1 Kings 22

¹And they continued for three years without war between Aram and Israel.

²And it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

³And the king of Israel said to his servants, 'Do you not know that Ramoth-Gilead is ours, and we do nothing to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?'

⁴And he said to Jehoshaphat, 'Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?' And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, 'I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.'

⁵And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, 'Inquire first, please, for the word of the Lord.'

⁶Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, 'Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?' And they said, 'Go up, and the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.'

⁷And Jehoshaphat said, 'Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?'

⁸And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'There is yet one man by whom to inquire of the LORD, but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me but evil — Micaiah son of Imlah.' And Jehoshaphat said, 'Let not the king say such a thing.'

⁹And the king of Israel called one court official and said, 'Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.'

¹⁰Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, clothed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

¹¹And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron and said, 'Thus says the Lord: With these you shall gore Aram until they are consumed.'

¹²And all the prophets were prophesying thus, saying, 'Go up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, and the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.'

¹³And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him, saying, 'Look now, the words of the prophets with one voice are favorable for the king; let your word, please, be like the word of one of them and speak favorably.'

¹⁴And Micaiah said, 'As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak.'

¹⁵And he came to the king, and the king said to him, 'Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead for battle, or shall we refrain?' And he said to him, 'Go up and succeed, and the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.'

¹⁶And the king said to him, 'How many times must I adjure you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?'

¹⁷And he said, 'I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said, These have no master; let each man return to his house in peace.'

¹⁸And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?'

¹⁹And he said, 'Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of the heavens standing beside him, on his right and on his left.'

²⁰And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said in this way, and another said in that way.

²¹Then the spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, 'I will entice him.'

²²And the Lord said to him, 'By what means?' And he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You will deceive, and you will prevail; go out and do so.'

²³And now, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the Lord has spoken disaster against you.

²⁴Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah approached and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, 'How did the spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?'

²⁵And Micaiah said, 'Indeed, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to hide.'

²⁶And the king of Israel said, 'Take Micaiah and bring him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son.'

²⁷And you shall say, 'Thus says the king: Put this man in prison and feed him bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I return in peace.'

²⁸And Micaiah said, 'If you return in peace at all, the Lord has not spoken through me.' And he said, 'Hear, all you peoples!'

²⁹And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.

³⁰And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'I will disguise myself and enter the battle, but you put on your robes.' So the king of Israel disguised himself and entered the battle.

³¹Now the king of Aram had commanded the commanders of his chariots, thirty-two of them, saying, 'Do not fight with anyone, small or great, but only with the king of Israel alone.'

³²And when the commanders of the chariotry saw Jehoshaphat, they said, 'Surely he is the king of Israel!' So they turned against him to fight, and Jehoshaphat cried out.

³³And it came to pass, when the commanders of the chariots saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

³⁴Now a man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. He said to his charioteer, 'Turn your hand and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.'

³⁵And the battle raged on that day, and the king was propped up in the chariot facing Aram, and he died at evening, and the blood of the wound poured into the basin of the chariot.

³⁶And the cry went through the camp at sunset, saying, 'Every man to his city, and every man to his land!'

³⁷And the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria.

³⁸And they washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs lapped up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed in it, according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken.

³⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

⁴⁰And Ahab lay down with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

⁴¹And Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

⁴²Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.

⁴³He walked in all the way of Asa his father; he did not turn from it, doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD. Yet the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁴⁴And Jehoshaphat was at peace with the king of Israel.

⁴⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat and his might that he showed, and how he fought, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

⁴⁶And the remnant of the male cult prostitutes who remained from the days of Asa his father, he purged from the land.

⁴⁷There was no king in Edom; a deputy was king.

⁴⁸Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.

⁴⁹Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, 'Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,' but Jehoshaphat was not willing.

⁵⁰And Jehoshaphat lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.

⁵¹Ahaziah son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.

⁵²And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.

⁵³He served Baal and bowed down to him and provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger, just as his father had done.