¹⁹ Then Micaiah said, “Listen now to the Lord’s word: I saw the Lord enthroned with all the heavenly forces stationed beside him, at his right and at his left. ²⁰ The Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab so that he attacks Ramoth-gilead and dies there?’ There were many suggestions ²¹ until one particular spirit approached the Lord and said, ‘I’ll persuade him.’ ‘How?’ the Lord asked. ²² ‘I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets,’ he said. The Lord agreed, ‘You will succeed in persuading him! Go ahead!’ ²³ So now, since the Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of every one of these prophets of yours, it is the Lord who has pronounced disaster against you!”

²⁴ Zedekiah, Chenaanah’s son, approached Micaiah and slapped him on the cheek. “Just how did the Lord’s spirit leave me to speak to you?” he asked.

²⁵ Micaiah answered, “You will find out on the day you try to hide in an inner room.”

²⁶ “Arrest him,” ordered Israel’s king, “and turn him over to Amon the city official and to Joash the king’s son.

Job’s motives questioned

⁶ One day the divine beings^[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Adversary^[b] also came among them. ⁷ The Lord said to the Adversary, “Where did you come from?”

The Adversary answered the Lord, “From wandering throughout the earth.”

⁸ The Lord said to the Adversary, “Have you thought about my servant Job; surely there is no one like him on earth, a man who is honest, who is of absolute integrity, who reveres God and avoids evil?”

⁹ The Adversary answered the Lord, “Does Job revere God for nothing?