¹And they spent three years without a war between Aramaea and Israel. ²Then it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat king of Judah came down to the king of Israel, ³and the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we have been keeping quiet, refraining from taking it from the hand of the king of Aramaea?” ⁴And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go to war with me to Ramoth-Gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people are as your people; my horses are as your horses.” ⁵And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please consult the word of the Lord today.” ⁶And the king of Israel gathered the prophets – about four hundred men – and he asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-Gilead or should I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, and the Lord^* will deliver it into the king's hand.” ⁷And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the Lord here for us to inquire of him?” ⁸And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is one more man from whom one can consult the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good about me, but evil: Micaiah the son of Imlah.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let the king not say suchlike.” ⁹Then the king of Israel called for a certain eunuch, and he said, “Bring Micaiah the son of Imlah quickly.” ¹⁰And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were each sitting on his throne, dressed in royal clothes in a threshing hall at the entrance of the Gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in their presence. ¹¹And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made himself some iron horns, and he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you will butt the Aramaeans until you have finished them off.’ ” ¹²And all the prophets prophesied likewise and said, “Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and have success, and the Lord will deliver it into the king's hand.” ¹³Then the messenger who had gone to fetch Micaiah spoke to him and said, “These are, then, the unanimously favourable words of the prophets to the king. Now may your words be similar to the pronouncement of any of them, and speak favourably.” ¹⁴But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, rather, it is what the Lord says to me that I will speak.” ¹⁵And when he went to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, should we go up to Ramoth-Gilead to war, or should we refrain?” And he said, “Go up and have success, and the Lord will deliver it into the king's hand.” ¹⁶Then the king said to him, “How many times must I adjure you not to tell me anything except the truth in the name of the Lord?” ¹⁷Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep which do not have a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These do not have a master. Let them all return to their homes in peace.’ ” ¹⁸At this the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn't I tell you that he wouldn't prophesy good about me, but evil?” ¹⁹And Micaiah said, “So hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with the whole host of heaven standing in attendance to him on his right and on his left. ²⁰And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and attack Ramoth-Gilead?’ And one said this, and another said that. ²¹And a spirit went out and stood before the Lord, and it said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to it, ‘By what means?’ ²²And it said, ‘I will go out, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You may entice him, and indeed you will be able to. Go out and do so.’ ²³So now you see that the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced evil concerning you.” ²⁴Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah approached and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the spirit of the Lord pass from me when I spoke to you?” ²⁵And Micaiah said, “You will see just that on that day when you go into an inner room to hide.” ²⁶And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son, ²⁷and say, ‘This is what the king says: «Put this man in prison and feed him on baneful bread and water until I come in peace.» ’ ” ²⁸Then Micaiah said, “Whether you will come back at all in peace, the Lord has not pronounced on through me.” And he said, “Pay heed, all you various peoples.” ²⁹Then the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-Gilead. ³⁰And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “It is time to disguise oneself and go into the battle, but you wear your royal clothes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. ³¹And the king of Aramaea instructed his chariot fleet commanders – thirty-two of them – and said, “Do not fight with small or with great, but rather with the king of Israel only.” ³²Then it came to pass, when the chariot fleet commanders saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “Surely he is the king of Israel”, and they turned aside towards him to do battle. But Jehoshaphat shouted out, ³³and it came to pass, when the commanders of the chariot fleet saw that he was not the king of Israel, that they stopped pursuing him. ³⁴Meanwhile a man drew his bow in his innocence, and he hit the king of Israel through the joints between the armour plates. And he said to his chariot driver, “Steer and get me out of the battle theatre, for I have been wounded.” ³⁵And the battle intensified on that day, and the king was propped up in the chariot in front of the Aramaeans, and he died in the evening, and blood from the wound poured out over the inside of the chariot. ³⁶And the outcry spread in the camp at sunset as follows: “Every man to his city and every man to his land!” ³⁷So the king died, and he arrived in Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸And the chariot was washed out at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood, and the prostitutes washed there, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke. ³⁹And the rest of the affairs of Ahab, and everything he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁴⁰And Ahab lay with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place. ⁴¹And Jehoshapat the son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. ⁴²And Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he started to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years. And the name of his mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. ^43aAnd he walked in every way of Asa his father; he did not deviate from it, in doing what was right in the Lord's sight. ^43bBut the idolatrous raised sites were not removed. The people were still sacrificing and burning incense on the idolatrous raised sites. ⁴⁴And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. ⁴⁵And as for the rest of the affairs of Jehoshaphat, and his bravery which he showed, and how he fought – are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁴⁶And he eradicated from the land the rest of the male prostitutes who remained in the days of Asa. ⁴⁷And there was no king in Edom – no-one was appointed as king. ⁴⁸And Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, because the ships were broken up in Ezion-Geber. ⁴⁹Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat declined the offer. ⁵⁰And Jehoshaphat lay with his fathers, and with his fathers he was buried, in the City of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place. ⁵¹And Ahaziah the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years. ⁵²And he did evil in the Lord's sight, and he 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 caused Israel to sin. ⁵³And he served Baal and worshipped him, and he provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, as it was with everything his father did.