1 Kings 22
1 Now for three years there was no war between Aram and Israel.
For three years Aram and Israel were not at war.
2 And it came about in the third year, that Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel.
But in the third year Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went to visit the king of Israel.
3 And the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you not see that Ramoth-gilead is ours? and we are doing nothing to get it back from the hands of the king of Aram.
The king of Israel had said to his officers, “Aren't you aware that Ramoth-gilead really belongs to us and yet we haven't done anything to take it back from the king of Aram?”
4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead to make war? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you are: my people as your people, my horses as your horses.
So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you join me in an attack to recapture Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “You and I are as one, my men and your men are as one, and my horses and your horses are as one.”
5 Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Let us now get directions from the Lord.
Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “But first though, please find out what the Lord says.”
6 So the king of Israel got all the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Am I to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And they said, Go up: for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.
So the king of Israel brought out the prophets—four hundred of them—and he asked them, “Should I go up and attack Ramoth-gilead, or should I not?” “Yes, go ahead,” they replied, “for the Lord will hand it over to the king.”
7 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there no other prophet of the Lord here from whom we may get directions?
But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn't there another prophet of the Lord here that we can ask?”
8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man by whom we may get directions from the Lord, Micaiah, son of Imlah; but I have no love for him, for he is a prophet of evil to me and not of good. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
“Yes, there's another man who could consult the Lord,” the king of Israel replied, “but I don't like him because he never prophesies anything good for me—it's always bad! His name is Micaiah, son of Imlah.” “You shouldn't talk like that,” said Jehoshaphat.
9 Then the king of Israel sent for one of his unsexed servants and said, Go quickly and come back with Micaiah, the son of Imlah.
The king of Israel called over one of his officials and told him, “Bring me Micaiah, son of Imlah, right away.”
10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were seated on their seats of authority, dressed in their robes, by the doorway into Samaria; and all the prophets were acting as prophets before them.
Dressed in their royal robes, the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah, were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor beside the gate of Samaria, with all of the prophets prophesying in front of them.
11 And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made himself horns of iron and said, The Lord says, Pushing back the Aramaeans with these, you will put an end to them completely.
One of them, Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, had made himself iron horns. He announced, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these horns you will gore the Arameans until they're dead!”
12 And all the prophets said the same thing, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and it will go well for you, for the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.
All the prophets were prophesying the same thing, saying, “Go ahead, attack Ramoth-gilead; you will be successful, for the Lord will hand it over to the king.”
13 Now the servant who had gone to get Micaiah said to him, See now, all the prophets with one voice are saying good things to the king; so let your words be like theirs and say good things.
The messenger who went to call Micaiah told him, “Look, all the prophets are unanimous in prophesying positively to the king. So please make sure to speak positively like them.”
14 And Micaiah said, By the living Lord, whatever the Lord says to me I will say.
But Micaiah replied, “As the Lord lives, I can only say what my God tells me.”
15 When he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, are we to go to Ramoth-gilead to make war or not? And in answer he said, Go up, and it will go well for you; and the Lord will give it into the hands of the king.
When he came before the king, the king asked him, “Should we go up and attack Ramoth-gilead, or should we not?” “Yes, go ahead and be victorious,” Micaiah replied, “for the Lord will give it into the king's hand.”
16 Then the king said to him, Have I not, again and again, put you on your oath to say nothing to me but what is true in the name of the Lord?
But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me only the truth in the name of the Lord?”
17 Then he said, I saw all Israel wandering on the mountains like sheep without a keeper; and the Lord said, These have no master: let them go back, every man to his house in peace.
So Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd. The Lord said, ‘These people have no master; let each of them go home in peace.’”
18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not say that he would not be a prophet of good but of evil?
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn't I tell you he never prophesies anything good for me, only bad?”
19 And he said, Give ear now to the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his seat of power, with all the army of heaven in their places round him at his right hand and at his left.
Micaiah went on to say, “So listen to what the Lord says. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, surrounded by the whole army of heaven standing to his right and to his left.
20 And the Lord said, How may Ahab be tricked into going up to Ramoth-gilead to his death? And one said one thing and one another.
The Lord asked, ‘Who will trick Ahab, king of Israel, into attacking Ramoth-gilead so he will be killed there?’ One said this, another said that, and another said something else.
21 Then a spirit came forward and took his place before the Lord and said, I will get him to do it by a trick.
Finally a spirit came and approached the Lord and said, ‘I will trick him.’
22 And the Lord said, How? And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so.
‘How are you going to do that?’ the Lord asked. ‘I will go and be a lying spirit and make all his prophets tell lies,’ the spirit replied. ‘That will work,’ the Lord responded. ‘Go and do it.’
23 And now, see, the Lord has put a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the Lord has said evil against you.
As you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced your death sentence.”
24 Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and gave Micaiah a blow on the side of the face, saying, Where is the spirit of the Lord whose word is in you?
Then Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, went and slapped Micaiah in the face, and demanded, “Which way did the Spirit of the Lord go when he left me to speak to you?”
