1And then three years passed without war between Aram and Israel. 2And in the third year, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, came down to Ahab, king of Israel. 3And Ahab said to his officials, “Do you not know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, yet we sit here, and do not take it from the Aramean king?” 4And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you join me in a battle at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat told Ahab, king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

5Jehoshaphat also told Ahab, “But let us first seek the word of the LORD.” 6Then Ahab gathered his prophets - about four hundred, and asked them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I hold off?” And they said, “Go up; for the LORD shall deliver it into your hand.” 7Then Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD, that we might inquire of him?” 8And Ahab replied, “There is yet one other, Micaiah, son of Imlah, by whom we might inquire of the LORD. But I hate him; because he never prophesies anything good concerning me - only bad.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king speak so.” 9Then Ahab called an officer, and said, “Bring Micaiah, son of Imlah, here quickly.”

10And Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, were each dressed in their royal robes and seated on their thrones on a threshing floor at the entrance gate of Samaria; with all the prophets prophesying before them. 11And Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, had made horns of iron. And he said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘With these shall you push the Arameans, until you have consumed them.’” 12And all the prophets spoke alike: “Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and triumph; the LORD will deliver it into the king's hand.”

13And the messenger sent to summon Micaiah told him, “Look, all the other prophets speak as one, declaring good to the king; please let your word be like their words, and speak favorably.” 14And Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me.” 15So when Micaiah arrived, King Ahab said, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or not?” And Micaiah answered him, “Go, and triumph; for the LORD shall deliver it into your hand.” 16And the king (detecting the sarcasm) said to him, “How many times shall I urge you to tell me nothing but what is true in the name of the LORD?” 17Then Micaiah said: “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, like sheep with no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘They are without their leader, who has been killed; let them each return home in peace.’” 18And Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would prophesy no good concerning me, only bad?”

19And he (Micaiah) continued, “Hear this word of the LORD: ‘I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and left hand. 20And the LORD said, “Who shall persuade Ahab to go up and meet his death at Ramoth-gilead?” And one said this; and another said that. 21And then a spirit came forth, and stood before the LORD, and said, “I will persuade him.” 22And the LORD asked, “By what means?” And he said, “I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.” And the LORD said, “You shall succeed in persuading him; go and do so.”’ 23So be aware, now, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these, your prophets, for the LORD has declared disaster for you.”

24Then Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, went up and slapped Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak to you?” 25And Micaiah said, “You shall soon see, in that day when you will go into an inner room to hide yourself.” 26And Ahab ordered, “Take Micaiah back to Amon, the ruler of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, 27And say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and give him nothing but bread and water, until I return safely.”’” 28And Micaiah said, “If you return safely at all, the LORD has not spoken by me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people.”

29And so Ahab, king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, led their armies up to Ramoth-gilead. 30And Ahab told Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself, and enter the battle, but you wear your royal robes.” And so, Ahab disguised himself, and went into the battle. 31But the Aramean king had ordered the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Only attack Ahab, king of Israel; do not bother with others, small or great - just Ahab.” 32And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “That must be Ahab, king of Israel.” And when they veered off to attack him, Jehoshaphat cried out. 33And then the chariot captains realized that it was not Ahab, king of Israel; and they stopped pursuing him.

34But a certain archer took a random shot, and his arrow struck Ahab, king of Israel, between the joints of his armor. Therefore, he told his chariot driver, “Wheel around, and get me out of the battle; for I am wounded.” 35And the battle raged that day; with King Ahab propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans, and he died that evening, and the blood from his wound had run down and pooled onto the floor of the chariot. 36And as the sun was setting, this cry was heard throughout the army of Israel: “Run for your lives! Every man to his own city, and to his own country!” 37So Ahab died, and was brought to Samaria; where they buried him. 38And as they washed his chariot and his armor at a pool in Samaria, the dogs licked up his blood; fulfilling the word that the LORD had spoken.

39Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all the detestable things that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 40So Ahab died; and Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.

41Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, began his reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel. 42Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi. 43And he (Jehoshaphat) walked in all the ways of Asa, his father; not turning aside; but doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD. However, the idolatrous high places were not removed; for the people still offered and burned incense in those high places. 44And Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

45Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, what he achieved, and his war exploits, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 46And Jehoshaphat removed the sodomites from the land that had remained in the days of Asa, his father. 47There was then no king in Edom; a deputy governor ruled there. 48Jehoshaphat built a fleet of ships at Tarshish, to go to Ophir for gold; but they never sailed there; because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber. 49Then Ahaziah, son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat refused to allow it. 50Then Jehoshaphat died, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his ancestor; and Jehoram, his son, reigned in his stead.

51Ahaziah, son of Ahab, began to reign 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 eyes of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father and mother (Ahab and Jezebel), and the ways of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin; 53For he served and worshipped Baal, further provoking the anger of the LORD God of Israel, as his father had done.