When Ahab saw Elijah, he said, "Have you caught up with me, my enemy?" "Yes, I have," Elijah answered. "You have devoted yourself completely to doing what is wrong in the LORD's sight.

This made Asa so angry with the prophet that he had him put in chains. It was at this same time that Asa began treating some of the people cruelly.

Ahab answered, "There is one more, Micaiah son of Imlah. But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad." "You shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.

The two kings, dressed in their royal robes, were sitting on their thrones at the threshing place just outside the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

All the other prophets said the same thing. "March against Ramoth and you will win," they said. "The LORD will give you victory."

But Micaiah answered, "By the living LORD I will say what my God tells me to!"

But Ahab replied, "When you speak to me in the name of the LORD, tell the truth! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "I told you that he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad!"

The LORD asked, 'Who will deceive Ahab so that he will go and get killed at Ramoth?' Some of the angels said one thing, and others said something else,

The spirit replied, 'I will go and make all of Ahab's prophets tell lies.' The LORD said, 'Go and deceive him. You will succeed.' "

Then the prophet Zedekiah went up to Micaiah, slapped his face, and asked, "Since when did the LORD's spirit leave me and speak to you?"

Then King Ahab ordered one of his officers, "Arrest Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Prince Joash.

"If you return safely," Micaiah exclaimed, "then the LORD has not spoken through me!" And he added, "Listen, everyone, to what I have said!"

The LORD sent prophets to warn them to return to him, but the people refused to listen.

King Joash joined in a conspiracy against Zechariah, and on the king's orders the people stoned Zechariah in the Temple courtyard.

"Since when," Amaziah interrupted, "have we made you adviser to the king? Stop talking, or I'll have you killed!" The prophet stopped, but not before saying, "Now I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done all this and have ignored my advice."

prophets speak nothing but lies; priests rule as the prophets command, and my people offer no objections. But what will they do when it all comes to an end?"

The people of Anathoth wanted me killed, and they told me that they would kill me if I kept on proclaiming the LORD's message.

Then the priests and the prophets said to the leaders and to the people, "This man deserves to be sentenced to death because he has spoken against our city. You heard him with your own ears."

(There was another man, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim, who spoke in the name of the LORD against this city and nation just as Jeremiah did.

King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Achbor and some other men to Egypt to get Uriah.

Why haven't you done this to Jeremiah of Anathoth, who has been speaking as a prophet to the people?

Then the officials went to the king and said, "This man must be put to death. By talking like this he is making the soldiers in the city lose their courage, and he is doing the same thing to everyone else left in the city. He is not trying to help the people; he only wants to hurt them."

But you made the nazirites drink wine, and ordered the prophets not to speak my message.

Don't prophesy here at Bethel any more. This is the king's place of worship, the national temple."

The people preach at me and say, "Don't preach at us. Don't preach about all that. God is not going to disgrace us.

But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn these men never again to speak to anyone in the name of Jesus."

"We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of this man," he said; "but see what you have done! You have spread your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you want to make us responsible for his death!"

who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us. How displeasing they are to God! How hostile they are to everyone!

They even tried to stop us from preaching to the Gentiles the message that would bring them salvation. In this way they have brought to completion all the sins they have always committed. And now God's anger has at last come down on them!

When they finish proclaiming their message, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will fight against them. He will defeat them and kill them,

Ahab answered, "There is one more, Micaiah son of Imlah. But I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me; it's always something bad." "You shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.

The two kings, dressed in their royal robes, were sitting on their thrones at the threshing place just outside the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

All the other prophets said the same thing. "March against Ramoth and you will win," they said. "The LORD will give you victory."

Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people.

They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. 'All is well,' they say, when all is not well.

So I will give their fields to new owners and their wives to other men. Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly. Even prophets and priests cheat the people.

They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. 'All is well,' they say, when all is not well.

To the people who refuse to listen to what I have said, they keep saying that all will go well with them. And they tell everyone who is stubborn that disaster will never touch them."

How much longer will those prophets mislead my people with the lies they have invented?

The prophet who has had a dream should say it is only a dream, but the prophet who has heard my message should proclaim that message faithfully. What good is straw compared with wheat?

I tell them: Those visions you see are false, and the predictions you make are lies. You say that they are my words, but I haven't spoken to you!"

I am about to punish you prophets who have false visions and make misleading predictions. You will not be there when my people gather to make decisions; your names will not be included in the list of the citizens of Israel; you will never return to your land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.

and tell them what the Sovereign LORD is saying to them: "You women are doomed! You sew magic wristbands for everyone and make magic scarves for everyone to wear on their heads, so that they can have power over other people's lives. You want to possess the power of life and death over my people and to use it for your own benefit.

Now this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "I hate the wristbands that you use in your attempt to control life and death. I will rip them off your arms and set free the people that you were controlling.

"By your lies you discourage good people, whom I do not wish to hurt. You prevent evil people from giving up evil and saving their lives.

"These people want the kind of prophet who goes around full of lies and deceit and says, 'I prophesy that wine and liquor will flow for you.'

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I keep telling it that its ways are bad.

But I tell the truth, and that is why you do not believe me.

For those who do such things are not serving Christ our Lord, but their own appetites. By their fine words and flattering speech they deceive innocent people.

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?