Top of Page
Page Style
was no war for three years between Aram and Israel. 2 But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went to visit the king of Israel. 3 The king of Israel had said to his servants, “Don’t you know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, and yet we have doing nothing to retake it from the hand of the king of Aram?”
4 So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you come with me to fight Ramoth-gilead?”
Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 5 But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please, first ask what the will of the Lord is.”
6 So the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and ask them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?”
They replied, “Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord here through whom we may inquire?”
8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one other man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he never prophesies anything good about me, but only ever bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”
“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.
9 So that king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring Micaiah the son of Imlah at once.”
10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, dressed in their royal robes, were seated on their thrones on the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 One of them, Zedekiah son of Chenaanah, had made horns of iron for himself, and he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed’.”
12 All the other prophets were prophesying the same thing: “March up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.”
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the words of the prophets all declare good tidings to the king. Please let your words be like the word of one of theirs, and speak favourably.”
14 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak.”
15 So he went to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead for war, or shall we refrain?”
Micaiah answered him, “March up and be triumphant, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand.”
16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”
17 Then Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered over the hills like sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each of them return to his home in peace’.”
18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he wouldn’t prophesy anything good about me, but only disaster?”
19 Then Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, with all the host of heaven standing beside Him, at His right hand at His left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march against Ramoth-gilead so he will fall there?’
“Then one was saying this, and another saying that, 21 until a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him’.
22 “The Lord asked him, ‘By what means?’
“And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets’.
“Then He said, ‘You will entice him and also succeed. Go and do it’.
23 “So now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; for the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.” 24 Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up to Micaiah and struck him in the face, and demanded, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord leave me to speak to you?”
25 Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day when you go inside an inner chamber to hide yourself.”
26 Then 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 fellow in prison, and feed him with only the bread of affliction and the water of affliction until I return in peace” ’.”
28 But Micaiah declared, “If you ever return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” Then he said, “Listen, all you people.”
29 So 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 garments.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
31 Now the king of Aram had ordered the thirty-two commanders of his chariots, “Do not fight against anyone, small or great, but only against the king of Israel.” 32 When the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely this is the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 When the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.
34 But a someone drew his bow at random, and hit the king of Israel through a joint in his armour. So he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded.” 35 The battle raged all that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. Blood from the wound ran out into the bottom of the chariot, and he died that evening. 36 As the sun was going down, a shout spread throughout the army: “Every man to his own city, and every man to his own land!”
37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria. 38 They washed out the chariot at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood while the prostitutes bathed, according to the word of the Lord that He had spoken.
39 The other events of Ahab, and all that he did, the ivory house that he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab slept with his fathers, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.
41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 43 He walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn aside from them, but did what was right in the sight of the Lord. However, the high places were not removed, andt the people continued to offer sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. 44 Jehoshaphat was also at peace with the king of Israel.
45 The other events of Jehoshaphat, his might and his military prowess, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 46 He rid the land of the male shrine prostitues who were left from the days of his father Asa. 47 At that time there was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king.
48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold. However, they never set sail, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber. 49 At that time, Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants sail on the ships with your servants,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing.
50 Then Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. His son Jehoram became king in his place.
51 Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 52 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father and his mother, and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshipped him, and he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger just as his father had done.