Taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (C) 1978 by the New York Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. AHAB 1KI 16:29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 1KI 16:30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 1KI 16:31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 1KI 16:32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 1KI 16:33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. 1KI 18:17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?" 1KI 18:18 "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD'S commands and have followed the Baals. 1KI 18:19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table." 1KI 18:20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 1KI 18:41 And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." 1KI 18:42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. 1KI 18:43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back." 1KI 18:44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'" 1KI 18:45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 1KI 18:46 The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. 1KI 20:1 Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. 1KI 20:2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, "This is what Ben-Hadad says: 1KI 20:3 'Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.'" 1KI 20:4 The king of Israel answered, "Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours." 1KI 20:5 The messengers came again and said, "This is what Ben-Hadad says: 'I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives and your children. 1KI 20:6 But about this time tomorrow I am going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away.'" 1KI 20:7 The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to them, "See how this man is looking for trouble! When he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him." 1KI 20:8 The elders and the people all answered, "Don't listen to him or agree to his demands." 1KI 20:9 So he replied to Ben-Hadad's messengers, "Tell my lord the king, 'Your servant will do all you demanded the first time, but this demand I cannot meet.'" They left and took the answer back to Ben-Hadad. 1KI 20:10 Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful." 1KI 20:11 The king of Israel answered, "Tell him: 'One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.'" 1KI 20:13 Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced, "This is what the LORD says: 'Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the LORD.'" 1KI 20:14 "But who will do this?" asked Ahab. The prophet replied, "This is what the LORD says: 'The young officers of the provincial commanders will do it.'" "And who will start the battle?" he asked. The prophet answered, "You will." 1KI 20:15 So Ahab summoned the young officers of the provincial commanders, 232 men. Then he assembled the rest of the Israelites, 7,000 in all. 1KI 20:16 They set out at noon while Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk. 1KI 20:21 The king of Israel advanced and overpowered the horses and chariots and inflicted heavy losses on the Arameans. 1KI 20:22 Afterward, the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, "Strengthen your position and see what must be done, because next spring the king of Aram will attack you again." 1KI 20:28 The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because the Arameans think the LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the LORD.'" 1KI 20:31 His officials said to him, "Look, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life." 1KI 20:32 Wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-Hadad says: 'Please let me live.'" The king answered, "Is he still alive? He is my brother." 1KI 20:33 The men took this as a good sign and were quick to pick up his word. "Yes, your brother Ben-Hadad!" they said. "Go and get him," the king said. When Ben-Hadad came out, Ahab had him come up into his chariot. 1KI 20:34 "I will return the cities my father took from your father," Ben- Hadad offered. "You may set up your own market areas in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." Ahab said, "On the basis of a treaty I will set you free." So he made a treaty with him, and let him go. 1KI 20:38 Then the prophet went and stood by the road waiting for the king. He disguised himself with his headband down over his eyes. 1KI 20:39 As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, "Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, 'Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life for his life, or you must pay a talent of silver.' 1KI 20:40 While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared." "That is your sentence," the king of Israel said. "You have pronounced it yourself." 1KI 20:41 Then the prophet quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. 1KI 20:42 He said to the king, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.'" 1KI 20:43 Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria. 1KI 21:1 Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 1KI 21:2 Ahab said to Naboth, "Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth." 1KI 21:3 But Naboth replied, "The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers." 1KI 21:4 So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. 1KI 21:5 His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, "Why are you so sullen? Why won't you eat?" 1KI 21:6 He answered her, "Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, 'Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.' But he said, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'" 1KI 21:7 Jezebel his wife said, "Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." 1KI 21:8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city with him. 1KI 21:9 In those letters she wrote: "Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 1KI 21:10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death." 1KI 21:13 Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, "Naboth has cursed both God and the king." So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. 1KI 21:15 As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, "Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead." 1KI 21:16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth's vineyard. 1KI 21:18 "Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. 1KI 21:19 Say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?' Then say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood--yes, yours!'" 1KI 21:20 Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!" "I have found you," he answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. 1KI 21:21 'I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel--slave or free. 1KI 21:22 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.' 1KI 21:24 "Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country." 1KI 21:25 (There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. 1KI 21:26 He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.) 1KI 21:27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. 1KI 21:29 "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son." 1KI 22:2 But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see the king of Israel. 1KI 22:3 The king of Israel had said to his officials, "Don't you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us and yet we are doing nothing to retake it from the king of Aram?" 1KI 22:4 So he asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." 1KI 22:5 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "First seek the counsel of the LORD." 1KI 22:6 So the king of Israel brought together the prophets--about four hundred men--and asked them, "Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?" "Go," they answered, "for the Lord will give it into the king's hand." 1KI 22:8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king should not say that," Jehoshaphat replied. 1KI 22:9 So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, "Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once." 1KI 22:10 Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance of the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. 1KI 22:11 Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns and he declared, "This is what the LORD says: 'With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.'" 1KI 22:12 All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. "Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious," they said, "for the LORD will give it into the king's hand." 1KI 22:15 When he arrived, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?" "Attack and be victorious," he answered, "for the LORD will give it into the king's hand." 1KI 22:16 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?" 