1 Kings 22
1 And they sit still three years, there is no war between Aram and Israel,
For almost three years there was no war between Syria and Israel.
2 and it cometh to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat king of Judah cometh down unto the king of Israel,
Then King Jehoshaphat, who ruled Judah, went to [visit] King Ahab, who ruled Israel.
3 and the king of Israel saith unto his servants, 'Have ye not known that ours [is] Ramoth-Gilead? and we are keeping silent from taking it out of the hand of the king of Aram!'
[While they were talking, ] Ahab said to his officials, “Do you realize that the Syrians are still occupying our city of Ramoth in [the] Gilead [region]? And we are doing nothing to retake that city!”
4 And he saith unto Jehoshaphat, 'Dost thou go with me to battle [to] Ramoth-Gilead?' and Jehoshaphat saith unto the king of Israel, 'As I am, so thou; as my people, so thy people; as my horses, so thy horses.'
Then he turned to Jehoshaphat and asked, “Will your [army] join my [army] to fight against the people of Ramoth [and retake that city]?” Jehoshaphat replied, “[Certainly] I [will do whatever] you [want], and you may command my troops. You may take my horses into battle, also.”
5 And Jehoshaphat saith unto the king of Israel, 'Seek, I pray thee, to-day, the word of Jehovah;'
Then he added, “But we should ask Yahweh first, to find out what he wants us to do.”
6 and the king of Israel gathereth the prophets, about four hundred men, and saith unto them, 'Do I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or do I forbear?' and they say, 'Go up, and the Lord doth give [it] into the hand of the king.'
So Ahab summoned about 400 of his prophets together, and he asked them, “Should my [army] go to fight the people in Ramoth and retake that city, or not?” They answered, “Yes, go [and attack them], because God will enable your [army] to defeat them.”
7 And Jehoshaphat saith, 'Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, and we seek by him?'
But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of Yahweh here whom we can ask?”
8 And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, 'Yet — one man to seek Jehovah by him, and I have hated him, for he doth not prophesy concerning me good, but evil — Micaiah son of Imlah;' and Jehoshaphat saith, 'Let not the king say so.'
The King of Israel replied, “There is one man we can talk to. We can ask him if he can find out what Yahweh wants. His name is Micaiah; he is the son of Imlah. But I hate him, because when he (prophesies/tells what God says to him) he never says [that] anything good [will happen] to me. He always predicts [that] bad things [will happen to me].” Jehoshaphat replied, “King Ahab, you should not say that!”
9 And the king of Israel calleth unto a certain eunuch, and saith, 'Hasten Micaiah son of Imlah.'
So the king of Israel told one of his officers to summon Micaiah immediately.
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.
The king of Israel and the king of Judah were wearing their (royal robes/robes that showed that they were kings). They were sitting on thrones at the place where people threshed grain, near the gate of Samaria [city]. All of Ahab’s prophets were standing in front of the kings, (prophesying/predicting what was going to happen).
11 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah maketh for himself horns of iron, and saith, 'Thus said Jehovah, By these thou dost push the Aramaeans till they are consumed;'
One of them, whose name was Zedekiah, the son of Kenaanah, had made from iron [something that resembled] horns of a bull. Then he proclaimed [to Ahab], “This is what Yahweh says: ‘With horns like these your [army] will keep attacking the Syrians [like a bull attacks another animal] [MET], until you completely destroy them!’”
12 and all the prophets are prophesying so, saying, 'Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper, and Jehovah hath given [it] into the hand of the king.'
All the [other] prophets [of Ahab] agreed. They said, “Yes! If you go up to attack Ramoth [city] in [the] Gilead [region], you will be successful, because Yahweh will enable you to defeat them!”
13 And the messenger who hath gone to call Micaiah hath spoken unto him, saying, 'Lo, I pray thee, the words of the prophets, with one mouth, [are] good towards the king; let it be, I pray thee, thy word as the word of one of them — and thou hast spoken good.'
Meanwhile, the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Listen to me! All the other prophets are predicting that the king’s army will defeat the Syrians. So be sure that you agree with them and say (what will be favorable/that the king’s army will be successful).”
14 And Micaiah saith, 'Jehovah liveth; surely that which Jehovah saith unto me — it I speak.'
But Micaiah replied, “As surely as Yahweh lives, I will tell him only what Yahweh tells me to say.”
