Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
The One Year Bible TLB (159 page)
Wine gives false courage; hard liquor leads to brawls; what fools men are to let it master them, making them reel drunkenly down the street!
July 26Then his son Jehoshaphat became the king and mobilized for war against Israel.
2
He placed garrisons in all of the fortified cities of Judah, in various other places throughout the country, and in the cities of Ephraim that his father had conquered.
3
The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed in the good footsteps of his father’s early years and did not worship idols.
4
He obeyed the commandments of his father’s God—quite unlike the people across the border in the land of Israel.
5
So the Lord strengthened his position as king of Judah. All the people of Judah cooperated by paying their taxes, so he became very wealthy as well as being very popular.
6
He boldly followed the paths of God—even knocking down the heathen altars on the hills and destroying the Asherim idols.
7-9
In the third year of his reign he began a nationwide religious education program. He sent out top government officials as teachers in all the cities of Judah. These men included Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah. He also used the Levites for this purpose, including Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; also the priests, Elishama and Jehoram. They took copies of
The Book of the Law of the Lord
to all the cities of Judah to teach the Scriptures to the people.
10
Then the fear of the Lord fell upon all the surrounding kingdoms so that none of them declared war on King Jehoshaphat.
11
Even some of the Philistines brought him presents and annual tribute, and the Arabs donated 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats.
12
So Jehoshaphat became very strong and built fortresses and supply cities throughout Judah.
13
His public works program was also extensive, and he had a huge army stationed at Jerusalem, his capital.
14-15
Three hundred thousand Judean troops were there under General Adnah. Next in command was Jehohanan with an army of 280,000 men.
16
Next was Amasiah (son of Zichri), a man of unusual piety, with 200,000 troops.
17
Benjamin supplied 200,000 men equipped with bows and shields under the command of Eliada, a great general.
18
His second in command was Jehozabad, with 180,000 trained men.
19
These were the troops in Jerusalem in addition to those placed by the king in the fortified cities throughout the nation.
18:
1
But rich, popular King Jehoshaphat of Judah made a marriage alliance for his son
*
with the daughter of King Ahab of Israel.
2
A few years later he went down to Samaria to visit King Ahab, and King Ahab gave a great party for him and his aides, butchering great numbers of sheep and oxen for the feast. Then he asked King Jehoshaphat to join forces with him against Ramoth-gilead.
3-5
“Why, of course!” King Jehoshaphat replied. “I’m with you all the way. My troops are at your command! However, let’s check with the Lord first.”
So King Ahab summoned 400 of his heathen prophets and asked them, “Shall we go to war with Ramoth-gilead or not?”
And they replied, “Go ahead, for God will give you a great victory!”
6-7
But Jehoshaphat wasn’t satisfied. “Isn’t there some prophet of the Lord around here too?” he asked. “I’d like to ask him the same question.”
“Well,” Ahab told him, “there is one, but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything but evil! His name is Micaiah (son of Imlah).”
“Oh, come now, don’t talk like that!” Jehoshaphat exclaimed. “Let’s hear what he has to say.”
8
So the king of Israel called one of his aides. “Quick! Go and get Micaiah (son of Imlah),” he ordered.
9
The two kings were sitting on thrones in full regalia at an open place near the Samaria gate, and all the “prophets” were prophesying before them.
10
One of them, Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah), made some iron horns for the occasion and proclaimed, “The Lord says you will gore the Syrians to death with these!”
11
And all the others agreed. “Yes,” they chorused, “go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for the Lord will cause you to conquer.”
12
The man who went to get Micaiah told him what was happening and what all the prophets were saying—that the war would end in triumph for the king.
“I hope you will agree with them and give the king a favorable reading,” the man ventured.
13
But Micaiah replied, “I vow by God that whatever God says is what I will say.”
14
When he arrived before the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead or not?”
And Micaiah replied, “Sure, go ahead! It will be a glorious victory!”
15
“Look here,” the king said sharply, “how many times must I tell you to speak nothing except what the Lord tells you to?”
16
Then Micaiah told him, “In my vision I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountain as sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘Their master has been killed. Send them home.’”
17
“Didn’t I tell you?” the king of Israel exclaimed to Jehoshaphat. “He does it every time. He
never
prophesies
anything
but evil against me.”
18
“Listen to what else the Lord has told me,” Micaiah continued. “I saw him upon his throne surrounded by vast throngs of angels.
19-20
“And the Lord said, ‘Who can get King Ahab to go to battle against Ramoth-gilead and be killed there?’
