Ahab and the False Prophets

1 ^lFor three years Syria and Israel continued without war. 2 But in the third year ^mJehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3 And the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?” 4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, ⁿ“I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

5 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” 6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, ^oabout four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” 7 But Jehoshaphat said, ^p“Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” 8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” 9 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.” 10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’” 12 And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab

13 ^qAnd the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” 14 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, ^rwhat the Lord says to me, that I will speak.” 15 And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” 16 But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” 17 And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, ^sas sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’” 18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” 19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord ^tsitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; 20 and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 23 Now therefore behold, ^uthe Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.”

24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” 25 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an ^vinner chamber to hide yourself.” 26 And the king of Israel said, ^w“Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son, 27 and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water, until I come in peace.”’” 28 And Micaiah said, ^x“If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, ^y“Hear, all you peoples!”

Warning Against Worldliness

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions¹ are at ^twar within you?² 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, ^ubecause you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^vwrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You ^wadulterous people!^{3 x}Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the ^yspirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ^z“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. ^aResist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 ^bDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you ^cdouble-minded. 9 ^dBe wretched and mourn and weep. ^eLet your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 ^fHumble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.⁴ The one who speaks against a brother or ^gjudges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one ^hlawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. ⁱBut who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, ^j“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet ^kyou do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a ^lmist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, ^m“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. ⁿAll such boasting is evil. 17 ^oSo whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Warning to the Rich

1 Come now, you ^prich, ^qweep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are ^rmoth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up ^streasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the ^twages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a ^uday of slaughter. 6 You have ^vcondemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,⁵ until the ^wcoming of the Lord. ^xSee how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the ^yearly and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, ^zfor the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, ^aso that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the ^bprophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those ^cblessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of ^dthe steadfastness of Job, and you have seen ^ethe purpose of the Lord, ^fhow the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brothers, ^gdo not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, ^hbut let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

13 ⁱIs anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? ^jLet him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, ^kanointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. ^lAnd if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. ^mThe prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.⁶ 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and ⁿhe prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 ^oThen he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

19 My brothers, ^pif anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will ^qcover a multitude of sins.