the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand.
1Ki 20:16 And in the middle of the day they went out. But Ben-hadad was drinking in the tents with the thirty-two kings who were helping him.
1Ki 20:17 And the servants of the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land went forward first; and when Ben-hadad sent out, they gave him the news, saying, Men have come out from Samaria.
1Ki 20:18 And he said, If they have come out for peace, take them living, and if they have come out for war, take them living.
1Ki 20:19 So the servants of the chiefs of the divisions of the land went out of the town, with the army coming after them.
1Ki 20:20 And every one of them put his man to death, and the Aramaeans went in flight with Israel after them; and Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got away safely on a horse with his horsemen.
1Ki 20:21 And the king of Israel went out and took the horses and the war-carriages, and made great destruction among the Aramaeans.
1Ki 20:22 Then the prophet came up to the king of Israel, and said to him, Now make yourself strong, and take care what you do, or a year from now the king of Aram will come up against you again.
1Ki 20:23 Then the king of Aram’s servants said to him, Their god is a god of the hills; that is why they were stronger than we: but if we make an attack on them in the lowlands, we will certainly be stronger than they.
1Ki 20:24 This is what you have to do: take away the kings from their positions, and put captains in their places;
1Ki 20:25 And get together another army like the one which came to destruction, horse for horse, and carriage for carriage; and let us make war on them in the lowlands, and certainly we will be stronger than they. And he gave ear to what they said, and did so.
1Ki 20:26 So, a year later, Ben-hadad got the Aramaeans together and went up to Aphek to make war on Israel.
1Ki 20:27 And the children of Israel got themselves together, and food was made ready and they went against them; the tents of the children of Israel were like two little flocks of goats before them, but all the country was full of the Aramaeans.
1Ki 20:28 And a man of God came up and said to the king of Israel, The Lord says, Because the Aramaeans have said, The Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys; I will give all this great army into your hands, and you will see that I am the Lord.
1Ki 20:29 Now the two armies kept their positions facing one another for seven days. And on the seventh day the fight was started; and the children of Israel put to the sword a hundred thousand Aramaean footmen in one day.
1Ki 20:30 But the rest went in flight to Aphek, into the town, where a wall came down on the twenty-seven thousand who were still living. And Ben-hadad went in flight into the town, into an inner room.
1Ki 20:31 Then his servants said to him, It is said that the kings of Israel are full of mercy: let us then put on haircloth, and cords on our heads, and go to the king of Israel; it may be that he will give you your life.
1Ki 20:32 So they put on haircloth, and cords on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says, Let me now keep my life. And he said, Is he still living? he is my brother.
1Ki 20:33 Now the men took it as a sign, and quickly took up his words; and they said, Ben-hadad is your brother. Then he said, Go and get him. So Ben-hadad came out to him and he made him get up into his carriage.
1Ki 20:34 And Ben-hadad said to him, The towns my father took from your father I will give back; and you may make streets for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria. And as for me, at the price of this agreement you will let me go. So he made an agreement with him and let him go.
1Ki 20:35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbour by the word of the Lord, Give me a wound. But the man would not.
1Ki 20:36 Then he said to him, Because you have not given ear to the voice of the Lord, straight away when you have gone from me a lion will put you to death. And when he had gone, straight away a lion came rushing at him and put him to death.
1Ki 20:37 Then he came across another man, and said, Give me a wound. And the man gave him a blow wounding him.
1Ki 20:38 So the prophet went away, and pulling his head-band over his eyes to keep his face covered, took his place by the road waiting for the king.
1Ki 20:39 And when the king went by, crying out to him he said, Your servant went out into the fight; and a man came out to me with another man and said, Keep this man: if by any chance he gets away, your life will be the price of his life, or you will have to give a talent of silver in payment.
1Ki 20:40 But while your servant was turning this way and that, he was gone. Then the king of Israel said to him, You are responsible; you have given the decision against yourself.
1Ki 20:41 Then he quickly took the head-band from his eyes; and the king of Israel saw that he was one of the prophets.
1Ki 20:42 And he said to him, These are the words of the Lord: Because you have let go from your hands the man whom I had put to the curse, your life will be taken for his life, and your people for his people.
1Ki 20:43 Then the king of Israel went back to his house, bitter and angry, and came to Samaria.
1Ki 21:1 Now Naboth the Jezreelite had a vine-garden in Jezreel, near the house of Ahab, king of Samaria.
1Ki 21:2 And Ahab said to Naboth, Give me your vine-garden so that I may have it for a garden of sweet plants, for it is near my house; and let me give you a better vine-garden in exchange, or, if it seems good to you, let me give you its value in money.