“There were many suggestions, but finally a spirit stepped forward before the Lord and said, ‘I can do it!’
“‘How?’ the Lord asked him.
21
“He replied, ‘I will be a lying spirit in the mouths of all of the king’s prophets!’
“‘It will work,’ the Lord said; ‘go and do it.’
22
“So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours, when actually he has determined just the opposite of what they are telling you!”
23
Then Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah) walked up to Micaiah and slapped him across the face. “You liar!” he yelled. “When did the Spirit of the Lord leave me and enter you?”
24
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Micaiah replied, “when you are hiding in an inner room!”
25
“Arrest this man and take him back to Governor Amon and to my son Joash,” the king of Israel ordered.
26
“Tell them, ‘The king says to put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread and water until I return safely from the battle!’”
27
Micaiah replied, “If you return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then, turning to those around them, he remarked, “Take note of what I have said.”
28
So the king of Israel and the king of Judah led their armies to Ramoth-gilead.
29
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I’ll disguise myself so that no one will recognize me, but you put on your royal robes!” So that is what they did.
30
Now the king of Syria had issued these instructions to his charioteers: “Ignore everyone but the king of Israel!”
31
So when the Syrian charioteers saw King Jehoshaphat of Judah in his royal robes, they went for him, supposing that he was the man they were after. But Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord to save him, and the Lord made the charioteers see their mistake and leave him.
32
For as soon as they realized he was not the king of Israel, they stopped chasing him.
33
But one of the Syrian soldiers shot an arrow haphazardly at the Israeli troops, and it struck the king of Israel at the opening where the lower armor and the breastplate meet. “Get me out of here,” he groaned to the driver of his chariot, “for I am badly wounded.”
34
The battle grew hotter and hotter all that day, and King Ahab went back in, propped up in his chariot, to fight the Syrians, but just as the sun sank into the western skies, he died.
Remember what the prophecy of Hosea says? There God says that he will find other children for himself (who are not from his Jewish family) and will love them, though no one had ever loved them before.
26
And the heathen, of whom it once was said, “You are not my people,” shall be called “sons of the Living God.”
*
27
Isaiah the prophet cried out concerning the Jews that though there would be millions
*
of them, only a small number would ever be saved.
28
“For the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth, quickly ending his dealings, justly cutting them short.”
*
29
And Isaiah says in another place that except for God’s mercy all the Jews would be destroyed—all of them—just as everyone in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah perished.
*
30
Well then, what shall we say about these things? Just this, that God has given the Gentiles the opportunity to be acquitted by faith, even though they had not been really seeking God.
31
But the Jews, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping his laws, never succeeded.
32
Why not? Because they were trying to be saved by keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith. They have stumbled over the great stumbling stone.
33
God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I have put a Rock in the path of the Jews, and many will stumble over him (Jesus). Those who believe in him will never be disappointed.”
*
10:
1
Dear brothers, the longing of my heart and my prayer is that the Jewish people might be saved.
2
I know what enthusiasm they have for the honor of God, but it is misdirected zeal.
3
For they don’t understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God’s favor by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God’s way of salvation.
4
They don’t understand that Christ gives to those who trust in him everything they are trying to get by keeping his laws. He ends all of that.
5
For Moses wrote that if a person could be perfectly good and hold out against temptation all his life and never sin once, only then could he be pardoned and saved.
6
But the salvation that comes through faith says, “You don’t need to search the heavens to find Christ and bring him down to help you,” and,
7
“You don’t need to go among the dead to bring Christ back to life again.”
8
For salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is what we preach—is already within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths.
9
For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10
For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation.
*
11
For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed.
12
Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect: they all have the same Lord who generously gives his riches to all those who ask him for them.
13
Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
In your day of trouble, may the Lord be with you! May the God of Jacob keep you from all harm.
2
May he send you aid from his sanctuary in Zion.
3
May he remember with pleasure the gifts you have given him, your sacrifices and burnt offerings.
4
May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans.
5
May there be shouts of joy when we hear the news of your victory, flags flying with praise to God for all that he has done for you. May he answer all your prayers!
6
“God save the king”—I know he does! He hears me from highest heaven and sends great victories.
7
Some nations boast of armies and of weaponry, but our boast is in the Lord our God.
8
Those nations will collapse and perish; we will arise to stand firm and sure!
9
Give victory to our king, O Lord; oh, hear our prayer.
The king’s fury is like that of a roaring lion; to rouse his anger is to risk your life.
3
It is an honor for a man to stay out of a fight. Only fools insist on quarreling.