1 Kings 22
1 Three years passed without war between Aram and Israel.
2 In the third year, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went down to the king of Israel.
3 The king of Israel said to his servants, “You know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and yet we are doing nothing to take it from the hand of the king of Aram.”
4 Then he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”
5 Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire today for the word of the LORD.”
6 The king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I hold back?” They answered, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”
7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no other prophet of the LORD here, so that we may inquire through him?”
8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him, because he never prophesies anything good about me, only bad: Micaiah son of Imlah.” Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say that.”
9 The king of Israel called an officer and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.”
10 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, dressed in their robes, on a threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
11 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns for himself and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.’”
12 All the prophets were prophesying the same thing: “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph, for the LORD will give it into the king’s hand.”
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the words of the prophets are all favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak what is good.”
14 Micaiah answered, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will say whatever the LORD tells me.”
15 He came before the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should we hold back?” He answered him, “Go up and triumph, for the LORD will give it into the king’s hand.”
16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
17 He said, “I saw all Israel scattered over the hills, like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘They have no master; let each one return home in peace.’”
18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he would not prophesy anything good about me, only bad?”
19 Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven was standing beside him, to his right and to his left.
20 The LORD asked, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ One said one thing, and another said something else.
21 Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ The LORD asked him, ‘How?’
22 He answered, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the LORD said, ‘You will entice him and succeed. Go and do it.’”
23 “Now look: the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has decreed disaster for you.”
24 Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up, struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD pass from me to speak to you?”
25 Micaiah answered, “You will see on the day you go into an inner room to hide.”
26 The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son.
27 And say, ‘This is what the king says: “Put this man in prison, and give him only bread and water of affliction until I return in peace.”’”
28 Micaiah said, “If you really return in peace, the LORD has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Hear this, all you peoples!”
29 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
31 The king of Aram had ordered the thirty-two commanders of his chariots, “Do not fight anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel alone.”
32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely that is the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight him. Then Jehoshaphat shouted.
33 When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.
34 But one man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and get me out of the battle, because I am wounded.”
35 The battle grew fiercer that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot, facing the Arameans. He died in the evening, and the blood from his wound ran into the bottom of the chariot.
36 At sunset, a shout went through the camp: “Everyone to his city! Everyone to his land!”
37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria.
38 They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed there, just as the word the LORD had spoken.
39 The rest of Ahab’s deeds, all that he did, the ivory house he built, and all the cities he built—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
40 Ahab rested with his ancestors, and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.
41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.
42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
43 He followed the whole way of his father Asa and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD.
44 However, the high places were not removed; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense at the high places.
45 Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
46 The rest of Jehoshaphat’s deeds, his might, and the wars he fought—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
47 He removed from the land the rest of the male cult prostitutes who had remained from the days of his father Asa.
48 There was no king in Edom; a governor ruled there.
49 Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
50 Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat was unwilling.
51 Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son became king in his place.
52 Ahaziah son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years.
53 He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD and followed the way of his father, the way of his mother, and the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.
54 He served Baal and bowed down to him, provoking the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, just as his father had done in every way.
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