< 1 Kings 22 >
1 And they sit still three years; there is no war between Aram and Israel.
For three years Aram and Israel were not at war.
2 And it comes to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat king of Judah comes 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 says to his servants, “Have you not known that Ramoth-Gilead [is] ours? And we are keeping silent from taking it out of the hand 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 says to Jehoshaphat, “Do you go with me to battle [against] Ramoth-Gilead?” And Jehoshaphat says to the king of Israel, “As I am, so [are] you; as my people, so your people; as my horses, so 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 And Jehoshaphat says to the king of Israel, “Please seek the word of YHWH today”;
Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “But first though, please find out what the Lord says.”
6 and the king of Israel gathers the prophets, about four hundred men, and says to them, “Do I go to battle against Ramoth-Gilead, or do I refrain?” And they say, “Go up, and the Lord gives [it] into the hand 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 And Jehoshaphat says, “[Is there] not a prophet of YHWH still here that we may seek from him?”
But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn't there another prophet of the Lord here that we can ask?”
8 And the king of Israel says to Jehoshaphat, “Yet one man [remains] to seek YHWH from him, and I have hated him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil—Micaiah son of Imlah”; and Jehoshaphat says, “Do not let 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 And the king of Israel calls to a certain eunuch and says, “Hurry along Micaiah 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 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah are sitting, each on his throne, clothed with garments, in a threshing-floor, at the opening of the Gate of Samaria, and all the prophets are prophesying 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 son of Chenaanah makes horns of iron for himself and says, “Thus said YHWH: By these you push the Arameans until they are consumed”;
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 are prophesying so, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper, and YHWH has given [it] into the hand 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 And the messenger who has gone to call Micaiah has spoken to him, saying, “Now behold, the words of the prophets, with one mouth, [are] good toward the king; please let your word be as the word of one of them—and you have spoken good.”
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 says, “YHWH lives; surely that which YHWH says to me—it I speak.”
But Micaiah replied, “As the Lord lives, I can only say what my God tells me.”
15 And he comes to the king, and the king says to him, “Micaiah, do we go to Ramoth-Gilead, to battle, or do we refrain?” And he says to him, “Go up, and prosper, and YHWH has given [it] into the hand 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 And the king says to him, “How many times am I adjuring you that you speak nothing to me but truth in the Name of YHWH?”
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 And he says, “I have seen all Israel scattered on the hills as sheep that have no shepherd, and YHWH says, These have no master; let them return—each 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 says to Jehoshaphat, “Have I not said to you, He does not prophesy of me good, but 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 says, “Therefore, hear a word of YHWH! I have seen YHWH sitting on His throne, and all the host of the heavens standing by Him, on His right and on 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 YHWH says, Who entices Ahab, and he goes up and falls in Ramoth-Gilead? And this one says thus, and that one is saying thus.
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 And the spirit goes out and stands before YHWH, and says, I entice him; and YHWH says to him, By what?
Finally a spirit came and approached the Lord and said, ‘I will trick him.’
22 And he says, I go out, and have been a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets; and He says, You entice, and also you are able; 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, behold, YHWH has put a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and YHWH has spoken calamity concerning 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 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah draws near and strikes Micaiah on the cheek, and says, “Where [is] this [that] the spirit [from] YHWH has passed over from me to speak with 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 says, “Behold, you are seeing on that day when you go into the innermost chamber to be hidden.”
“You'll soon find out when you try and find some secret place to hide!” Micaiah replied.
26 And the king of Israel says, “Take Micaiah, and turn him back to Amon head of the city, and to Joash son of the king,
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 you have said, Thus said the king: Place this one in the house of restraint, and cause him to eat bread of oppression, and water of oppression, until my coming 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 says, “If you return in peace at all, YHWH has not spoken by me”; and he says, “Hear, O peoples, all of them.”
“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 And the king of Israel goes up—and Jehoshaphat king of Judah—to Ramoth-Gilead.
The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went to attack Ramoth-gilead.
30 And the king of Israel says to Jehoshaphat to disguise himself, and to go into battle, “And you, put on your garments.” And the king of Israel disguises himself, and goes into battle.
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 And the king of Aram commanded the thirty-two heads of the charioteers whom he has, saying, “You do not fight with small or with great, but with the king of Israel by himself.”
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 And it comes to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing Jehoshaphat, that they said, “He [is] surely the king of Israel!” And they turn aside to him to fight, and Jehoshaphat cries out,
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 it comes to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing that he [is] not the king of Israel, that they turn back from after him.
the chariot commanders saw it wasn't the king of Israel and stopped chasing him.
34 And a man has drawn with a bow in his simplicity, and strikes the king of Israel between the joinings and the coat of mail, and he says to his charioteer, “Turn your hand, and take me out from the camp, for I have become sick.”
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 And the battle increases on that day, and the king has been caused to stand in the chariot, in front of Aram, and he dies in the evening, and the blood of the wound runs out to the midst of the chariot,
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 he causes the cry to pass over through the camp, at the going in of the sun, saying, “Each to his city, and each to his land!”
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 the king dies, and comes into Samaria, and they bury the king in Samaria;
So the king died. He was taken back to Samaria where they buried him.
38 and [one] rinses the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs lick his blood when they had washed the armor, according to the word of YHWH that He spoke.
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 And the rest of the matters of Ahab, and all that he did, and the house of ivory that he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles 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 And Ahab lies with his fathers, and his son Ahaziah reigns in his stead.
Ahab died and his son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.
41 And Jehoshaphat son of Asa has reigned over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel,
Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, became king of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Ahab, king of Israel.
42 Jehoshaphat [is] a son of thirty-five years in his reigning, and he has reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Azubah 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 And he walks in all the way of his father Asa, he has not turned aside from it, to do that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH; only, the high places have not been removed—the people are still sacrificing and making incense in 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 makes peace with the king of Israel;
Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.
45 and the rest of the matters of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he exercised, and with which he fought, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles 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 And the remnant of the whoremongers who were left in the days of his father Asa he took away out of the land;
He expelled from the land any cult prostitutes who were left from the time of his father Asa.
47 and there is no king in Edom; he set up a king.
(At that time there was no king in Edom; only a deputy who served as king.)
48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, and they did not go, for the ships were broken in 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 son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships”; and Jehoshaphat was not willing.
During that time Ahaziah, son of Ahab, asked Jehoshaphat, “Let my men sail with your men,” but Jehoshaphat refused.
50 And Jehoshaphat lies with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the city of his father David, and his son Jehoram reigns in his stead.
Jehoshaphat died and was buried with his forefathers in the City of David. His son Jehoram succeeded him as king.
51 Ahaziah son of Ahab has reigned over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigns over Israel 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 and does evil in the eyes of YHWH, and walks in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin,
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 and serves the Ba‘al, and bows himself to it, and provokes YHWH, God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.
He served Baal and worshiped him, and angered the Lord, the God of Israel, just as his father had.