Part 212 (1/2)

And he said, ”Therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, 'Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said on this manner; and another on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will entice him.'

”And the Lord said unto him, 'Wherewith?'

”And he said, 'I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.'

”And he said, 'Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also: go forth, and do so.'

”Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying {380} spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets; and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.”

Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, ”Which way went the spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?”

And Micaiah said, ”Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.”

And the king of Israel said, ”Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; and say, 'Thus saith 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.'”

And Micaiah said, ”If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me.” And he said, ”Hear, ye peoples, all of you.”

So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, ”I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou on thy robes.”

And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.

Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying, ”Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.”

And it came to pa.s.s, 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.

And it came to pa.s.s, when the captains of the chariots {381} saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. And a certain archer drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, ”Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded.”

And 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. And there went a cry throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, ”Every man to his city, and every man to his country.”

So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; according to the word of the Lord which he spoke.

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AHAZIAH.

_The Brief Reign of an Evil King_.

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. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, 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, wherein he made Israel to sin. And he served Baal, and wors.h.i.+ped him, and provoked to anger the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

And Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. And Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, ”Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the G.o.d of Ekron whether I shall recover of this sickness.”

But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, ”Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, 'Is it because there is no G.o.d in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the G.o.d of Ekron? Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.'”

And Elijah departed. And the messengers returned unto him, and he said unto them, ”Why is it that ye are returned?”

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

SAMARIA FROM THE SOUTH.