1Ki 22 | NASB2020 | STEP | Now three years passed without war between Aram and Israel .

1 Kings 22

Ahab’s Third Campaign against Aram

1 Now ^{▼▼Lit they sat for three years}three years passed without war between Aram and Israel. 2 ^bIn the third year, ^cJehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3 Now the king of Israel said to his servants, “Are you aware that ^dRamoth-gilead belongs to us, yet we are hesitant to take it out of the hand of the king of Aram?” 4 So he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go to battle with me at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “ ^{▼▼Lit As me as you, as my people...as my horses, as your horses, an ancient idiom
,} ^fConsider me yours, my people yours, and my horses yours!”

5 However, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please request the word of the Lord ^{▼▼Lit today}first.” 6 So ^hthe king of Israel assembled the ^{▼▼I.e., official prophets who at that time were false}prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Should I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead or should I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will hand it over to the king.” 7 But ^jJehoshaphat said, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?” 8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy anything good regarding me, but only bad. He is Micaiah the son of Imlah.” But Jehoshaphat said, “May the king not say so.” 9 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.” 10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, dressed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and ^kall the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made ^lhorns of iron for himself and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘ ^mWith these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed!’” 12 All the prophets were prophesying this as well, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king.”

Micaiah Predicts Defeat

13 Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, “Behold now, the words of the prophets are ^{▼▼Lit of one mouth}unanimously favorable to the king. Please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” 14 But Micaiah said, “ ^oAs the Lord lives, whatever ^pthe Lord says to me, I shall speak it.”

15 When he came to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, should we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” And he said, “ ^qGo up and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king!” 16 Then the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear that you will tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” 17 So he said,

“I saw all Israel
Scattered on the mountains,
^rLike sheep that have no shepherd.
And the Lord said,
‘These people have no master.
Each of them is to return to his house in peace.’”
18 Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “ ^sDid I not tell you that he would not prophesy anything good regarding me, but only bad?”

19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. ^tI saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and ^uall the ^{▼▼Lit host}angels of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will ^{▼▼Or persuade}entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one spirit said this, while another said that. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will ^{▼▼Or persuade}entice him.’ 22 And the Lord said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and ^ybe a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You shall ^{▼▼Or persuade}entice him, and you will also prevail. Go and do so.’ 23 Now then, behold, ^aathe Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; and the Lord has declared disaster against you.”

24 Then ^abZedekiah the son of Chenaanah approached and struck Micaiah on the cheek; and he said, “ ^acHow did the Spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?” 25 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you are going to see how on that day when you ^adgo from one inner room to ^{▼▼Lit inner room}another trying to hide yourself.” 26 Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son; 27 and say, ‘This is what the king says: “ ^afPut this man in prison, and feed him enough bread and water to survive until I ^{▼▼Lit come in peace}return safely.”’” 28 But Micaiah said, “ ^ahIf you actually return ^{▼▼Lit in peace}safely, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “ ^ajListen, all you people!”

Defeat and Death of Ahab

29 So ^akthe king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up against Ramoth-gilead. 30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “ ^alI will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle. 31 Now ^amthe king of Aram had commanded the thirty-two commanders of his chariots, saying, “Do not fight with the small or great, but only with the king of Israel.” 32 So when the commanders of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely he is the king of Israel!” And they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 Then, when the commanders of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

34 Now one man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel ^{▼▼Lit between the scales and the scale armor}in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn ^{▼▼Lit your hand}around and take me out of the battle, ^apfor I am severely wounded.” 35 The battle ^{▼▼Lit went up}raged on that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot in front of the Arameans, and he died at evening, and the blood from the wound ran into the bottom of the chariot. 36 ^arThen the word passed throughout the army close to sunset, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his ^{▼▼Lit land}country!”

37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. 38 They washed out the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood (it was there that the prostitutes bathed themselves) ^atin accordance with the word of the Lord which He had spoken. 39 Now as for the rest of the acts of Ahab and everything that he did, and ^authe ivory house which he built and all the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab ^{▼▼I.e., died}lay down with his fathers, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.

The New Rulers

41 ^awNow Jehoshaphat the son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 ^axHe walked ^{▼▼Lit in all the way of}entirely in the way of his father Asa; he did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. ^azHowever, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 44 ^baJehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

45 Now as for the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might which he showed and how he made war, are they not written ^bbin the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 46 And the remnant of ^bcthe cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa, he eliminated from the land.

47 Now ^bdthere was no king in Edom; a governor served as king. 48 Jehoshaphat built ^beships of Tarshish to go to ^bfOphir for gold, but ^bgthey did not go, because the ships were destroyed at ^bhEzion-geber. 49 Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat was not willing. 50 ^biAnd Jehoshaphat ^{▼▼I.e., died}lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of his father David, and his son Jehoram became king in his place.

51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab ^bkbecame king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years. 52 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and ^blwalked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who misled Israel into sin. 53 ^bmSo he served Baal and worshiped him, and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, according to all that his father had done.