1KI 22:17 Then Micaiah answered, "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, 'These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.'" 1KI 22:18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?" 1KI 22:20 And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?' "One suggested this, and another that. 1KI 22:21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, 'I will entice him.' 1KI 22:22 "'By what means?' the LORD asked. "'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said. "'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD. 'Go and do it.' 1KI 22:23 "So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you." 1KI 22:26 The king of Israel then ordered, "Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king's son 1KI 22:27 and say, 'This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.'" 1KI 22:29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. 1KI 22:30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. 1KI 22:31 Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, "Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel." 1KI 22:32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, "Surely this is the king of Israel." So they turned to attack him, but when Jehoshaphat cried out, 1KI 22:33 the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel and stopped pursuing him. 1KI 22:34 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, "Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I've been wounded." 1KI 22:35 All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died. 1KI 22:37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there. 1KI 22:38 They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood, as the word of the LORD had declared. 1KI 22:39 As for the other events of Ahab's reign, including all he did, the palace he built and inlaid with ivory, and the cities he fortified, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 1KI 22:40 Ahab rested with his fathers. And Ahaziah his son succeeded him as king. 1KI 22:41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 1KI 22:49 At that time Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my men sail with your men," but Jehoshaphat refused. 1KI 22:51 Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 1KI 22:52 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 1KI 22:53 He served and worshiped Baal and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done. 2KI 3:2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made. 2KI 9:8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel--slave or free. 2KI 9:25 Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, "Pick him up and throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the LORD made this prophecy about him: 2KI 9:26 'Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the LORD, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.' Now then, pick him up and throw him on that plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD." 2KI 10:1 Now there were in Samaria seventy sons of the house of Ahab. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria: to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders and to the guardians of Ahab's children. He said, 2KI 10:2 "As soon as this letter reaches you, since your master's sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and weapons, 2KI 10:3 choose the best and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne. Then fight for your master's house." 2KI 10:4 But they were terrified and said, "If two kings could not resist him, how can we?" 2KI 10:5 So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders and the guardians sent this message to Jehu: "We are your servants and we will do anything you say. We will not appoint anyone as king; you do whatever you think best." 2KI 10:6 Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, "If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow." Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them. 2KI 10:7 When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. 2KI 10:8 When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the princes." Then Jehu ordered, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning." 2CH 18:1 Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor, and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage. 2CH 18:2 Some years later he went down to visit Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and the people with him and urged him to attack Ramoth Gilead. 2CH 18:3 Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, "Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat replied, "I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will join you in the war." 2CH 18:4 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "First seek the counsel of the LORD." 2CH 18:5 So the king of Israel brought together the prophets--four hundred men--and asked them, "Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?" "Go," they answered, "for God will give it into the king's hand." 2CH 18:6 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?" 2CH 18:7 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king should not say that," Jehoshaphat replied. 2CH 18:8 So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, "Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once." 2CH 18:9 Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor by the entrance to the gate of Samaria, with all the prophets prophesying before them. 2CH 18:10 Now Zedekiah son of Kenaanah had made iron horns, and he declared, "This is what the LORD says: 'With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.'" 2CH 18:11 All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. "Attack Ramoth Gilead and be victorious," they said, "for the LORD will give it into the king's hand." 2CH 18:12 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, "Look, as one man the other prophets are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably." 2CH 18:13 But Micaiah said, "As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what my God says." 2CH 18:14 When he arrived, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?" "Attack and be victorious," he answered, "for they will be given into your hand." 2CH 18:15 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?" 2CH 18:16 Then Micaiah answered, "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, 'These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.'" 2CH 18:17 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?" 2CH 18:18 Micaiah continued, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing on his right and on his left. 2CH 18:19 And the LORD said, 'Who will lure Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?' "One suggested this, and another that. 2CH 18:20 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, 'I will lure him.' "'By what means?' the LORD asked. 2CH 18:21 "'I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said. "'You will succeed in luring him,' said the LORD. 'Go and do it.' 2CH 18:22 "So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you." 2CH 18:25 The king of Israel then ordered, "Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king's son, 2CH 18:26 and say, 'This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.'" 2CH 18:27 Micaiah declared, "If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me." Then he added, "Mark my words, all you people!" 2CH 18:28 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. 2CH 18:29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. 2CH 18:30 Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, "Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel." 2CH 18:31 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, "This is the king of Israel." So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him. God drew them away from him, 2CH 18:32 for when the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him. 2CH 18:33 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told the chariot driver, "Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I've been wounded." 2CH 18:34 All day long the battle raged, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. Then at sunset he died. 2CH 21:6 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. 2CH 22:3 He too walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. 2CH 22:4 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father's death they became his advisers, to his undoing. MIC 6:16 You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab's house, and you have followed their traditions. Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of the nations." Bible Bulletin Board internet: www.biblebb.com modem: 609-324-9187 Box 318 Columbus, NJ 08022 ....online since 1986 Sysop/Webmaster: Tony Capoccia