Meditate

18. Prophesies Against Ahab

Micaiah Predicts Failure

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Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor; and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab.²After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead.³King Ahab of Israel said to King Jehoshaphat of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am with you, my people are your people. We will be with you in the war.”

⁴ But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.”⁵Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred of them, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up; for God will give it into the hand of the king.”⁶But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the Lord here of whom we may inquire?”⁷The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one other by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything favorable about me, but only disaster.” Jehoshaphat said, “Let the king not say such a thing.”⁸Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah son of Imlah.”⁹Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes; and they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.¹⁰Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, “Thus says the Lord: With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.”¹¹All the prophets were prophesying the same and saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

¹² The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king; let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.”¹³But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak.”

¹⁴ When he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” He answered, “Go up and triumph; they will be given into your hand.”¹⁵But 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?”¹⁶Then Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd; and the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each one go home in peace.’ ”¹⁷The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy anything favorable about me, but only disaster?”

¹⁸ Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven standing to the right and to the left of him.¹⁹And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice King Ahab of Israel, so that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ Then one said one thing, and another said another,²⁰until a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ The Lord asked him, ‘How?’²¹He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do it.’²²So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets; the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

²³ Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up to Micaiah, slapped him on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?”²⁴Micaiah replied, “You will find out on that day when you go in to hide in an inner chamber.”²⁵The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son;²⁶and say, ‘Thus says the king: Put this fellow in prison, and feed him on reduced rations of bread and water until I return in peace.’ ”²⁷Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, you peoples, all of you!”

Defeat and Death of Ahab

²⁸ So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.²⁹The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle.³⁰Now the king of Aram had commanded the captains of his chariots, “Fight with no one small or great, but only with the king of Israel.”³¹When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him; and Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him,³²for when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.³³But a certain man drew his bow and unknowingly struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate; so he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around, and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”³⁴The battle grew hot that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening; then at sunset he died.

3. Warning Against Unbelief

Warning against Unbelief

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

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do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

as on the day of testing in the wilderness,

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where your ancestors put me to the test,

though they had seen my works¹⁰for forty years.

Therefore I was angry with that generation,

and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts,

and they have not known my ways.’

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As in my anger I swore,

‘They will not enter my rest.’ ”

35. Psalm 35

Psalm 35

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

Of David.

1

Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;

fight against those who fight against me!

2

Take hold of shield and buckler,

and rise up to help me!

3

Draw the spear and javelin

against my pursuers;

say to my soul,

“I am your salvation.”

4

Let them be put to shame and dishonor

who seek after my life.

Let them be turned back and confounded

who devise evil against me.

5

Let them be like chaff before the wind,

with the angel of the Lord driving them on.

6

Let their way be dark and slippery,

with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

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For without cause they hid their net for me;

without cause they dug a pit for my life.

8

Let ruin come on them unawares.

And let the net that they hid ensnare them;

let them fall in it—to their ruin.

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Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,

exulting in his deliverance.

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All my bones shall say,

“O Lord, who is like you?

You deliver the weak

from those too strong for them,

the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”

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Malicious witnesses rise up;

they ask me about things I do not know.

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They repay me evil for good;

my soul is forlorn.

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But as for me, when they were sick,

I wore sackcloth;

I afflicted myself with fasting.

I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,

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as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;

I went about as one who laments for a mother,

bowed down and in mourning.

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But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,

they gathered together against me;

ruffians whom I did not know

tore at me without ceasing;

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they impiously mocked more and more,

gnashing at me with their teeth.

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How long, O Lord, will you look on?

Rescue me from their ravages,

my life from the lions!

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Then I will thank you in the great congregation;

in the mighty throng I will praise you.