2Ch 18 | EE | STEP | Jehoshaphat was very rich and people gave a lot of honour to him. And he started to agree with Ahab because his son married Ahab’s daughter.

2 Chronicles 18

Jehoshaphat becomes a friend of Ahab

1 Jehoshaphat was very rich and people gave a lot of honour to him. And he started to agree with Ahab because his son married Ahab’s daughter. 2 After some years, he went to visit Ahab in Samaria. Ahab killed many sheep and cows for him and for the people who were with him. Ahab wanted to attack Ramoth-Gilead. He asked Jehoshaphat to help him. And Jehoshaphat decided to do it. 3 This is what happened. Ahab, Israel’s king said to Jehoshaphat Judah’s king, ‘Will you go with me to attack Ramoth-Gilead?’ Jehoshaphat replied, ‘I am like you. My people are like your people. We will come with you to the fight.’ 4 But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, ‘Please ask the LORD first what he wants us to do.’ ^{▼▼18:4 Ahab was the king of Israel. And he ruled from the city called Samaria.}

5 So the king of Israel brought the prophets. (There were 400 of them.) He asked them, ‘Should we go to fight against Ramoth-Gilead, or should I not go?’ ‘Go’, they answered. ‘God will help the king to win the fight.’

Jehoshaphat wants to ask the LORD‘s prophet a question

6 But Jehoshaphat asked, ‘Is there another prophet of the LORD here that we can ask?’

7 Ahab replied, ‘There is one other man here who will ask the LORD for us. But I do not like him because he only prophesies bad things about me, never anything good. He is Micaiah, son of Imlah.’

‘Do not say that!’ replied Jehoshaphat.

8 So the king of Israel said to an officer, ‘Bring Micaiah son of Imlah to me quickly.’

Ahab’s prophets speak

9 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah were sitting on their special king’s seats. And they were wearing their special king’s clothes. They were at a threshing-floor. It was near the gate of Samaria and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them. 10 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made two iron horns for himself. He said, ‘The LORD says, “You will push the people from Syria with these horns until you have killed all those people.”’

11 All the other prophets said the same thing. ‘Attack Ramoth-Gilead. If you do that, you will win the fight’, they said. ‘The LORD will help the king to win it’, they said.

What Micaiah says

12 The officer who had gone to fetch Micaiah spoke to him. ‘All the other prophets are saying good things to the king. Please agree with them and say good things to the king.’

13 But Micaiah said, ‘The LORD lives. And I can say to the king only what my God says.’

14 When he arrived, the king asked him, ‘Micaiah, should we go to fight at Ramoth-Gilead or should I not go?’

‘Attack and win’, he said. ‘The LORD will help you to beat them.’

15 The king said to him, ‘I have to say this to you too many times. You must promise me, in the LORD‘s name, to say only what is true.’

16 Then Micaiah said, ‘I saw all Israel’s men and they were running everywhere over the mountains. They were like sheep that had no shepherd. And the LORD said, “These people have no master. Each man should return to his own house and they should not fight.”’

17 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘I told you that he never prophesies anything good about me. He only says bad things’, he said.

18 Then Micaiah said, ‘So listen to the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD and he was sitting on his throne. All the angels in the army of heaven were standing either at his right side or at his left side. 19 The LORD said, “Who can cause Ahab, king of Israel to attack Ramoth-Gilead? Then he will die there.” One angel said one thing and another angel said something different. 20 Then another spirit came and he stood in front of the LORD. “I will cause him to do it”, he said.

“How will you do it?” the LORD asked.

21 “I will go. And I will cause all his prophets to say things that are not true”, he said.

“That will cause him to go and fight”, said the LORD. “Go and do it.”

22 So now the LORD has caused all your prophets here to say things that are not true. The LORD has decided to cause bad trouble for you.’

Zedekiah and Micaiah

23 Then Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah went up and he hit Micaiah on the face. ‘Which way did the LORD‘s Spirit go when he left me to speak to you?’ he asked.

24 Micaiah replied, ‘You will know that on the day when you go to hide in an inside room.’

25 Then the king of Israel said to his soldiers, ‘Take Micaiah to Amon, who rules the city and to Joash my son. 26 Tell them that the king says, “Put this man in a prison. Give to him only bread and water as food until I return alive and well.”’

27 Micaiah said, ‘If you really return alive and well, the LORD has not spoken by me.’ Then he said, ‘Remember my words, all you people.’

Ahab and Jehoshaphat go to fight at Ramoth-Gilead

28 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah went to fight against the people in Ramoth-Gilead. 29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘I will not wear special clothes when I am fighting. But you wear your king’s clothes.’ So the king of Israel wore soldier’s clothes. And they started to fight the enemy.

30 But the king of Syria had said to his chariot officers, ‘Do not fight with anyone, important or not important, except the king of Israel.’ 31 The chariot officers saw King Jehoshaphat in his special clothes. So they said, ‘That is the king of Israel.’ And they turned to attack him. Jehoshaphat shouted and the LORD helped him. God caused the officers to turn away from him. 32 The chariot officers saw that it was not the king of Israel. So they stopped running after him.

The enemy hurt Ahab and he dies

33 But a man shot an arrow at the king of Israel. But the man did not know that it was the king of Israel. He hit the king of Israel between different parts of his armour. The king said to the man who was driving his chariot, ‘Turn round. Take me out of the fight because the arrow has hurt me.’ 34 They fought all day and the king of Israel stood against the side of his chariot. He looked towards the army of Syria until evening. Then at sunset he died. ^{▼▼18:34 The battle of Ramoth-Gilead was the end of the war.}