2 Chronicles 18

1 Jehoshaphat became very wealthy and was greatly honored. But then he arranged for one of his family to marry someone from the family of King Ahab [of Israel].

And Jehoshaphat has riches and honor in abundance, and joins affinity to Ahab,

2 Several years later, he went down [from Jerusalem] to Samaria to visit Ahab. Ahab welcomed him and the people who had come with him by slaughtering many sheep and cattle [for a feast].

and goes down at the end of [certain] years to Samaria to [visit] Ahab, and Ahab sacrifices sheep and oxen in abundance for him and for the people who [are] with him, and persuades him to go up to Ramoth-Gilead.

3 Then he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you [and your army] go with my army to attack Ramoth [city] in [the] Gilead [region]?” Jehoshaphat replied, “My soldiers and I will go to the battle when you tell us to go.”

And Ahab king of Israel says to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Do you go with me [to] Ramoth-Gilead?” And he says to him, “As I—so you, and as your people—my people, and [we go] with you into the battle.”

4 Then he added, “But we should ask Yahweh first, to find out what he wants us to do.”

And Jehoshaphat says to the king of Israel, “Please seek the word of YHWH this day.”

5 So the king of Israel gathered all his 400 prophets and asked them, “Should we go to attack the people of Ramoth [city], or should we not do that?” They replied, “Yes, go [and attack them] because God will enable your army to defeat them.”

And the king of Israel gathers the prophets, four hundred men, and says to them, “Do we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or do I refrain?” And they say, “Go up, and God gives [it] into the hand of the king.”

6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of Yahweh here whom we can ask?”

And Jehoshaphat says, “[Is there] not still a prophet of YHWH here, and we seek from him?”

7 The king of Israel replied, “There is still one man here, whom we can ask to find out what Yahweh wants, his name is Micaiah, the son of Imlah. But I hate him because he never says anything good about me. He always predicts [that] bad [things will happen to me].” Jehoshaphat replied, “King Ahab, you should not say that!”

And the king of Israel says to Jehoshaphat, “[There is] still one man to seek YHWH from him, and I have hated him, for he is not prophesying of good concerning me, but of evil [for] all his days, he [is] Micaiah son of Imlah”; and Jehoshaphat says, “Do not let the king say so.”

8 So the king of Israel told one of his officials to summon Micaiah immediately.

And the king of Israel calls to a certain officer and says, “Hurry Micaiah son of Imlah.”

9 The king of Israel and the king of Judah were sitting there on their thrones, wearing their royal robes. They were at the place where people threshed grain, near the gate of Samaria [city]. All of [Ahab’s] prophets were standing in front of them, predicting what was going to happen.

And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah are sitting, each on his throne, clothed with garments, and they are sitting in a threshing-floor at the opening of the Gate of Samaria, and all the prophets are prophesying before them.

10 [One of them whose name was] Zedekiah, the son of Kenaanah, had made from iron something that resembled the horns of a bull. He proclaimed to Ahab, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘With horns [like these], your [army] will keep attacking the army of Syria [like a bull attacks another animal], until you completely destroy them.’”

And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah makes horns of iron for himself and says, “Thus said YHWH:

11 All the other prophets [of Ahab] agreed. They said, “Yes! If you attack Ramoth [city] in [the] Gilead [region], you will be successful, because Yahweh will enable you to defeat them.”

With these you push Aram until you have consumed them.” And all the prophets are prophesying so, saying, “Go up [to] Ramath-Gilead and prosper, and YHWH has given [it] into the hand of the king.”

12 The messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Listen to me! All the other prophets are unitedly predicting that the king will be successful [in the battle]. So be sure to agree with them and say that the king’s army will be successful!”

And the messenger who has gone to call for Micaiah has spoken to him, saying, “Behold, the words of the prophets [as] one mouth [are] good toward the king, and please let your word be like one of theirs: and you have spoken good.”

13 But Micaiah said, “As surely as Yahweh lives, I will tell the king only what Yahweh tells me to say.”

And Micaiah says “YHWH lives, surely that which my God says, I speak it.”

14 When Micaiah arrived, the king [of Israel] asked him, “Should we go to attack Ramoth, or not?” Micaiah replied, “Sure, go! Yahweh will enable your army to defeat them!”

And he comes to the king, and the king says to him, “Micaiah, do we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or do I refrain?” And he says, “Go up, and prosper, and they are given into your hand.”

15 But King Ahab [realized that Micaiah was lying, so he] said to Micaiah, “I have told you many times that you must always tell only the truth when you say what Yahweh [has revealed to you]!”

And the king says to him, “How many times am I adjuring you that you speak to me only truth in the Name of YHWH?”

16 Then Micaiah replied, “[The truth is that in a vision] I saw all the troops of Israel scattered on the mountains. They seemed to be like sheep that did not have a shepherd. And Yahweh said, ‘Their master has been killed. So tell them all to go home peacefully.’”

