1 Kings 22

Chapter 22.

22 ¹ For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. ² But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. ³ The king of Israel said to his servants, "You know Ramoth-gilead is ours, yet we do nothing to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?" ⁴ He asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth-gilead?" Jehoshaphat told the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."

⁵ Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Please inquire first for the word of our Father."

⁶ So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked, "Shall I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or hold back?" They said, "Go up, for the Sovereign Father will give it into the king's hand."

⁷ But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not still a prophet of our Father here to ask?"

⁸ The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, "One man remains through whom we can ask our Father, but I hate him—he never prophesies good about me, only disaster: Micaiah son of Imlah." Jehoshaphat said, "The king shouldn't say that."

⁹ Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, "Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly."

¹⁰ The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah sat each on his throne, dressed in their robes, at the threshing floor by the entrance of Samaria's gate, while all the prophets prophesied before them. ¹¹ Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns and said, "God says: 'With these you will gore the Arameans until destroyed.'" ¹² All the prophets prophesied the same: "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and win; God will hand it to the king."

¹³ The messenger sent to summon Micaiah told him, "The prophets are unanimously promising the king success. Let your word agree with theirs—promise success."

¹⁴ But Micaiah said, "As our Father lives, what our Father says to me, that I will speak."

¹⁵ When he came, the king asked, "Micaiah, shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or hold back?" He said, "Go up and win; our Father will give it into the king's hand."

¹⁶ The king said, "How many times must I make you swear to tell me only the truth in our Father's name?"

¹⁷ He said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd. And our Father said, 'These have no master; let each return home in peace.'"

¹⁸ Israel's king said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you he'd prophesy no good about me, only disaster?"

¹⁹ Micaiah said, "So hear the word of our Father: I saw our Father seated on his throne, all heaven's host standing beside him, on his right and his left."

²⁰ And our Father said, 'Who will lure Ahab into going up to fall at Ramoth-gilead?' One said this, another said that.

²¹ Then a spirit came forward and stood before our Father, saying, 'I will entice him.'

²² And our Father asked, 'How?' He said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And our Father said, 'You will entice him and succeed. Go out and do it.'

²³ So now our Father has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and our Father declared disaster against you.

²⁴ Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah stepped up, struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, "Which way did the Spirit of God pass from me to speak to you?"

²⁵ Micaiah said, "You'll see on that day when you go into an inner room to hide."

²⁶ The king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the city governor and to Joash the king's son, ²⁷ and say, 'The king says: Jail this man and give him only bread and water until I return safely.'"

²⁸ Micaiah said, "If you return safely at all, our Father has not spoken by me." And he said, "Listen, all you peoples!"

Ahab Falls as the Father Foretold

²⁹ So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. ³⁰ The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, "I'll disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes." So he disguised himself and went into battle.

³¹ The king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders: "Fight no one small or great—only the king of Israel."

³² When the chariot captains saw Jehoshaphat, they said, "This must be the king of Israel." They turned to fight him, and Jehoshaphat cried out. ³³ When the chariot commanders saw he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. ³⁴ A man drew his bow blindly and hit the king of Israel between the armor's joints. The king told his charioteer, "Turn and take me out of the fight—I'm wounded." ³⁵ The battle raged that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. At evening he died, the blood of his wound draining into the chariot floor. ³⁶ At sunset a cry passed through the camp: "Each man to his city, each man 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 at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed there, as our Father had said.

³⁹ The rest of Ahab's deeds—all he did, the ivory palace and every city he built—are they not recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of Israel's kings? ⁴⁰ So Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

Jehoshaphat Walks Before the Father

⁴¹ Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. ⁴² Jehoshaphat was thirty-five when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi. ⁴³ He followed his father Asa's whole path and never left it, doing right in our Father's eyes. Still, the high places stood; the people kept sacrificing and burning incense there. ⁴⁴ Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

⁴⁵ The rest of Jehoshaphat's acts, the strength he showed, and how he waged war—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁴⁶ The rest of the male shrine prostitutes left from his father Asa's days he removed from the land. ⁴⁷ There was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king. ⁴⁸ Jehoshaphat built Tarshish ships to sail to Ophir for gold, but they never went; they wrecked at Ezion-geber. ⁴⁹ Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my servants sail with yours," but Jehoshaphat refused. ⁵⁰ Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David his father, and his son Jehoram reigned in his place.

Ahaziah Provokes the Father to Anger

⁵¹ Ahaziah son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in Jehoshaphat king of Judah's seventeenth year, and reigned two years over Israel. ⁵² He did evil in our Father's eyes, walking in the way of his father, the way of his mother, and the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. ⁵³ He served Baal and worshiped him, provoking our Father, the God of Israel, to anger, as his father had done.