The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord’s will. ¹  But I despise ²  him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but always ³  disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. ⁴  Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say such things!”

Even her mercenaries ¹  will prove to be like pampered, ²  well-fed calves. For they too will turn and run away. They will not stand their ground when ³  the time for them to be destroyed comes, the time for them to be punished.

Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ¹  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ²  from your reliable moral standards. ³ 

So when God destroyed ¹  the cities of the region, ²  God honored ³  Abraham’s request. He removed Lot ⁴  from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed ⁵  the cities Lot had lived in.

This food should be held in storage for the land in preparation for the seven years of famine that will occur throughout the land of Egypt. In this way the land will survive the famine.” ¹ 

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will release you from this place. When he releases you, ²  he will drive you out completely ³  from this place.

The Lord will single him out ¹  for judgment ²  from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.

But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster. ¹ 

Then they erected over him a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day ¹ ) and the Lord’s anger subsided. So that place is called the Valley of Disaster to this very day.

The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. ¹  They said, “Too bad for ²  us! We’ve never seen anything like this!

Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

“The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust ¹  invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, ²  or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, ¹  as they acknowledge their pain ²  and spread out their hands toward this temple,

Then he called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?”

Elijah ¹  replied, “I have not brought disaster ²  on Israel. But you and your father’s dynasty have, by abandoning the Lord’s commandments and following the Baals.

You thoroughly defeated Edom ¹  and it has gone to your head! ²  Gloat over your success, ³  but stay in your palace. Why bring calamity on yourself? Why bring down yourself and Judah along with you?” ⁴ 

This happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who brought them up from the land of Egypt and freed them from the power of ¹  Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped ²  other gods;

“The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight, and disease, or a locust ¹  invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, ²  or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, ¹  as they acknowledge their intense pain ²  and spread out their hands toward this temple,

Eliezer son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, “Because ¹  you made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will shatter what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and unable to go to sea. ²