And he says, “I have seen all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd, and YHWH says, There are no masters for these, they each return to his house in peace.”

17 Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I told you that he never predicts that anything good will happen to me! He [always] predicts that bad things will happen to me.”

And the king of Israel says to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not say to you [that] he does not prophesy good concerning me, but rather of evil?”

18 But Micaiah continued, saying, “Listen to what Yahweh showed to me! [In a vision] I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, with all the armies of heaven [standing around him], on his right side and on his left side.

And [Micaiah] says, “Therefore, hear a word of YHWH: I have seen YHWH sitting on His throne, and all the host of the heavens standing on His right and His left;

19 And Yahweh said, ‘Who can persuade Ahab, the king of Israel, to go to fight against the people of Ramoth, in order that he may be killed there?’ “Some suggested one thing, and others suggested something else.

and YHWH says, Who entices Ahab king of Israel, and he goes up and falls in Ramoth-Gilead? And this speaker says thus, and that speaker thus.

20 “Finally one spirit, [having received a message from Satan], came to Yahweh and said, ‘I can do it!’ “Yahweh asked him, ‘How will you do it?’

And the spirit goes out, and stands before YHWH, and says, I entice him; and YHWH says to him, With what?

21 “The spirit replied, ‘I will go and inspire all of Ahab’s prophets to tell lies.’ Yahweh said, ‘You will be successful; go and do it!’

And he says, I go out, and have become 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.

22 “So now [I tell you that] Yahweh has caused your prophets to lie to you. Yahweh has decided that something terrible will happen to you.”

And now, behold, YHWH has put a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and YHWH has spoken calamity concerning you.”

23 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah walked over to Micaiah and slapped him on his face. He said, “Do you think that Yahweh’s Spirit left me in order to speak to you?”

And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah comes near and strikes Micaiah on the cheek, and says, “Where [is] this—the way the spirit [from] YHWH passed over from me to speak with you?”

24 Micaiah replied, “You will find out for yourself [to which of us Yahweh’s Spirit has truly spoken] on the day when you go into a room of some house to hide [from the Syrian soldiers]!”

And Micaiah says, “Behold, you see in that day that you enter into the innermost chamber to be hidden.”

25 King Ahab commanded [his soldiers], “Seize Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of this city, and to my son Joash.

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,

26 Tell them that I have commanded that they should put this man in prison and give him only bread and water. Do not give him anything else to eat until I return safely [from the battle]!”

and you have said, Thus said the king: Put this [one] in the house of restraint, and cause him to eat bread of oppression, and water of oppression, until my return in peace.”

27 Micaiah replied, “If you return safely, [it will be clear that] it was not Yahweh who told me what to say to you!” Then he said [to all those who were standing there], “Do not forget what I have said [to King Ahab]!”

And Micaiah says, “If you certainly return in peace, YHWH has not spoken by me”; and he says, “Hear, O peoples, all of them!”

28 So the king of Israel and the king of Judah [led their armies] to Ramoth, in [the] Gilead [region].

And the king of Israel goes up—and Jehoshaphat king of Judah—to Ramoth-Gilead;

29 King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I will put on different clothes, [in order that no one will recognize that I am the king.] But you should wear your royal robe.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they both went into the battle.

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 they go into battle.

30 The King of Syria told his soldiers who were driving the chariots, “Attack only the king of Israel!”

And the king of Aram has commanded the heads of the charioteers whom he has, saying, “You do not fight with small or with great, except with the king of Israel by himself.”

31 So when the soldiers who were driving the Syrian chariots saw Jehoshaphat [wearing the royal robes], they thought “He must be the king of Israel!”

And it comes to pass at the heads of the charioteers seeing Jehoshaphat, that they have said, “He is the king of Israel,” and they turn around against him to fight, and Jehoshaphat cries out, and YHWH has helped him, and God entices them from him;

32 So they turned to attack him. But when Jehoshaphat cried out, Yahweh helped him, and they realized that he was not the king of Israel. And God caused them to stop pursuing him.

indeed, it comes to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing that it has not been the king of Israel—they turn back from after him.

33 But one [Syrian] soldier shot an arrow at Ahab, without knowing that it was Ahab. The arrow struck Ahab between the places where the parts of his armor joined together. Ahab told the driver of his chariot, “Turn the chariot around and take me out of here! I have been [severely] wounded!”

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 the charioteer, “Turn your hand, and you have brought me out of the camp, for I have become [gravely] sick.”

34 The battle continued all that day. Ahab was sitting propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrian soldiers. And late in the afternoon, when the sun was setting, he died.

And the battle increases on that day, and the king of Israel has been propped up in the chariot in front of Aram until the evening, and he dies at the time of the going in of the sun.