Asa’s Last Years^(A)(B)

16 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha^(C) king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

² Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.^{(D) 3} “Let there be a treaty^(E) between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”

⁴ Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim^[a] and all the store cities of Naphtali.^{(F) 5} When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.^(G)

⁷ At that time Hanani^(H) the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied^(I) on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites^[b](J) and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers^(K) of chariots and horsemen^[c]? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered^(L) them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes^(M) of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish^(N) thing, and from now on you will be at war.^(O)”

¹⁰ Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison.^(P) At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

¹¹ The events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted^(Q) with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek^(R) help from the Lord,^(S) but only from the physicians. ¹³ Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors. ¹⁴ They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself^(T) in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes,^(U) and they made a huge fire^(V) in his honor.

Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab^(A)

18 Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor,^(B) and he allied^(C) himself with Ahab^(D) by marriage. ² Some years later he went down to see Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and the people with him and urged him to attack Ramoth Gilead. ³ Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat replied, “I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will join you in the war.” ⁴ But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the Lord.”

⁵ So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I not?”

“Go,” they answered, “for God will give it into the king’s hand.”

⁶ But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”

⁷ The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.

⁸ So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”

⁹ Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. ¹⁰ Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns, and he declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”

¹¹ All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead^(E) and be victorious,” they said, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

¹² The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.”

¹³ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.”^(F)

¹⁴ When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I not?”

“Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for they will be given into your hand.”

¹⁵ The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

¹⁶ Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel^(G) scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd,^(H) and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”

¹⁷ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”

¹⁸ Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne^(I) with all the multitudes of heaven standing on his right and on his left. ¹⁹ And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

“One suggested this, and another that. ²⁰ Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’

“‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.

²¹ “‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit^(J) in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

²² “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours.^(K) The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

²³ Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped^(L) Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from^[a] the Lord go when he went from me to speak to you?” he asked.

²⁴ Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room.”

²⁵ The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son, ²⁶ and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison^(M) and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’”

²⁷ Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people!”

Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead^(N)

²⁸ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. ²⁹ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised^(O) himself and went into battle.

³⁰ Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” ³¹ When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, “This is the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out,^(P) and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him, ³² for when the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.

³³ But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the breastplate and the scale armor. The king told the chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” ³⁴ All day long the battle raged, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. Then at sunset he died.^(Q)

19 When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, ² Jehu^(R) the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, “Should you help the wicked^(S) and love^[b] those who hate the Lord?^(T) Because of this, the wrath^(U) of the Lord is on you. ³ There is, however, some good^(V) in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles^(W) and have set your heart on seeking God.^(X)”

¹⁶ But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride^(A) led to his downfall.^(B) He was unfaithful^(C) to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense^(D) on the altar of incense. ¹⁷ Azariah^(E) the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. ¹⁸ They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests,^(F) the descendants^(G) of Aaron,^(H) who have been consecrated to burn incense.^(I) Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

¹⁹ Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy^[a](J) broke out on his forehead. ²⁰ When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him.

²¹ King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house^[b](K)—leprous, and banned from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

²² The other events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah^(L) son of Amoz. ²³ Uzziah^(M) rested with his ancestors and was buried near them in a cemetery that belonged to the kings, for people said, “He had leprosy.” And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.^(N)

Envoys From Babylon^(A)(B)

¹² At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. ¹³ Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”

¹⁵ The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.^(C) Nothing will be left, says the Lord. ¹⁸ And some of your descendants,^(D) your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”^(E)

¹⁹ “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?”

²⁰ As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool^(F) and the tunnel^(G) by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? ²¹ Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.