⁵ Following their evil advice, Ahaziah joined Joram,^[a] the son of King Ahab of Israel, in his war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. When the Arameans^[b] wounded Joram in the battle,

²² “You are his successor,^[a] O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself.

Book one (Psalms 1–41)

Psalm 1

² Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him. “Why should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?” he asked the king. “Because of what you have done, the Lord is very angry with you.

³¹ So when the Aramean chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat in his royal robes, they went after him. “There is the king of Israel!” they shouted. But Jehoshaphat called out, and the Lord saved him. God helped him by turning the attackers away from him.

³ “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” King Ahab of Israel asked King Jehoshaphat of Judah.

Jehoshaphat replied, “Why, of course! You and I are as one, and my troops are your troops. We will certainly join you in battle.”

²⁸ Ahaziah joined Joram son of Ahab in his war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. When the Arameans wounded King Joram in the battle, ²⁹ he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramoth.^[a] Because Joram was wounded, King Ahaziah of Judah went to Jezreel to visit him.

⁹ So Hazael loaded down forty camels with the finest products of Damascus as a gift for Elisha. He went to him and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad, the king of Aram, has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

³ During the visit, the king of Israel said to his officials, “Do you realize that the town of Ramoth-gilead belongs to us? And yet we’ve done nothing to recapture it from the king of Aram!”