1 Kings 22
1AND for three years there was no war between Syria and Israel.
2But in the third year, when Josaphat king of Juda, came down to [Achab] the king of Israel,
3the king of Israel said to his servants, Do you not know that Remmath Galaad belongeth to us, yet we do not talk of taking it out of the hand of the king of Syria.
4Then the king of Israel said to Josaphat, Wilt thou go up with us to Remmath Galaad to battle?
5To which Josaphat replied, I am as thou art; my people as thy people; my horses as thy horses. Then Josaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire I pray thee of the Lord.
6Whereupon the king of Israel assembled all the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go up to Remmath Galaad to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord will certainly deliver into the king’s hands.
7And Josaphat said to the king of Israel, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord by him?
8And the king of Israel said to Josaphat, There is a certain man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him; for he never speaketh good of me; but evil—one Michaias, son of Jemblaa. And Josaphat king of Juda said, Let not the king speak so.
9Then the king of Israel called a chamberlain, and said, Bring here quickly Michaias son of Jemblaa.
10Now the king of Israel and Josaphat king of Juda was seated each on his throne, clad in armour, in the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
11And Sedekias son of Chanaan made for himself horns of iron, and said, Thus saith the Lord: with these thou shalt push Syria until he be utterly destroyed.
12And in like manner all the prophets prophesied, saying, Go up to Remmath Galaad, for the Lord will prosper the journey and deliver into thy hands the king of Syria.
13So the messenger who went to call Michaias, spoke to him saying, Behold all the prophets with one mouth speak good things concerning the king, conform, I pray thee, thy words to the words of each of them, and speak good things.
14To which Michaias replied, As the Lord liveth, whatever the Lord shall say to me, that will I speak.
15And when he came before the king, the king said to him, Michaias, shall I go up to Remmath Galaad to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go up, and the Lord will deliver into the king’s hand!
16Then the king said to him, How often must I adjure thee that thou shouldst speak truth to me in the name of the Lord? Thereupon he said, Is not this the case?
17I saw all Israel dispersed on the mountains like a flock which hath no shepherd; and the Lord said, Is not the Lord, their God? Let everyone return to his house in peace.
18Then the king of Israel said to Josaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good to me, for he never speaketh any thing but evils?
19Whereupon Michaias said, It is not so. It is not I. Hear a word of the Lord. Is not this the case? I saw the God of Israel seated on His throne; and all the hosts of heaven stood around Him, some on the right and some on the left.
20And the Lord said, Who will deceive Achab king of Israel that he may go up and fall at Remmath Galaad? And when one spoke in this manner and another in that,
21there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord, and said, I will deceive him.
22And the Lord said to him, How? And he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said, Thou shalt deceive him and actually prevail. Go and do so.
23Now therefore behold the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of thine; but the Lord hath spoken evils against thee.
24Thereupon Sedekias son of Chanaan went near and smote Michaias on the cheek, and said, What sort of a spirit of the Lord is that which hath spoken by thee?
25To which Michaias replied, Behold thou shalt see on that day when thou shalt go into thy inmost chamber to hide thyself there.
26Then the king of Israel said, Take Michaias and carry him back to Semer, the ruler of the city, and tell Joas, the ruler’s son,
27to put him in ward and feed him with the bread of affliction, and water of affliction, till I return in peace.
28And Michaias said, If thou return in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me.
29Then the king of Israel went up, and Josaphat the king of Juda with him, to Remmath Galaad.
30And the king of Israel said to the king of Juda, I will disguise myself and enter into the battle, and thou shalt put on my raiment. So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.
31Now the king of Syria had given a charge to the thirty-two commanders of his chariots, saying, Fight not with small or great, but only with the king of Israel.
32Accordingly when the commanders of the chariots saw Josaphat, king of Juda, they said, This appeareth to be the king of Israel, and wheeled about to fight him, and Josaphat uttered a loud cry.
33And when the commanders of the chariots saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from him.
34Then one drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the lungs and the breast. Whereupon he said to his charioteer, Turn thy hand and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.
35As the battle was that day disastrous the king remained in his chariot over against the Syrians from morning till evening, and the blood flowed from the wound into the bosom of the chariot.
36And at the going down of the sun the herald of the army stood and made proclamation, saying, Every man to his city and to his own land;
37for the king is dead. And when they came to Samaria they buried the king in Samaria,
38and washed off the blood at the fountain of Samaria, and the swine and the dogs licked the blood, and the prostitutes bathed themselves in the blood, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke.
39Now the rest of the acts of Achab and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities which he founded, behold are they not written in the book of the journal of the kings of Israel?
40And when Achab slept with his fathers, Ochozias his son reigned in his stead.
41Now Josaphat son of Asa was king over Juda. In the fourth year of Achab, king of Israel,
42Josaphat began his reign. He was thirty-five years of age when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Azuba, a daughter of Salai.
43And he walked in all the way of his father Asa, and deviated not from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. But he did not remove the high places. Still the people sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
44And Josaphat was at peace with the king of Israel.
45Now the rest of the acts of Josaphat, and all the exploits which he did, behold are they not written in the book of the journal of the kings of Juda?
50* And Josaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Joram his son reigned in his stead.
51Ochozias son of Achab, began his reign over Israel, in Samaria, in the seventeenth year of Josaphat king of Juda, and reigned over Israel in Samaria two years.
52He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father Achab, and in the way of his mother Jezabel, and in the sins of the house of Jeroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin,
53and served the Baalims and worshipped them, and provoked the Lord God of Israel according to all that had been done before him.