1 Kings 22

Jehoshaphat’s Alliance with Ahab

1 There was  * 22:1–9 2Ch 18:1–8 a lull of three years  * 22:1 1Kg 20:1,26 without war between Aram and Israel. 2 However, in the third year, King Jehoshaphat  * 22:2 1Kg 15:24 of Judah went to visit the king of Israel.  * 22:2 2Ch 18:23 The king of Israel had said to his servants, "Don’t you know that Ramoth-gilead  * 22:3 Dt 4:43; Jos 20:8; 1Kg 4:13 is ours, but we’re doing nothing to take it from the king of Aram? " 4 So  * 22:4–6 2Kg 3:7–8 he asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight Ramoth-gilead? "  * 22:4 2Kg 8:18,27

Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."  * 22:4 2Kg 3:75 But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "First, please ask what the Lord’s will is."  * 22:5 1Sm 23:1–5; Jms 4:15

6 So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men,  * 22:6 1Kg 18:19 and asked them, "Should I go against Ramoth-gilead for war or should I refrain? "

They replied, "March up, and the Lord will hand it over to the king."  * 22:6 1Kg 13:18

7 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord here anymore?  * 22:7 2Kg 1:3; 3:11; 5:8 Let’s ask him."

8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man who can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him  * 22:8 1Kg 18:17; 21:20 because he never prophesies good about me,  * 22:8 Am 5:10 but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah."

"The king shouldn’t say that! " Jehoshaphat replied.

9 So the king of Israel called an officer and said, "Hurry and get Micaiah son of Imlah! "

10 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah,  * 22:10–12 2Ch 18:9–11 clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor  * 22:10 Jdg 6:37 at the entrance to the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them. 11 Then Zedekiah  * 22:11 1Kg 22:24 son of Chenaanah made iron horns  * 22:11 Dt 33:17; Zch 1:18–21 and said, "This is what the Lord says: ‘You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.’ " 12 And all the prophets were prophesying the same: "March up to Ramoth-gilead  * 22:12 1Kg 4:13 and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king."

Micaiah’s Message of Defeat

13 The messenger  * 22:13–28 2Ch 18:12–27 who went to call Micaiah instructed him, "Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably."

14 But Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives,  * 22:14 1Kg 18:10,15 I will say whatever the Lord says to me."  * 22:14 Nm 22:28; 24:13

15 So he went to the king, and the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain? "

Micaiah told him, "March up and succeed. The Lord will hand it over to the king."

16 But the king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord? "

17 So Micaiah said:

I saw all Israel scattered on the hills

like sheep without a shepherd.  * 22:17 Nm 27:16–17; Mt 9:36; Mk 6:34

And the Lord said,

"They have no master;

let everyone return home in peace."  * 22:17 1Kg 22:35–36

18 So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn’t I tell you he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster? "

19 Then Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne,  * 22:19 Is 6:1; Dn 7:9 and the whole heavenly army  * 22:19 Jb 1:6; Dn 7:10; Heb 1:7 was standing by him at his right hand and at his left hand. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? ’  * 22:20 1Kg 22:4 So one was saying this and another was saying that.

21 "Then a spirit came forward, stood in the Lord’s presence, and said, ‘I will entice him.’

22 "The Lord asked him, ‘How? ’

"He said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit  * 22:22 Jdg 9:23; 1Sm 16:14; Jr 20:7; Ezk 14:9 in the mouth of all his prophets.’

"Then he said, ‘You will certainly entice him and prevail.  * 22:22 2Th 2:11 Go and do that.’

23 "You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you."