1Ki 21:3 But Naboth said to Ahab, By the Lord, far be it from me to give you the heritage of my fathers.
1Ki 21:4 So Ahab came into his house bitter and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, I will not give you the heritage of my fathers. And stretching himself on the bed with his face turned away, he would take no food.
1Ki 21:5 But Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said, Why is your spirit so bitter that you have no desire for food?
1Ki 21:6 And he said to her, Because I was talking to Naboth the Jezreelite, and I said to him, Let me have your vine-garden for a price, or, if it is pleasing to you, I will give you another vine-garden for it: and he said, I will not give you my vine-garden.
1Ki 21:7 Then Jezebel, his wife, said, Are you now the ruler of Israel? Get up, take food, and let your heart be glad; I will give you the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite.
1Ki 21:8 So she sent a letter in Ahab’s name, stamped with his stamp, to the responsible men and the chiefs who were in authority with Naboth.
1Ki 21:9 And in the letter she said, Let a time of public sorrow be fixed, and put Naboth at the head of the people;
1Ki 21:10 And get two good-for-nothing persons to come before him and give witness that he has been cursing God and the king. Then take him out and have him stoned to death.
1Ki 21:11 So the responsible men and the chiefs who were in authority in his town, did as Jezebel had said in the letter she sent them.
1Ki 21:12 They gave orders for a day of public sorrow, and put Naboth at the head of the people.
1Ki 21:13 And the two good-for-nothing persons came in and took their seats before him and gave witness against Naboth, in front of the people, saying, Naboth has been cursing God and the king. Then they took him outside the town and had him stoned to death.
1Ki 21:14 And they sent word to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead.
1Ki 21:15 Then Jezebel, hearing that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, said to Ahab, Get up and take as your heritage the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he would not give you for money, for Naboth is no longer living but is dead.
1Ki 21:16 So Ahab, hearing that Naboth was dead, went down to the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite to take it as his heritage.
1Ki 21:17 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
1Ki 21:18 Go down to Ahab, king of Israel, in Samaria; see, he is in the vine-garden of Naboth the Jezreelite, where he has gone to take it as his heritage.
1Ki 21:19 Say to him, The Lord says, Have you put a man to death and taken his heritage? Then say to him, The Lord says, In the place where dogs have been drinking the blood of Naboth, there will your blood become the drink of dogs.
1Ki 21:20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you come face to face with me, O my hater? And he said, I have come to you because you have given yourself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord.
1Ki 21:21 See, I will send evil on you and put an end to you completely, cutting off from Ahab every male child, him who is shut up and him who goes free in Israel;
1Ki 21:22 And I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the family of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, because you have made me angry, and have made Israel do evil.
1Ki 21:23 And of Jezebel the Lord said, Jezebel will become food for dogs in the heritage of Jezreel.
1Ki 21:24 Any man of the family of Ahab who comes to his death in the town will become food for the dogs; and he who comes to his death in the open country will be food for the birds of the air.
1Ki 21:25 (There was no one like Ahab, who gave himself up to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moved to it by Jezebel his wife.
1Ki 21:26 He did a very disgusting thing in going after false gods, doing all the things the Amorites did, whom the Lord sent out before the children of Israel.)
1Ki 21:27 Hearing these words, Ahab, in great grief, put haircloth on his flesh and went without food, sleeping in haircloth, and going about quietly.
1Ki 21:28 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
1Ki 21:29 Do you see how Ahab has made himself low before me? because he has made himself low before me, I will not send the evil in his life-time, but in his son’s time I will send the evil on his family.
1Ki 22:1 Now for three years there was no war between Aram and Israel.
1Ki 22:2 And it came about in the third year, that Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel.
1Ki 22:3 And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you not see that Ramoth-gilead is ours? and we are doing nothing to get it back from the hands of the king of Aram.
1Ki 22:4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead to make war? And 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 Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Let us now get directions from the Lord.
1Ki 22:6 So the king of Israel got all the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Am I to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And they said, Go up: for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.
1Ki 22:7 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no other prophet of the Lord here from whom we may get directions?
1Ki 22:8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, Micaiah, son of Imlah; but I have no love for him, for he is a prophet of evil to me and not of good. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
1Ki 22:9 Then the king of Israel sent for one of his unsexed servants and said, Go quickly and come back with Micaiah, the son of Imlah.
1Ki 22:10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were seated on their seats of authority, dressed in their robes, by the doorway into Samaria; and all the prophets were acting as prophets before them.