25 And Micaiah said, Truly, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to keep yourself safe.
“You'll soon find out when you try and find some secret place to hide!” Micaiah replied.
26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon, the ruler of the town, and to Joash, the king's son;
The king of Israel ordered, “Place Micaiah under arrest and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to my son Joash.
27 And say, It is the king's order that this man is to be put in prison and given prison food till I come again in peace.
Tell them these are the king's instructions: ‘Put this man in jail. Give him only bread and water until my safe return.’”
28 And Micaiah said, If you come back at all in peace, the Lord has not sent his word by me.
“If you do in fact return safely then the Lord has not spoken through me,” Micaiah declared. “Pay attention everyone to all I've said!”
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead.
The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went to attack Ramoth-gilead.
30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will make a change in my clothing, so that I do not seem to be the king, and will go into the fight; but do you put on your robes. So the king of Israel made a change in his dress and went into the fight.
The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, “When I go into battle I will be in disguise, but you should wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
31 Now the king of Aram had given orders to the thirty-two captains of his war-carriages, saying, Make no attack on small or great, but only on the king of Israel.
The king of Aram had already given these orders to his chariot commanders: “Head straight for the king of Israel alone. Don't fight with anyone else, whoever they are.”
32 So when the captains of the war-carriages saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Truly, this is the king of Israel; and turning against him, they came round him, but Jehoshaphat gave a cry.
So when the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they shouted, “This must be the king of Israel!” So they turned to attack him, but when Jehoshaphat called out for help,
33 And when the captains of the war-carriages saw that he was not the king of Israel, they went back from going after him.
the chariot commanders saw it wasn't the king of Israel and stopped chasing him.
34 And a certain man sent an arrow from his bow without thought of its direction, and gave the king of Israel a wound where his breastplate was joined to his clothing; so he said to the driver of his war-carriage, Go to one side and take me away out of the army, for I am badly wounded.
However, an enemy archer shot an arrow at random, hitting the king of Israel between the joints of his armor by his breastplate. The king told his charioteer, “Turn around and get me out of the fight, because I've been wounded!”
35 But the fight became more violent while the day went on; and the king was supported in his war-carriage facing the Aramaeans, and the floor of the carriage was covered with the blood from his wound, and by evening he was dead.
The battle lasted all day. The king of Israel was propped up in his chariot to face the Arameans, but in the evening he died. The blood had poured out of his wound onto the floor of the chariot.
36 And about sundown a cry went up from all parts of the army, saying, Let every man go back to his town and his country, for the king is dead.
At sunset, a shout went out from the lines: “Retreat! Every man back to his town, every man back to his own country!”
37 And they came to Samaria, and put the king's body to rest in Samaria.
So the king died. He was taken back to Samaria where they buried him.
38 And the war-carriage was washed by the pool of Samaria, which was the bathing-place of the loose women, and the dogs were drinking his blood there, as the Lord had said.
They washed his chariot at a pool in Samaria where the prostitutes came to bathe, and dogs licked up his blood, just as the Lord had said.
39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all he did, and his ivory house, and all the towns of which he was the builder, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
The rest of what happened in Ahab's reign, all that he did, the ivory palace he constructed and all the cities he built are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
40 So Ahab was put to rest with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.
Ahab died and his son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.
41 And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab's rule over Israel.
Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, became king of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Ahab, king of Israel.
42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he was king for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
Jehoshaphat was thirty-five when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother's name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi.
43 He did as Asa his father had done, not turning away from it, but doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord; but the high places were not taken away: the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.
He followed all the ways of his father; he did not depart from them, and he did what was right in the Lord's sight. However, the high places were not removed and the people still sacrificed and presented offerings there.
44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.
45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his great power, and how he went to war, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
The rest of what happened in Jehoshaphat's reign, his great achievements and the wars he fought are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
46 He put an end to the rest of those who were used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods, all those who were still in the land in the time of his father Asa.
He expelled from the land any cult prostitutes who were left from the time of his father Asa.
47 At that time there was no king in Edom;
(At that time there was no king in Edom; only a deputy who served as king.)
48 And the representative of King Jehoshaphat made a Tarshish-ship to go to Ophir for gold, but it did not go, because it was broken at Ezion-geber.
Jehoshaphat built sea-going ships to go to Ophir for gold, but they went because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
49 Then Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, Let my men go with yours in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not let them.
During that time Ahaziah, son of Ahab, asked Jehoshaphat, “Let my men sail with your men,” but Jehoshaphat refused.
50 Then Jehoshaphat went to rest with his fathers, and his body was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Jehoram his son became king in his place.
Jehoshaphat died and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David. His son Jehoram succeeded him as king.
51 Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of the rule of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and he was king over Israel for two years.
Ahaziah, son of Ahab, became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years.
52 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, going in the ways of his father and his mother, and in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel do evil.
He did what was evil in the Lord's sight and followed the ways of his father and mother, and of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin.
53 He was a servant and worshipper of Baal, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath, as his father had done.
He served Baal and worshiped him, and angered the Lord, the God of Israel, just as his father had.
