And the men observe diligently, and hasten, and catch it from him, and say, 'Thy brother Ben-Hadad;' and he saith, 'Go ye in, bring him;' and Ben-Hadad cometh out unto him, and he causeth him to come up on the chariot.

And Benhadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.

Right about then, one of the members of the guild of prophets told another through a message from the LORD: "Please strike me!" But the man refused to do so,

So he said to him - Because thou hast not hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh, lo! when thou art departing from me, there shall smite thee a lion. And when he departed from beside him, a lion found him, and smote him.

Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.

So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.

And so it was, when, the king, was passing, he, cried out unto the king, - and said - Thy servant, went out in the midst of the battle, and lo! a man, turned aside and brought unto me a man, and said - Keep this man, if he be, missing, then shall, thy life, go for, his life, or, a talent of silver, shalt thou weigh out.

And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

Then he quickly took the head-band from his eyes; and the king of Israel saw that he was one of the prophets.

And he said to him, So says Jehovah, Because you have let go out of your hand a man whom I devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.

So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and vexed, and came to Samaria.

Meanwhile, there was a man named Naboth from Jezreel who owned a vineyard that was located contiguous to King Ahab's palace in Samaria.

So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard so I can have it for a vegetable garden, since it is right next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place, or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.”

And Naboth will say to Ahab, Far be it to me from Jehovah, my giving the inheritance of my fathers to thee.

So Ahab [already upset by the Lord’s message] came into his house [feeling more] resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him; for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face, and would not eat any food.

But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?

And he saith unto her, 'Because I speak unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and say to him, Give to me thy vineyard for money, or if thou desire, I give to thee a vineyard in its stead; and he saith, I do not give to thee my vineyard.'

And Jezebel his wife will say to him, Thou now wilt do the kingdom over Israel: arise, eat bread, and do thy heart good: I will give to thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

Seat two men, {scoundrels}, opposite him. Let them witness against him saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then you shall bring him out and stone him so that he dies."

So the responsible men and the chiefs who were in authority in his town, did as Jezebel had said in the letter she sent them.

Then the two men, {scoundrels}, came, sat opposite him, and the {scoundrels} witnessed against Naboth before the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king," so they brought him outside of the city and stoned him with stones, and he died.

Afterwards, they sent a message to Jezebel that said, "Naboth has been stoned. He's dead."

And it cometh to pass, at Jezebel's hearing that Naboth hath been stoned, and is dead, that Jezebel saith unto Ahab, 'Rise, possess the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, that he refused to give to thee for money, for Naboth is not alive but dead.'

And it cometh to pass, at Ahab's hearing that Naboth is dead, that Ahab riseth to go down unto the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to possess it.

That's when this message from the LORD came to Elijah the foreigner:

“Get up and go to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. You’ll find him in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it.

You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Have you murdered and also taken possession [of the victim’s property]?”’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick up your blood as well.”’”

Ahab said to Elijah, “So, you have caught me, my enemy.”

He replied, “I have caught you because you devoted yourself to do what is evil in the Lord’s sight.

Behold [says the Lord], I am bringing evil (catastrophe) on you, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel;

I will make your household resemble that of Nebat's son Jeroboam, or like the household of Ahijah's son Baasha, because of how you've provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin.

The LORD also has this to say about Jezebel: "Dogs will eat Jezebel within the outer ramparts of Jezreel.

As for Ahab's family, dogs will eat the ones who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country."

Still, there was no one like Ahab, who devoted himself to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight, because his wife Jezebel incited him.

so that he did very abominably, in going after the manufactured gods, - according to all which the Amorites had done, whom Yahweh dispossessed from before the sons of Israel.

And it cometh to pass, at Ahab's hearing these words, that he rendeth his garments, and putteth sackcloth on his flesh, and fasteth, and lieth in sackcloth, and goeth gently.

Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.

And it happened in the third year, Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to see the king of Israel.

And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you not see that Ramoth-gilead is ours? and we are doing nothing to get it back from the hands of the king of Aram.

