The Daily Audio Bible
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Jehoshaphat King of Judah
17 Jehoshaphat, Asa’s son, became king of Judah in Asa’s place. Jehoshaphat made Judah strong so they could fight against Israel. 2 He put troops in all the strong, walled cities of Judah. And he put troops in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim his father Asa had captured.
3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he did good things. He lived as his father Asa did when he first became king. Jehoshaphat did not ask for help from the Baal idols. 4 He asked for help from the God his father had followed. He obeyed God’s commands. He did not live as the people of Israel lived. 5 The Lord made Jehoshaphat a strong king over Judah. All the people of Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat. So he had much wealth and honor. 6 He wanted very much to obey the Lord. He also removed the places for worshiping false gods and the Asherah idols from Judah.
7 Jehoshaphat sent his officers to teach in the towns of Judah. This happened in the third year of his rule. These officers were Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah. 8 Jehoshaphat sent with them these Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah. He also sent the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9 These leaders, Levites and priests taught the people in Judah. They took the Book of the Teachings of the Lord with them. And they went through all the towns of Judah and taught the people.
10 The nations near Judah were afraid of the Lord. So they did not start a war against Jehoshaphat. 11 Some of the Philistines brought gifts and silver to Jehoshaphat as forced payments. Some Arabs brought him flocks. They brought him 7,700 male sheep and 7,700 goats.
12 Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful. He built strong, walled cities and storage towns in Judah. 13 He kept many supplies in the towns of Judah. And he kept trained soldiers in Jerusalem. 14 These soldiers were listed by families.
From the families of Judah, these were the commanders of groups of 1,000 men: Adnah was the commander of 300,000 soldiers. 15 Jehohanan was the commander of 280,000 soldiers. 16 And Amasiah was the commander of 200,000 soldiers. Amasiah son of Zicri had volunteered to serve the Lord.
17 These were the commanders from the families of Benjamin: Eliada had 200,000 soldiers who used bows and shields. Eliada was a brave soldier. 18 And Jehozabad had 180,000 men armed for war.
19 All these soldiers served King Jehoshaphat. The king also put other men in the strong, walled cities through all of Judah.
Micaiah Warns King Ahab
18 Jehoshaphat had much wealth and honor. He made an agreement with King Ahab through marriage.[a] 2 A few years later Jehoshaphat visited Ahab in Samaria. Ahab sacrificed many sheep and cattle as a great feast to honor Jehoshaphat and the people with him. He encouraged Jehoshaphat to attack Ramoth in Gilead. 3 Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to attack Ramoth in Gilead?”
Jehoshaphat answered, “I will be with you. And my soldiers will be like your own soldiers. We will join you in the battle.” 4 Jehoshaphat also said to Ahab, “But first we should ask the Lord to guide us.”
5 So King Ahab called a meeting of the prophets. There were 400 men. Ahab asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth in Gilead or not?”
They answered, “Go, because God will let you defeat it.”
6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there a prophet of the Lord here? If there is, let’s ask him what we should do.”
7 Then King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “There is one other prophet. We could ask the Lord through him. But I hate him. When he prophesies, he never says anything good about me. He always says something bad. He is Micaiah, Imlah’s son.”
Jehoshaphat said, “King Ahab, you shouldn’t say that.”
8 So King Ahab told one of his officers to bring Micaiah to him at once.
9 King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah had on their royal robes. They were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor. This was near the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were speaking messages in front of the two kings. 10 One of the prophets was Zedekiah son of Kenaanah. He had made some iron horns. He said to Ahab, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You will use these horns to fight the Arameans. And you will destroy them.’”
11 All the other prophets said the same thing. They said, “Attack Ramoth in Gilead and win. The Lord will let you defeat the Arameans.”
12 The messenger who had gone to get Micaiah found him. He said to Micaiah, “All the other prophets are saying the same thing. They are saying that King Ahab will win against the Arameans. You had better agree with them. Give the king a good answer.”
13 But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.”
14 Then Micaiah came to King Ahab. The king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth in Gilead or not?”
Micaiah answered, “Attack and win. You will defeat it.”
15 King Ahab said to Micaiah, “Tell me only the truth by the power of the Lord. How many times do I have to tell you this?”
16 Then Micaiah answered, “I saw the army of Israel. They were scattered over the hills like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said, ‘They have no leaders. Let each one go home and not fight.’”
17 Then King Ahab of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I told you! This prophet never says anything good about me. He only says bad things about me.”
18 But Micaiah continued to speak. He said, “Hear the message from the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne. His heavenly army was standing on his right and on his left. 19 The Lord said, ‘Who will trick King Ahab of Israel into attacking Ramoth in Gilead? Do this so he will go and be killed.’ The spirits did not agree about what they should do. 20 Then a spirit came and stood before the Lord. He said, ‘I will trick him.’ The Lord asked, ‘How will you do it?’ 21 The spirit answered, ‘I will go to Ahab’s prophets. I will make them tell lies.’ So the Lord said, ‘You will succeed in tricking him. Go and do it.’”