15 And he cometh in unto the king, and the king saith unto him, 'Micaiah, do we go unto Ramoth-Gilead, to battle, or do we forbear?' and he saith unto him, 'Go up, and prosper, and Jehovah hath given [it] into the hand of the king.'
When Micaiah came to Ahab, Ahab asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to fight against [the people of] Ramoth, or not?” Micaiah replied, “Sure, go! Yahweh will enable your army to defeat them!”
16 And the king saith unto him, 'How many times am I adjuring thee that thou speak nothing unto me but truth in the name of Jehovah?'
But King Ahab [realized that Micaiah was (lying/being sarcastic), so he] said to Micaiah, “I have told you [RHQ] many times that you must always tell only the truth when you say what Yahweh [has revealed to you]!”
17 And he saith, 'I have seen all Israel scattered on the hills as sheep that have no shepherd, and Jehovah saith, These have no master; they turn back each to his house in peace.'
So Micaiah said to him, “[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.’”
18 And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, 'Have I not said unto thee, He doth not prophesy of me good, but evil?'
Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I told you [RHQ] that he never predicts [that] anything good [will happen to me]! He [always] predicts [that] bad things [will happen to me].”
19 And he saith, 'Therefore, hear a word of Jehovah; I have seen Jehovah sitting on His throne, and all the host of the heavens standing by Him, on His right and on His left;
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 surrounding him, on his right side and on his left side.
20 and Jehovah saith, Who doth entice Ahab, and he doth go up and fall in Ramoth-Gilead? and this one saith thus, and that one is saying thus.
And Yahweh said, ‘Who can persuade Ahab 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.
21 'And the spirit goeth out, and standeth before Jehovah, and saith, I — I do entice him; and Jehovah saith unto him, By what?
Finally one [evil] spirit came to Yahweh and said, ‘I can do it!’
22 and he saith, I go out, and have been a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets; and He saith, Thou dost entice, and also thou art able; go out and do so.
Yahweh asked him, ‘How will you do it?’ 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!’
23 And now, lo, Jehovah hath put a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and Jehovah hath spoken concerning thee — evil.'
So now [I tell you that] Yahweh has caused all of your prophets to lie to you. Yahweh has decided that something terrible will happen to you.”
24 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah draweth nigh, and smiteth Micaiah on the cheek, and saith, 'Where [is] this — he hath passed over — the Spirit of Jehovah — from me to speak with thee?'
Then Zedekiah 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?” [RHQ]
25 And Micaiah saith, 'Lo, thou art seeing on that day, when thou goest in to the innermost chamber to be hidden.'
Micaiah replied, “You will find out for yourself [which of us Yahweh’s Spirit has truly spoken to] on the day when you go into a room of some house to hide [from the Syrian troops]!”
26 And the king of Israel saith, 'Take Micaiah, and turn him back unto Amon head of the city, and unto Joash son of the king,
King Ahab commanded [his soldiers], “Seize Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of this city, and to my son Joash.
27 and thou hast said, Thus said the king, Place ye this one in the house of restraint, and cause him to eat bread of oppression, and water of oppression, till my coming in peace.'
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!”
28 And Micaiah saith, 'If thou at all return in peace — Jehovah hath not spoken by me;' and he saith, 'Hear, O peoples, all of them.'
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]!”
29 And the king of Israel goeth up, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, to Ramoth-Gilead.
So the King of Israel and the King of Judah [led their armies] to Ramoth, in [the] Gilead [region].
30 And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat to disguise himself, and to go into battle, 'And thou, put on thy garments.' And the king of Israel disguiseth himself, and goeth into battle.
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/robe that shows that you are a king).” So Ahab disguised himself, and they both went into the battle.
31 And the king of Aram commanded the heads of the charioteers whom he hath — thirty and two — saying, 'Ye do not fight with small or with great, but with the king of Israel by himself.'
The King of Syria told this to his thirty-two men who were driving the chariots: “Attack only the king of Israel!”
32 And it cometh to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing Jehoshaphat, that they said, 'He [is] only the king of Israel;' and they turn aside to him to fight, and Jehoshaphat crieth out,
So when the men who were driving the Syrian chariots saw Jehoshaphat [wearing (his royal robes/clothes that showed he was the king)], they pursued him. They shouted, “There is the king of Israel!” But when Jehoshaphat cried out,
33 and it cometh to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing that he [is] not the king of Israel, that they turn back from after him.
they realized that he was not the king of Israel. So they stopped pursuing him.
