And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, "Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth in Gilead?" And he answered him, "I will be as thou, and my people shall be as thine and we will be with thee in the war."

And one Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron and said, "Thus sayeth the LORD: with these thou shalt winnow Syria until thou hast brought them to naught."

But the king said to him, "How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but truth to me, in the name of the LORD?"

And he said, 'I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.' And the LORD said, 'Thou shalt deceive him and shalt prevail, go out and do even so.'

And Micaiah said, "Thou shalt see the day when thou shalt run from chamber to chamber, for to hide thyself."

And Micaiah said, "If thou come again in peace, then hath not the LORD spoken in me." And Micaiah said moreover, "Hearken to, ye people, every one of you."

Then said the king of Israel to Jehoshaphat, "Change thee and get thee to battle, but see thou have thine own apparel upon thee." And the king of Israel changed himself, and they went to battle.

And Jehu, the son of Hanani the seer, went out against him and said to king Jehoshaphat, "Oughtest thou to help the wicked, and to love them that hate the LORD? In this verily is the wrath of the LORD upon thee.

Neverthelater, there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast put away groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God."

and said, "LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven, and reignest not thou on all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is power and might, that no man can stand before thee.

Art not thou our God which didst cast out the inhabiters of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy lover forever?

'When evil cometh upon us, as the sword of judgment, pestilence or hunger: then if we stand before this house and before thee - for thy name is in this house - and shall cry unto thee in our tribulation, thou shalt hear and help.'

And now behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, by which thou wouldest not let Israel go, when they came out of Egypt: but they departed from them and destroyed them not.

And see, how they reward us, to come for to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast possessed us with all.

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do: but our eyes be unto thee."

And Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, "Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works." And the ships were broken that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, of this tenor: "Thus sayeth the LORD God of David thy father: 'Because thou walkedst not in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father and in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

but walkedst in the ways of Asa king of Israel and hast made Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem go a-whoring, like to the whoring of the house of Ahab, and hast thereto slain thy brethren that were thy father's house, which were better than thou:

And thou shalt have much disease through infirmity in thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of thy sickness, day by day.'"

Then the king called Jehoiada that was the chiefest, and said to him, "Why requirest thou not of the Levites to bring in, out of Judah and Jerusalem the sum appointed by Moses the servant of the LORD, and by the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?"

Or else if thou needs wilt, then go and do it, and make thyself strong to battle: and thou shalt see, that God shall make thee fall before thine enemies. For God hath power to help or to cast down."

Wherefore the LORD was wroth with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, and said to him, "Why seekest thou the gods of the people which were not able to deliver their own people out of thine hands?"

And as the prophet spake to him, he said to the prophet, "Have men made thee of the king's counsel? Cease, lest thou be beaten." And the prophet ceased, and said, "I am sure that God hath taken counsel to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and obeyest not my counsel."

Thou thinkest, 'See, I have beaten the Edomites,' therefore thine heart ariseth to glorify thyself. Now bide at home: what needeth thee to provoke to evil, that thou perish and Judah with thee?"

And they stepped to Uzziah the king and said to him, "It pertaineth not to thee, Uzziah, to burn cense unto the LORD; but to the priests the children of Aaron that are consecrated for to burn incense. Come out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed, and it shall be no worship to thee before the LORD God."

And as for the king of Judah, which sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him: Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard:

Because thine heart did melt and thou didst meek thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place and against the inhabiters thereof, and humblest thyself before me, and tarest thy clothes and weepest before me, that have I heard also, sayeth the LORD.

Behold, I will take thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be put in thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the mischief that I will bring upon this place and upon the inhabiters of the same.'" And they brought the king word again.

And the other sent messengers to him, saying, "What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I came not against thee now at this time, but against a house with whom I have war, and God bade me haste. Leave off therefore and meddle not with God, which is with me, lest he destroy thee."

That it may be sought in the Chronicles of thy progenitors, and so shalt thou find in the same Chronicles, and perceive, that this city is seditious and noisome unto kings and lands, and that they cause others also to rebel of the old, and for the same cause was this city destroyed.

Therefore do we certify the king, that if this city be builded, and the walls thereof made up, thou shalt keep nothing on this side the water by the reason of it."

"Get you far from them therefore, thou Tattenai, captain beyond the water, and Shetharbozenai, and your counselors, which are beyond the water, get ye away from them.

and therefore art thou sent of the king and of the seven lords of the counsel, to visit Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of God, which is in thy hand;

and that thou shouldest take with thee, silver and gold, which the king and the lords of his counsel give of their own good will unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is at Jerusalem,

and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the country of Babylon; with it that the people and priests give of their own good will unto the house of God at Jerusalem.

