Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

the messenger that went to call Micaiah spoke unto him, saying: 'Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth, let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak thou good.' ¹⁴And Micaiah said: 'As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.' ¹⁵And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him: 'Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?' And he answered him: 'Go up, and prosper; and the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.' ¹⁶And the king said unto him: 'How many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak unto me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?' ¹⁷And he said: 'I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said: These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace.' ¹⁸And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: 'Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?' ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰And 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 said: On that manner. ²¹And there came forth the spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will entice him. ²²And 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. ²³Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets; and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.'

      ²⁴Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah on the check, and said: 'Which way went the spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?' ²⁵And Micaiah said: 'Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.' ²⁶And 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; ²⁷and say: Thus saith the king: Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with scant bread and with scant water, until I come in peace.' ²⁸And 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.'

      ²⁹So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. ³⁰And 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. ³¹Now the king of Aram had commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying: 'Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.' ³²And it came to pass, 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. ³³And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. ³⁴And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the lower armour and the breastplate; wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot: 'Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded.' ³⁵And the battle increased that day; and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Arameans, and died at even; and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. ³⁶And 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.'

      ³⁷So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; the harlots also washed themselves there; according unto the word of the Lord which He spoke.

      ³⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁴⁰So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

      ⁴¹And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. ⁴²Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ⁴³And he walked in all the way of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord; ⁴⁴howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and offered in the high places. ⁴⁵And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

      ⁴⁶Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ⁴⁷And the remnant of the sodomites that remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land. ⁴⁸ And there was no king in Edom: a deputy was king. ⁴⁹ Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold; but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber. ⁵⁰Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat: 'Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships.' But Jehoshaphat would not. ⁵¹And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

      ⁵²Ahaziah 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. ⁵³And 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. ⁵⁴And he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

      1. Heb. Hirom, and in verse 32.

      2. That is, the holy place.

      3. Heb. debir, that is, the hindmost or innermost room, the most holy place.

      4. Heb. middle.

      5. That is, the Sanctuary.

      6. Heb. Hirom.

      7. Heb. Adad.

      מלכים ב‎

      SECOND KINGS (M'lakhim)

       Table of Contents

      1And Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.

      ²And 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 god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this sickness.' ³But an 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 God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? ⁴Now 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. ⁵And the messengers returned unto him, and he said unto them: 'Why is it that ye are returned?' ⁶And they said unto him: 'There came up a man to meet us, and said unto us: Go, return unto the king that sent you, and say unto him: Thus saith the Lord: Is it because there is no God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.' ⁷And he said unto them: 'What manner of man was he that came up to meet you, and told you these