1   For three years there was no war between the Aramaeans and the Israelites, 2    ^note but in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to visit the king of Israel. 3   The latter said to his courtiers, ‘You know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and yet we do nothing to recover it from the king of Aram.’ 4   He said to Jehoshaphat, ‘Will you join me in attacking Ramoth-gilead?’ Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, ‘What is mine is yours: myself, my people, and my horses.’ 5   Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, ‘First let us seek counsel from the Lord.’ 6   The king of Israel assembled the prophets, some four hundred of them, and asked them, ‘Shall I attack Ramoth-gilead or shall I refrain?’ ‘Attack,’ they answered; ‘the Lord will deliver it into your hands.’ 7   Jehoshaphat asked, ‘Is there no other prophet of the Lord here through whom we may seek guidance?’ 8   ‘There is one more’, the king of Israel answered, ‘through whom we may seek guidance of the Lord, but I hate the man, because he prophesies no good for me; never anything but evil. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah.’ Jehoshaphat exclaimed, ‘My lord king, let no such word pass your lips!’ 9   So the king of Israel called one of his eunuchs and told him to fetch Micaiah son of Imlah with all speed.

10   The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were seated on their thrones, in shining armour, ^note at the entrance to the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 11   One of them, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah, made himself horns of iron and said, ‘This is the word of the Lord: “With horns like these you shall gore the Aramaeans and make an end of them.”’ 12   In the same vein all the prophets prophesied, ‘Attack Ramoth-gilead and win the day; the Lord will deliver it into your hands.’ 13   The messenger sent to fetch Micaiah told him that the prophets had with one voice given the king a favourable answer. ‘And mind you agree with them’, he added. 14   ‘As the Lord lives,’ said Micaiah, ‘I will say only what the Lord tells me to say.’

15   When Micaiah came into the king's presence, the king said to him, ‘Micaiah, shall we attack Ramoth-gilead or shall we refrain?’ ‘Attack and win the day,’ he said; ‘the Lord will deliver it into your hands.’ 16   ‘How often must I adjure you’, said the king, ‘to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?’ 17   Then Micaiah said, ‘I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd; and I heard the Lord say, “They have no master, let them go home in peace.”’ 18   The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘Did I not tell you that he never prophesies good for me, nothing but evil?’ 19   Micaiah went on, ‘Listen now to the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord seated on his throne, with all the host of heaven in attendance on his right and on

Ahab and Elijah his left. The Lord said, 20   “Who will entice Ahab to attack and fall on ^note Ramoth-gilead?” 21   One said one thing and one said another; then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, “I will entice him.” 22   “How?” said the Lord. “I will go out”, he said, “and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.” “You shall entice him,” said the Lord, “and you shall succeed; go and do it.” 23   You see, then, how the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, because he has decreed disaster for you.’ 24   Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah came up to Micaiah and struck him in the face: ‘And how did the spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?’ he said. 25   Micaiah answered, ‘That you will find out on the day when you run into an inner room to hide yourself.’ 26   Then the king of Israel ordered Micaiah to be arrested and committed to the custody of Amon the governor of the city and Joash the king's son. ^note 27   ‘Lock this fellow up’, he said, ‘and give him prison diet of bread and water until I come home in safety.’ 28   Micaiah retorted, ‘If you do return in safety, the Lord has not spoken by me.’ ^note

29   So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah marched on Ramoth-gilead, 30   and the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘I will disguise myself to go into battle, but you shall wear your royal robes.’ 31   So he went into battle in disguise. Now the king of Aram had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots not to engage all and sundry but the king of Israel alone. 32   When the captains saw Jehoshaphat, they thought he was the king of Israel and turned to attack him. But Jehoshaphat cried out and, 33   when the captains saw that he was not the king of Israel, they broke off the attack on him. 34   But one man drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel where the breastplate joins the plates of the armour. So he said to his driver, ‘Wheel round and take me out of the line; I am wounded.’ 35   When the day's fighting reached its height, the king was facing the Aramaeans propped up in his chariot, and the blood from his wound flowed down upon the floor of the chariot; and in the evening he died. 36   At sunset the herald went through the ranks, crying, ‘Every man to his city, every man to his country.’ 37   Thus died the king. He was brought to Samaria and they buried him there. 38   The chariot was swilled out at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up the blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, in fulfilment of the word the Lord had spoken.

39   Now the other acts and events of Ahab's reign, the ivory house and all the cities he built, are recorded in the annals of the kings of Israel. 40   So Ahab rested with his forefathers and was succeeded by his son Ahaziah.

Ahab and Elijah

41    ^noteJehoshaphat son of Asa had become king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42   He was thirty-five years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years; his mother was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 43   He followed in the footsteps of Asa his father and did not swerve from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. ^noteBut the hill-shrines were allowed to remain; the people continued to slaughter and burn sacrifices there. 44   Jehoshaphat remained at peace with the king of Israel. 45   The other events of Jehoshaphat's reign, his exploits and his wars, are recorded in the annals of the kings of Judah. 46   But he did away with such of the male prostitutes attached to the shrines as were still left over from the days of Asa his father.

47    48   There was no king in Edom, only ^note a viceroy of Jehoshaphat; he built merchantmen ^note to sail to Ophir for gold, but they never made the journey because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber. 49   Ahaziah son of Ahab proposed to Jehoshaphat that his own men should go to sea with his; but Jehoshaphat would not consent.

50   Jehoshaphat rested with his forefathers and was buried with them in the city of David his father, and was succeeded by his son Joram.

51   Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned over Israel for two years. 52   He did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord, following in the footsteps of his father and mother and in those of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had led Israel into sin. 53   He served Baal and worshipped him, and provoked the anger of the Lord the God of Israel, as his father had done.

Previous section