2 Chronicles 18:1-32 ▼

1 And unto Jehoshaphat were riches and honor in abundance, and he became son-in-law to Ahab.

2 And he went down after some years to Ahab in Samaria, and Ahab killed for him sheep and oxen in abundance, and for the people who were with him, and he incited him to go up to Ramoth-gilead.

3 And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth-gilead?” And he answered him, “I am as you are, and as your people are my people, and with you in the war.”

4 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire, please, this day for the word of YHWH.”

5 And the king of Israel gathered together the prophets, four hundred men, and he said to them, “Shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to war, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

6 And Jehoshaphat said, “Is not here a prophet of YHWH still, that we may inquire of Him?”

7 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man to inquire of YHWH by, and I hate him because he prophesies concerning me not good, but always evil. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” And Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say thus.”

8 And the king of Israel called to one officer, and he said, “Hasten Micaiah son of Imlah.”

9 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah sat, each man upon his throne, clothed with garments, and they sat at a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets prophesied before them.

10 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself horns of iron, and he said, “Thus says YHWH: ‘With these you shall gore Aram until they are finished.’”

11 And all the prophets prophesied thus, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for YHWH will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

12 And the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one mouth are good unto the king; and please, let your word be like one of them, and speak good.”

13 And Micaiah said, “As YHWH lives, surely that which my God says, that I will speak.”

14 And he came to the king, and the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to the war, or shall I refrain?” And he said, “Go and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your? hands.”

15 And the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you will speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of YHWH?”

16 And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that without a shepherd unto them. And YHWH said, ‘No masters are unto these; let each man return to his house in peace.’”

17 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did not I say to you that he would not prophesy concerning me good, but only evil?”

18 And he said, “Therefore hear the word of YHWH: I saw YHWH sitting on His throne, and all the host of the heavens standing on His right and His left.

19 And YHWH said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab king of Israel to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And this one spoke saying thus, and this one saying thus.

20 And came forward a spirit, and stood before YHWH and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ And YHWH said to him, ‘With what?’

21 And he said, ‘I will go out and be a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And He said, ‘You shall persuade and also you shall prevail; go out and do so.’

22 And behold, YHWH has put a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and YHWH has declared disaster against you.”

23 And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went near, and he struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Where is this—the way the Spirit of YHWH passed over from me to speak with you?”

24 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day, when you go into an inner chamber to hide.”

25 And the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash son of the king,

26 and say, ‘Thus says the king: Put this one in the house of restraint, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I return in peace.’”

27 And Micaiah said, “If you ever return in peace, YHWH has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, O peoples, all of them!”

28 And the king of Israel went up—and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah—to Ramoth-gilead.

29 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into the battle, and you put on your garments.” And the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into the battle.

30 And the king of Aram had commanded the captains of the chariots who were with him, saying, “Do not fight with the small or with the great, except but with the king of Israel only.”

31 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “It is the king of Israel.” And they turned against him to fight, and Jehoshaphat cried out, and YHWH helped him. And God diverted them from him.

32 And it came to pass when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from after him.