 1 They continued three years. There was no war between Syria and Israel. 2 In the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah came down to see the king of Israel. 3 The king of Israel said to his servants, Do you not know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we are quiet and do not take it from the king of Syria? 4 He said to Jehoshaphat, Will you go with me to battle to Ramoth in Gilead? Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as you. My people as your people, my horses as your horses. 5 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Please inquire at the Word of the Lord today. 6 The king of Israel gathered the prophets, about 400 men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth in Gilead to battle or shall I hold back? They said, Go up. For the Lord will deliver it to the king. 7 Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might inquire of Him? 8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord. But I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Do not let the king say so. 9 The king of Israel called an officer and said, Hurry and bring Micaiah the son of Imlah to hurry. 10 The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah each sat on his throne, having put on their robes, in a floor in the entrance of the gate of Samaria. Then all the prophets prophesied before them. 11 Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made horns of iron for himself and he said, Thus says the Lord, With these you will push the Syrians until you have crushed them. 12 All the prophets prophesied so saying, Go to Ramoth in Gilead and prosper for the Lord will deliver it to the king. 13 The messenger that had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets are good to the king with one mouth. Please let your word be like the word of one of them and speak good. 14 Micaiah said, As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak. 15 So he came to the king. And the king said to him, Micaiah, Shall we go against Ramoth in Gilead to battle, or shall we hold off? And he answered him, Go and prosper. For the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. 16 The king said to him, How many times shall I adjure you that you tell me nothing but what is true, in the name of the Lord? 17 He said, I saw all Israel scattered on the hills, like sheep that have no shepherd. The Lord said, These have no master. Let each man return to his house in peace. 18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? 19 He said, Hear therefore the Word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of Heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. 20 The Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth in Gilead? And one said this way, and another said that way. 21 There came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. 22 The Lord said to him, With what? And he said, I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said, You shall entice him and succeed also. Go forth and do so. 23 Now, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the Lord has spoken evil concerning you. 24 But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, Which way did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you? 25 Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see in that day when you shall go into an inner room to hide yourself. 26 The king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son, 27 and say, thus says the king, Put this one in the prison and feed him with bread of affliction and the water of affliction, until I come in peace. 28 Micaiah said, If you return at all in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he said, Listen, O people, all of them. 29 The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to Ramoth in Gilead. 30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and enter into the battle. But you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle. 31 But the king of Syria commanded his 32 commanders of the chariots saying, Do not fight with small nor great, but with the king of Israel. 32 When the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. So they turned aside to fight against him and Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 When the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 34 A man drew a bow in his simplicity and struck the king of Israel between the joints and the breastplate. He said to the driver of his chariot, Turn your hand and carry me out of the army for I am wounded. 35 The battle increased that day. And the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at evening. And the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. 36 There went a cry throughout the army when the sun went saying, Each to his city, and each to his land. 37 The king died and came to Samaria and they buried the king in Samaria. 38 And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed his armor, according to the Word of the Lord that He spoke. 39 The rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did and the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built are written in the book of the Kings of Israel. 40 Ahab lay with his fathers. And his son Ahaziah reigned in his place. 41 Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of King Ahab of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 He walked in all the ways of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing right in the eyes of the Lord. But the high places were not taken away, for the people offered and burned incense yet in the high places. 44 Jehoshaphat made peace with the kings of Israel. 45 The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat and his might that he showed and how he warred are written in the book of the kings of Judah. 46 The rest of the sodomites that remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land. 47 There was then no king in Edom, a deputy was king. 48 Jehoshaphat had ten ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold. But they did not go, for the ships were broken at Eziongeber. 49 Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with your servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not. 50 Jehoshaphat lay with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And his son Jehoram reigned in his place. 51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. And he reigned two years over Israel. 52 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin. 53 For he served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger according to all that his father had done.
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