34 And a man hath drawn with a bow, in his simplicity, and smiteth the king of Israel between the joinings and the coat of mail, and he saith to his charioteer, 'Turn thy hand, and take me out from the camp, for I have become sick.'
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!”
35 And the battle increaseth on that day, and the king hath been caused to stand in the chariot, over-against Aram, and he dieth in the evening, and the blood of the wound runneth out unto the midst of the chariot,
The battle continued all the day. Ahab was sitting propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrian troops. The blood from his wound ran down to the floor of the chariot. And late in the afternoon he died.
36 and he causeth the cry to pass over through the camp, at the going in of the sun, saying, 'Each unto his city, and each unto his land.'
Just as the sun was going down, someone among the Israeli troops shouted, “[The battle is ended!] Everyone should return home!”
37 And the king dieth, and cometh into Samaria, and they bury the king in Samaria;
So king Ahab died, and they took his body [in the chariot] to Samaria [city] and buried his body there.
38 and [one] rinseth the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs lick his blood — when the armour they had washed — according to the word of Jehovah that He spake.
They washed his chariot alongside the pool in Samaria, a pool where the prostitutes bathed. And dogs [came and] licked the king’s blood, just like Yahweh had predicted would happen.
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 book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?
The account/record of the other things that happened while Ahab was ruling, and about the palace decorated with much ivory [that they built for him], and the cities that were built for him, was written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’.
40 And Ahab lieth with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigneth in his stead.
When Ahab died, his body was buried where his ancestors were buried. Then his son Ahaziah became king.
41 And Jehoshaphat son of Asa hath reigned over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel,
Before King Ahab died, when he had been ruling in Israel for four years, Asa’s son Jehoshaphat started to rule in Judah.
42 Jehoshaphat [is] a son of thirty and five years in his reigning, and twenty and five years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he started to rule, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
43 And he walketh in all the way of Asa his father, he hath not turned aside from it, to do that which [is] right in the eyes of Jehovah; only the high places have not turned aside, yet are the people sacrificing and making perfume in high places.
Jehoshaphat was a good king, just like his father Asa had been. He did things that pleased Yahweh. But while he was king, he did not remove all the pagan altars [that the people had built] on the hilltops. So the people continued to offer sacrifices [to idols] on those altars and burned incense there.
44 And Jehoshaphat maketh peace with the king of Israel;
Jehoshaphat also made [a] peace [agreement] with the king of Israel.
45 and the rest of the matters of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he got, and with which he fought, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?
All the other things that happened while Jehoshaphat was ruling, and the great things that he did and the victories his [troops] won, are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.
46 And the remnant of the whoremongers who were left in the days of Asa his father he took away out of the land;
Jehoshaphat’s father Asa [had tried to expel] the male prostitutes that stayed at the pagan shrines, but some of them were still there. Jehoshaphat got rid of them.
47 and there is no king in Edom; he set up a king.
At that time, there was no king in Edom; a ruler who had been appointed by Jehoshaphat ruled there.
48 Jehoshaphat made ships at Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, and they went not, for the ships were broken in Ezion-Geber.
Jehoshaphat [ordered some Israeli men to] build a fleet/group of ships to sail [south] to [the] Ophir [region] to get gold. But they were wrecked at Ezion-Geber/Elath, so the ships never sailed.
49 Then said Ahaziah son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, 'Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships;' and Jehoshaphat was not willing.
Before the ships were wrecked, Ahab’s son Ahaziah suggested to Jehoshaphat, “Allow my sailors to go with your sailors,” but Jehoshaphat refused.
50 And Jehoshaphat lieth with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigneth in his stead.
When Jehoshaphat died, his [body] was buried where his ancestors were buried in [Jerusalem, ] the city where King David [had ruled]. Then Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram became king.
51 Ahaziah son of Ahab hath reigned over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigneth over Israel two years,
Before King Jehoshaphat died, when he had been ruling in Judah for 17 years, Ahab’s son Ahaziah began to rule in Israel. Ahaziah ruled in Samaria for two years.
52 and doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and walketh 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 many things that Yahweh considered to be evil, doing the [evil] things that his father and mother had done and the evil things that Jeroboam had done—the king who had led all the Israeli people to sin [by worshiping idols].
53 and serveth the Baal, and boweth himself to it, and provoketh Jehovah, God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.
Ahaziah bowed in front of Baal’s idol and worshiped it. That caused Yahweh, the God who was the true God of the Israeli people, to become very angry, just as Ahaziah’s father had caused Yahweh to become angry.