24 Then Zedekiah  * 22:24 1Kg 22:11 son of Chenaanah came up, hit Micaiah on the cheek, and demanded, "Did  * 22:24 Lit "Which way did the Spirit of the Lord leave me to speak to you? "  * 22:24 2Ch 18:23

25 Micaiah replied, "You will soon see when you go to hide in an inner chamber on that day."  * 22:25 1Kg 20:30

26 Then the king of Israel ordered, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son,  * 22:26 1Kg 22:4027 and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this guy in prison  * 22:27 2Ch 16:10; Heb 11:36 and feed him only a little bread and water  * 22:27 Lit him on bread of oppression and water of oppression until I come back safely.’ "

28 But Micaiah said, "If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me."  * 22:28 Dt 18:22 Then he said, "Listen, all you people! "  * 22:28 LXX omits Then he said, "Listen, all you people! ",* 22:28 Mc 1:2

Ahab’s Death

29 Then  * 22:29–33 2Ch 18:28–32 the king of Israel and Judah’s King Jehoshaphat went up to Ramoth-gilead.  * 22:29 1Kg 22:430 But the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise  * 22:30 1Sm 28:8 myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal attire." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.  * 22:30 2Ch 35:22

31 Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders,  * 22:31 1Kg 20:1,16 "Do not fight with anyone at all  * 22:31 Lit with small or with great except the king of Israel."  * 22:31 2Ch 18:30

32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they shouted, "He must be the king of Israel! " So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

34 But a man drew his bow  * 22:34 2Kg 9:24 without taking special aim and struck the king of Israel through the joints of his armor. So he said to his charioteer, "Turn around and take me out of the battle,  * 22:34 LXX; MT reads camp for I am badly wounded! "  * 22:34 2Ch 35:2335 The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died that evening,  * 22:34–35 1Kg 22:17,28; 2Ch 18:33–34 and blood from his wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot. 36 Then the cry rang out in the army as the sun set, declaring:

Each man to his own city,

and each man to his own land!  * 22:36 2Sm 20:1; 1Kg 12:16; 22:17; 2Kg 14:12

37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria.  * 22:37 1Kg 16:2838 Then someone washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria. The dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken.  * 22:38 1Kg 21:19

39 The rest of the events of Ahab’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, including the ivory palace  * 22:39 Am 3:15 he built, and all the cities he built, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.  * 22:39 1Kg 16:2740 Ahab rested with his ancestors,  * 22:40 1Kg 16:28 and his son Ahaziah  * 22:40 2Kg 1:2 became king in his place.

Judah’s King Jehoshaphat

41 Jehoshaphat  * 22:41 2Ch 20:31 son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Israel’s King Ahab. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king; he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 43 He walked in all the ways of his father Asa;  * 22:43 1Kg 15:11 he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away;  * 22:43 LXX, Syr, Vg read he did not remove the high places the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.  * 22:43 1Kg 15:1444 Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.  * 22:44 1Kg 22:2,4

45 The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, along with the might he exercised and how he waged war, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.  * 22:45 1Kg 15:23; 2Ch 20:3446 He eradicated from the land the rest of the male cult prostitutes who were left from the days of his father Asa.  * 22:46 1Kg 15:1247 There was no king in Edom;  * 22:47 2Sm 8:14; 2Kg 3:9 a deputy served as king. 48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish  * 22:48 1Kg 10:22 to go to Ophir  * 22:48 1Kg 9:28 for gold, but they did not go because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.  * 22:48 1Kg 9:2649 At that time, Ahaziah  * 22:49 1Kg 22:40,51 son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Let my servants go with your servants in the ships," but Jehoshaphat was not willing. 50 Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of his ancestor David.  * 22:50 1Kg 15:24; 2Ch 21:1 His son Jehoram  * 22:50 2Kg 1:17 became king in his place.

Israel’s King Ahaziah

51 Ahaziah  * 22:51 1Kg 22:40 son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria  * 22:51 1Kg 16:24 in the seventeenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat,  * 22:51 1Kg 22:41–50 and he reigned over Israel two years. 52 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.  * 22:52 1Kg 15:26 He walked in the ways of his father,  * 22:52 1Kg 21:25–26 in the ways of his mother,  * 22:52 1Kg 16:31; 18:4; 21:25 and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.  * 22:52 1Kg 12:28–3353 He served Baal and bowed in worship to him.  * 22:53 Jdg 2:11; 1Kg 16:32 He angered the Lord God of Israel just as his father had done.  * 22:53 1Kg 16:33; 21:25