Take thou the same, and buy diligently with the same money, calves, lambs, goats, and meat offerings and drink offerings, to be offered upon the altar of the house of your God at Jerusalem.

And the vessels that are given thee for the ministration in the house of thy God, those deliver thou before God at Jerusalem.

But thou Ezra - after the wisdom of thy God that is in thy hand - set thou judges and arbiters, to judge all the people that is beyond the Jordan, even all such as know the law of thy God: and them that know it not, those see that ye teach.

which thou hast commanded by thy servants the Prophets, and said, 'The land unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the filthiness of the people of the lands, in their abominations wherewith they have made it full of uncleanness on every side.

And after all this that is come upon us, because of our evil deeds and great trespass, thou our God hast spared our wickednesses, and hast given us a deliverance as it is come to pass this day.

As for us, we have turned back, and have let go thy commandments, to make contract with the people of these abominations. Wilt thou then be wroth at us, till we be utterly consumed, so that nothing remain, and there be no deliverance?

O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous, for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day. Behold, in thy presence are we in our trespass: for because of it is there no standing before thee."

Then answered all the congregation and said with a loud voice, "Let it be done as thou hast said.

and said, "O LORD God of heaven, thou great and terrible God, thou that keepest covenant and mercy for them that love thee and observe thy commandments:

Let thine ears mark and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray now before thee day and night for the children of Israel thy servants, and knowledge the sins of the children of Israel, which we have committed against thee. And I and my father's house have sinned also.

We have been corrupt unto thee, in that we have not kept the commandments, statutes, and laws which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

Yet call to remembrance the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, and saidest, 'If ye transgress, then will I scatter you abroad among the nations.

They are thy servants, and thy people whom thou hast delivered through thy great power and mighty hand.

Then said the king unto me, "Why lookest thou so sadly? Thou art not sick, that is not the matter, but thou art heavy hearted."

And the king said unto me, the queen his wife sitting by him, "How long shall thy journey continue, and when wilt thou come again?" And it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time,

Hear, O thou our God, how we are despised! Turn their shame upon their own head, that thou mayest give them over into despising in the land of their captivity.

Then said they, "We will restore them again and will require nothing of them and will do as thou hast spoken." And I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do so.

wherein was written, "It is told the Heathen, and Geshem hath said it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for the which cause thou buildest the wall, and wilt be their king in these matters;

Nevertheless, I sent unto him, saying, "There is no such thing done as thou sayest: thou hast feigned it out of thine own heart."

My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according unto these their works, and of the Prophetess Noadiah and of the other Prophets, that would have put me in fear.

LORD, thou alone hast made heaven, and the heaven of all heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is therein, the sea and all that is therein: thou givest life unto all, and the host of heaven bow themselves unto thee.

Thou art the LORD, the God that hast chosen Abram, and broughtest him out of Ur in Chaldea, and called him Abraham:

and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give unto his seed the land of the Cananites, Hittites, Amorites, Perezites, Jebusites, and Girgashites - and hast made good thy words: for thou art righteous,

and showed tokens and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they were presumptuous and cruel against them; and so madest thou thee a name as it is this day.

And the reed sea didst thou divide in sunder before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea dry-shoed: and their persecutors threwest thou into the deep as a stone, in the mighty waters;

Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest unto them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, true laws, good commandments and statutes,

and gavest them bread from heaven when they were hungry, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock when they were thirsty: and promised them, that they should go in, and take possession of the land, over which thou hadst lift up thine hand for to give them.

and refused to hear, and were not mindful of the wonders that thou didst for them: but became obstinate and heady insomuch that they turned back to their bondage in their disobedience. But thou, my God, forgavest, and wast gracious, merciful, patient, and of great goodness, and forsookest them not.

yet thou forsookest them not in the wilderness, according to thy great mercy. And the cloudy pillar departed not from them in the daytime to lead them the way, neither the pillar of fire in the night season, to show them light in the way that they went.

And thou gavest them thy good spirit to inform them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water when they were thirsty.

Forty years long madest thou provision for them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing: their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.

And thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and partest them according to their portions, so that they possessed the land of Sihon king of Heshbon, and the land of Og the king of Bashan.

And their children multipliedest thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land whereof thou hadst spoken unto their fathers, that they should go in to it, and have it in possession.

And the children went in, and possessed the land, and thou subduedest before them the inhabiters of the land, even the Cananites, and gavest them into their hand, and their kings and the people of the land, that they might do with them what they would.

