Jehoshaphat joins hands with Ahab
18
📚Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and he allied himself by marriage 📖 to Ahab. 2 📚And after some years he went down to Ahab at Samaria. And Ahab slaughtered a great many sheep and oxen for him, and for the people who were with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-Gilead. 3 📚And Ahab, king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth Gilead?” And he answered him, “I am as you are, and my people as your people, and we will be with you in the war”.
The prophecy of Micaiah
4 📚And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire for the word of the LORD today”.
5 📚Therefore the king of Israel gathered together four hundred of the prophets and said to them, “Shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will deliver it into the king’s hands”.
6 📚But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here also a prophet of the LORD so that we might consult him?”
7 📚And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we may consult the LORD, but I hate him, because he has never prophesied good about me, but always disaster. He is Micaiah, the son of Imla”. And Jehoshaphat said, “May the king not say so”.
8 📚And the king of Israel called for one of his officers, and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imla”.
9 📚And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, each of them, sat on his throne, clothed in his royal robes, and they sat in an open place near the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them. 10 📚And Zedekiah, the son of Kenaanah, had made iron horns for himself, and he said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘With these you will push Syria until they are destroyed.’ ”
11 📚And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and prosper. For the LORD will deliver it into the hands of the king”.
12 📚And the messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Look, with one accord the words of the prophets are favorable for the king, so please let your word be like one of theirs, and speak favorably”.
13 📚And Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, I will speak just what my God says”.
14 📚And when he was come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And he said, “Go up, and prosper; for they will be delivered into your hands”.
15 📚And the king said to him, “How many times shall I adjure you in the name of the LORD to tell me nothing but the truth?”
16 📚Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; so let each one of them return to his house in peace.’ ”
17 📚And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good about me, but disaster?”
18 📚Again Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing at his right hand and at his left. 19 📚And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ And one spoke saying this, and another saying that. 20 📚Then a spirit came and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘How?’ 21 📚And he said, ‘I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the LORD said, ‘You will entice him, and also prevail. Go and do so.’
22 📚“Now therefore, see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and the LORD has spoken disaster against you”.
23 📚Then Zedekiah, the son of Kenaanah, came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?”
24 📚And Micaiah said, “Look, you will see on that day when you go into an inner room to hide yourself”.
25 📚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, 26 📚and say, ‘Thus says the king, Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace.’ ”
27 📚And Micaiah said, “If you at all return in peace, then the LORD has not spoken through me”. And he said, “Listen, all you people”.
The prophecy fulfilled
28 📚So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. 29 📚And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes”. So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into the battle.
30 📚Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots who were with him, saying, “Do not fight with small or great, but only with the king of Israel”.
31 📚And it happened, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “It is the king of Israel”. Therefore they turned about to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him, and God drew them away from him. 32 📚For it happened, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. 33 📚And some man drew a bow at random, and hit the king of Israel in a joint of the armour; therefore he said to his charioteer, “Turn around, and take me away from the army lines; for I am wounded”.
34 📚And the battle increased that day. However the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot opposite the Syrians until evening; and at sunset he died.