1Ki 22:11 And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made himself horns of iron and said, The Lord says, Pushing back the Aramaeans with these, you will put an end to them completely.
1Ki 22:12 And all the prophets said the same thing, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and it will go well for you, for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.
1Ki 22:13 Now the servant who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, See now, all the prophets with one voice are saying good things to the king; so let your words be like theirs and say good things.
1Ki 22:14 And Micaiah said, By the living Lord, whatever the Lord says to me I will say.
1Ki 22:15 When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, are we to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And in answer he said, Go up, and it will go well for you; and the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.
1Ki 22:16 Then the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord?
1Ki 22:17 Then he said, I saw all Israel wandering on the mountains like sheep without a keeper; and the Lord said, These have no master: let them go back, every man to his house in peace.
1Ki 22:18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not say that he would not be a prophet of good but of evil?
1Ki 22:19 And he said, Give ear now to the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his seat of power, with all the army of heaven in their places round him at his right hand and at his left.
1Ki 22:20 And the Lord said, How may Ahab be tricked into going up to Ramoth-gilead to his death? And one said one thing and one another.
1Ki 22:21 Then a spirit came forward and took his place before the Lord and said, I will get him to do it by a trick.
1Ki 22:22 And the Lord said, How? And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so.
1Ki 22:23 And now, see, the Lord has put a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the Lord has said evil against you.
1Ki 22:24 Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and gave Micaiah a blow on the side of the face, saying, Where is the spirit of the Lord whose word is in you?
1Ki 22:25 And Micaiah said, Truly, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to keep yourself safe.
1Ki 22:26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon, the ruler of the town, and to Joash, the king’s son;
1Ki 22:27 And say, It is the king’s order that this man is to be put in prison and given prison food till I come again in peace.
1Ki 22:28 And Micaiah said, If you come back at all in peace, the Lord has not sent his word by me.
1Ki 22:29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead.
1Ki 22:30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will make a change in my clothing, so that I do not seem to be the king, and will go into the fight; but do you put on your robes. So the king of Israel made a change in his dress and went into the fight.
1Ki 22:31 Now the king of Aram had given orders to the thirty-two captains of his war-carriages, saying, Make no attack on small or great, but only on the king of Israel.
1Ki 22:32 So when the captains of the war-carriages saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Truly, this is the king of Israel; and turning against him, they came round him, but Jehoshaphat gave a cry.
1Ki 22:33 And when the captains of the war-carriages saw that he was not the king of Israel, they went back from going after him.
1Ki 22:34 And a certain man sent an arrow from his bow without thought of its direction, and gave the king of Israel a wound where his breastplate was joined to his clothing; so he said to the driver of his war-carriage, Go to one side and take me away out of the army, for I am badly wounded.
1Ki 22:35 But the fight became more violent while the day went on; and the king was supported in his war-carriage facing the Aramaeans, and the floor of the carriage was covered with the blood from his wound, and by evening he was dead.
1Ki 22:36 And about sundown a cry went up from all parts of the army, saying, Let every man go back to his town and his country, for the king is dead.
1Ki 22:37 And they came to Samaria, and put the king’s body to rest in Samaria.
1Ki 22:38 And the war-carriage was washed by the pool of Samaria, which was the bathing-place of the loose women, and the dogs were drinking his blood there, as the Lord had said.
1Ki 22:39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all he did, and his ivory house, and all the towns of which he was the builder, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
1Ki 22:40 So Ahab was put to rest with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.
1Ki 22:41 And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab’s rule over Israel.
1Ki 22:42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he was king for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
1Ki 22:43 He did as Asa his father had done, not turning away from it, but doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord; but the high places were not taken away: the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.
1Ki 22:44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
1Ki 22:45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his great power, and how he went to war, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
1Ki 22:46 He put an end to the rest of those who were used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods, all those who were still in the land in the time of his father Asa.
1Ki 22:47 At that time there was no king in Edom;
1Ki 22:48 And the representative of King Jehoshaphat made a Tarshish-ship to go to Ophir for gold, but it did not go, because it was broken at Ezion-geber.
1Ki 22:49 Then Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, Let my men go with yours in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not let them.
1Ki 22:50 Then Jehoshaphat went to rest with his fathers, and his body was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Jehoram his son became king in his place.
1Ki 22:51 Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of the rule of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and he was king over Israel for two years.
1Ki 22:52 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, going in the ways of his father and his mother, and in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel do evil.
1Ki 22:53 He was a servant and worshipper of Baal, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath, as his father had done.

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