Therefore gavest thou them over into the hand of their enemies that vexed them. And in the time of their trouble they cried unto thee, and thou heardest them from heaven and through thy great mercy thou gavest them saviours, which helped them out of the hand of their enemies.

But when they came to rest, they turned back again to do evil before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them. So they converted, and cried unto thee, and thou heardest them from heaven; and many times hast thou delivered them according to thy great mercy,

And many years didst thou forbear them, and testified unto them through thy spirit, even by the office of thy prophets, and yet would they not hear. Therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the nations in the lands.

But for thy great mercies' sake thou hast not utterly consumed them, neither forsaken them: for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

Now our God, thou great God, mighty and terrible, thou that keepest covenant and mercy, regard not a little all the travail that hath happened unto us, and our kings, princes, priests, prophets, fathers and all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

Thou art righteous in all that thou hast brought upon us: for thou hast done right.

As for us: we have been ungodly, and our kings, princes, priests, and fathers have not done after thy law, nor regarded thy commandments, and thy earnest exhortations wherewith thou hast exhorted them,

and have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goods that thou gavest them, and in the large and plenteous land which thou gavest them; and have not converted from their wicked works.

Behold, therefore are we in bondage this day: yea, even in the land that thou gavest unto our fathers, to enjoy the fruits and goods thereof, behold, there are we bondsmen.

And great is the increase of it unto the kings, whom thou hast set over us because of our sins, and they have dominion over our bodies, and cattle, and we are in great trouble.

O my God, think thou upon them that are quit of the priesthood, and have defiled the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites!

and to offer the wood at times appointed, and the firstfruits. Think thou upon me, O my God, for the best!

Then the king's servants which were in the king's gate, said unto Mordecai, "Why transgressest thou the king's commandment?"

Mordecai bade say again unto Esther, "Think not to save thine own life, while thou art in the king's house before all Jews:

for if thou holdest thy peace at this time, then shall the Jews have help and deliverance out of another place, and thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom, for this time's sake?"

'Go thou thy way then, and gather together all the Jews that are found at Susa, and fast ye for me, that ye eat not and drink not in three days, neither day nor night. I and my damsels will fast likewise, and so will I go in to the king contrary to the commandment: if I perish, I perish.'"

Then said the king unto her, "What wilt thou, queen Esther? And what requirest thou? Ask even the half of the empire, and it shall be given thee."

the king said unto Esther, when he had drunken wine, "Esther what is thy petition? And it shall be given thee. And what requirest thou? Even the half of the empire, it shall be done."

Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, "Let them make a gallows of fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak thou unto the king, that Mordecai may be hanged thereon, if thou comest merrily with the king unto the banquet." Haman was well content withal, and caused a gallows to be prepared.

The king said, "Make haste, and take, as thou hath said, the raiment and the horse: and do even so with Mordecai the Jew that sitteth before the king's gate; and let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken."

and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends, everything that had happened him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, "If it be Mordecai of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou canst do nothing unto him, but shalt fall before him."

the king said unto Esther on the second day, when he had drunken wine, "What is thy petition queen Esther, that it may be given thee? And what requirest thou? Yea, ask even half of the empire, and it shall be done."

And the king said unto queen Esther, "The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men at the castle of Susa, and the ten sons of Haman: What shall they do in the other lands of the king? What is thy petition, that it may be given thee? And what requirest thou more to be done?"

And the LORD said unto Satan, "From whence comest thou?" Satan answered the LORD, and said, "I have gone about the land and walked through it."

Then said the LORD unto Satan, "Hast thou not considered my servant Job, and how that he is an innocent and virtuous man: such one as feareth God, and escheweth evil, and that there is none like him in the land?"

Hast thou not preserved him, his house, and all his substance on every side? Hast thou not blessed the work of his hands? Is not his possession increased in the land?

And the LORD said unto Satan, "Lo, all that he hath, be in thy power: only upon himself see that thou lay not thine hand." Then went Satan forth from the LORD.

And the LORD said unto Satan, "From whence comest thou?" Satan answered and said, "I have gone about the land, and walked through it."

Then said the LORD unto Satan, "Hast thou not considered my servant Job, how that he is an innocent and virtuous man such one as feareth God, and escheweth evil, and that there is none like him in the land? But thou movedst me against him, to punish him: yet is it in vain, for he continueth still in his godliness."

Then said the LORD unto Satan, "Lo, there hast thou him in thy power, but spare his life."

Then said his wife unto him, "Dost thou yet continue in thy perfectness? Curse God, and die."