Now the king of Syria had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, &#8220;Do not fight common soldiers or high-ranking officers;<n id="1" /> fight only the king of Israel.&#8221;

Now an archer shot an arrow at random,<n id="1" /> and it struck the king of Israel between the plates of his armor. The king<n id="2" /> ordered his charioteer, &#8220;Turn around and take me from the battle line,<n id="3" /> because I&#8217;m wounded.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">The rest of the events of Ahab&#8217;s reign, including a record of his accomplishments and how he built a luxurious palace and various cities, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me &#8211; how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether.<n id="1" /> During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle;<n id="2" /> when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet.<n id="3" />

May the <sc>Lordsc> punish him for the blood he shed;<n id="1" /> behind my father David&#8217;s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he<n id="2" /> &#8211; Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel&#8217;s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah&#8217;s army.

Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners.<n id="1" /> Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation,<n id="2" /> obey<n id="3" /> you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you.<n id="4" />p>

You must obey<n id="1" /> all I command you to do, follow my instructions,<n id="2" /> do what I approve,<n id="3" /> and keep my rules and commandments, like my servant David did. Then I will be with you and establish for you a lasting dynasty, as I did for David;<n id="4" /> I will give you Israel.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He<n id="1" /> was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem,<n id="2" /> the city the <sc>Lordsc> chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home.<n id="3" /> His mother was an Ammonite woman<n id="4" /> named Naamah.p>

Ben Hadad accepted King Asa&#8217;s offer and ordered his army commanders to attack the cities of Israel.<n id="1" /> They conquered<n id="2" /> Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and all the territory of Naphtali, including the region of Kinnereth.<n id="3" />

The prophet<n id="1" /> visited the king of Israel and said, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8216;Because the Syrians said, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,&#8221; I will hand over to you this entire huge army.<n id="2" /> Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;p>

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, &#8220;There is still one man through whom we can seek the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s will.<n id="1" /> But I despise<n id="2" /> him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah.<n id="3" /> Jehoshaphat said, &#8220;The king should not say such things.&#8221;