And he saith unto Jehoshaphat, 'Dost thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-Gilead?' and Jehoshaphat saith unto the king of Israel, 'As I am, so thou; as my people, so thy people; as my horses, so thy horses.'

But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “First, please ask what the Lord’s will is.”

And the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, and the Lord will give it into the king's hand.

So Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might still inquire from him?"

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

So the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Hurry and get Micaiah son of Imlah!”

Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor at the entrance to Samaria’s gate, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

Chenaanah's son Zedekiah made iron horns for himself and told them, "This is what the LORD says, "With these horns you are to gore the Arameans until they are eliminated!'"

And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king's hand.

Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Listen carefully, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable to the king. Please let your words be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.”

And Micah said, As Jehovah liveth, even what Jehovah shall say to me, that will I speak.

So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

Then the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord?

And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not say to you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but disaster?"

And he said, Hear thou therefore 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 Yahweh said, 'Who will entice Ahab so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?' Then {this one was saying one thing and the other one was saying another}.

And the spirit will go forth and stand before Jehovah, and he will say, I will deceive him. And Jehovah will say, By what?

And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

Now then, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets; and the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.”

Right then, Chenaanah's son Zedekiah approached Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. Then he asked him, "How did the Spirit of the LORD move from me to speak to you?"

And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in 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 will say, If turning back, thou shalt turn back in peace, Jehovah spake not in me. And he will say, Hear, ye peoples, all of them.

So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead.

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "[I will] disguise myself and go into the battle, but you wear your robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself, and he went into the battle.

And 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.

And 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.

But one man drew a bow at random and struck the king of Israel in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and take me out of the fight, because I have been seriously wounded.”

But the battle increased that day, and, the king, was propped up in the chariot, before the Syrians, - and died in the evening, and so the blood of the wound ran out into the hollow of the chariot.

So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.

Now the rest of Ahab’s acts, and everything that he did, the ivory palace which he built and all the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Israel’s King Ahab.

Jehoshaphat 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.

He walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, along with the might he exercised and how he waged war, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

And Jehoshaphat made ships in the sea to go to Ophir for gold, but they went not: for the ships brake at Eziongeber.

Ahab's son Ahaziah had offered to go. "Let my servants go with your servants in the ships!" he said. But Jehoshaphat was not willing.

So 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.

Ahaziah son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat and reigned over Israel two years.

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He walked in the way of his father, in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.

So he served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, according to all that his father had done.

Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room, which [was] in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers, and he said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury."

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 not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?

Therefore, thus says Yahweh, 'The bed upon which you have gone, you will not come down from it, but you shall surely die.'" So Elijah went.

The messengers returned to the king and he asked them, "What's this? You've come back?"

And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

And they say unto him, 'A man -- hairy, and a girdle of skin girt about his loins;' and he saith, 'He is Elijah the Tishbite.'

So {Ahaziah} sent to him the commander of fifty with his fifty [men], and he went up to him while he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, " man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"

And Elijah responded and said unto the captain of fifty, If, then, a man of God, I am, let fire come down out of the heavens, and devour thee and thy fifty. So there came down fire out of the heavens, and devoured him and his fifty.

So he {again sent} another commander of fifty and his fifty [men]. He answered and said to him, " man of God, thus says the king, 'Come down quickly!'"

Elijah responded, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men.” So a divine fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men.

So he {again sent} a third [time] a commander of fifty and his fifty, and the commander of the third fifty went up and came and knelt down on his knees before Elijah and entreated him. He said to him, " man of God, please let my life and the lives of your servants, these fifty, be precious in your eyes.

Behold, fire from heaven came down and consumed the first two commanders of fifty and their fifties, so then let my life be precious in your eyes."

The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he stood and went down with him to the king.

And he said to him, So says Jehovah, Because you have sent messengers to ask of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, Is it not because no God is in Israel to seek His Word? Therefore you shall not come down off that bed on which you have gone up, but shall surely die.

So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son.

The rest of the events of Ahaziah’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.