22 Micaiah said, “Ahab, this has now happened. The Lord has caused your prophets to lie to you. The Lord has decided that great trouble should come to you.”
23 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up to Micaiah. And he slapped Micaiah in the face. Zedekiah said, “Do you really believe that the Lord’s Spirit has left me and is now speaking through you?”
24 Micaiah answered, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inside room.”
25 Then King Ahab ordered, “Take Micaiah. Send him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son. 26 Tell them I said to put Micaiah in prison. Give him only bread and water. Keep him there until I come back safely from the battle.”
27 Micaiah said, “Ahab, if you come back safely from the battle, the Lord has not spoken through me. Remember my words, all you people!”
Ahab Is Killed
28 So Ahab king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went to Ramoth in Gilead. 29 King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I will go into battle. But I will wear other clothes so no one will know who I am. But you wear your royal clothes.” So King Ahab of Israel wore other clothes and went into battle.
30 The king of Aram gave an order to his chariot commanders. He said, “Don’t fight with anyone but the king of Israel. It doesn’t matter if they are important or unimportant.” 31 When these commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought he was the king of Israel. So they turned to attack him. But Jehoshaphat called out, and the Lord helped him. God made the chariot commanders turn away from Jehoshaphat. 32 When they saw he was not King Ahab, they stopped chasing him.
33 By chance, a soldier shot an arrow. And it hit Ahab king of Israel. The arrow went in between the pieces of his armor. King Ahab said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and get me out of the battle. I’ve been wounded.” 34 The battle went on all day. King Ahab held himself up in his chariot. He faced the Arameans until evening. Then Ahab died at sunset.
25 As the Scripture says in Hosea:
“I will say, ‘You are my people’
to those I had called ‘not my people.’
And I will show my love
to those people I did not love.” Hosea 2:1, 23
26 “Now it is said to Israel,
‘You are not my people.’
But later they will be called
‘children of the living God.’” Hosea 1:10
27 And Isaiah cries out about Israel:
“There are so many people of Israel.
They are like the grains of sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be saved.
28 For the Lord will quickly and completely punish the people on the earth.” Isaiah 10:22-23
29 It is as Isaiah said:
“The Lord of heaven’s armies
allowed a few of our descendants to live.
Otherwise we would have been completely destroyed
like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”[a] Isaiah 1:9
30 So what does all this mean? It means this: the non-Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God. But they were made right with God because of their faith. 31 And the people of Israel tried to follow a law to make themselves right with God. But they did not succeed, 32 because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did. They did not trust in God to make them right. They fell over the stone that causes people to fall. 33 As it is written in the Scripture:
“I will put in Jerusalem a stone that causes people to stumble.
It is a rock that makes them fall.
Anyone who trusts in him will not be disappointed.” Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
10 Brothers, the thing I want most is for all the Jews to be saved. That is my prayer to God. 2 I can say this about them: They really try to follow God. But they do not know the right way. 3 They did not know the way that God makes people right with him. And they tried to make themselves right in their own way. So they did not accept God’s way of making people right. 4 Christ ended the law, so that everyone who believes in him may be right with God.
5 Moses writes about being made right by following the law. He says, “A person who does these things will have life forever because of them.”[b] 6 But this is what the Scripture says about being made right through faith: “Don’t say to yourself, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’” (That means, “Who will go up to heaven to get Christ and bring him down to earth?”) 7 “And do not say, ‘Who will go down into the world below?’” (That means, “Who will go down to get Christ and bring him up from death?”) 8 This is what the Scripture says: “God’s teaching is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.”[c] That is the teaching of faith that we tell. 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from death, then you will be saved. 10 We believe with our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we declare with our mouths to say that we believe, and so we are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.”[d] 12 That Scripture says “anyone” because there is no difference between Jew and non-Jew. The same Lord is the Lord of all and gives many blessings to all who trust in him. 13 The Scripture says, “Anyone who asks the Lord for help will be saved.”[e]
A Prayer for the King
For the director of music. A song of David.
20 May the Lord answer you in times of trouble.
May the God of Jacob protect you.
2 May he send you help from his Temple.
May he support you from Mount Zion.
3 May he remember all your offerings.
May he accept all your sacrifices. Selah
4 May he give you what you want.
May all your plans succeed.
5 We will shout for joy when you succeed.
We will raise a flag in the name of our God.
May the Lord give you all that you ask for.
6 Now I know the Lord helps his appointed king.
He answers him from his holy heaven.
He saves him with his strong right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, others in horses.
But we trust the Lord our God.
8 They are overwhelmed and defeated.
But we march forward and win.
9 Lord, save the king!
Answer us when we call for help.
2 A king’s anger is like the roar of a lion.
Making him angry may cost you your life.
3 Foolish people are always getting into quarrels.
But avoiding quarrels will bring you honor.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.