Ahab and the False Prophets

(2 Chronicles 18:1-11)

1And they sit still three years, there is no war between Aram and Israel, 2and it cometh to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat king of Judah cometh down unto the king of Israel, 3and the king of Israel saith unto his servants, ‘Have ye not known that ours [is] Ramoth-Gilead? and we are keeping silent from taking it out of the hand of the king of Aram!’ 4And he saith unto Jehoshaphat, ‘Dost thou go with me to battle [to] Ramoth-Gilead?’ and Jehoshaphat saith unto the king of Israel, ‘As I am, so thou; as my people, so thy people; as my horses, so thy horses.’

5And Jehoshaphat saith unto the king of Israel, ‘Seek, I pray thee, to-day, the word of Jehovah;’ 6and the king of Israel gathereth the prophets, about four hundred men, and saith unto them, ‘Do I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or do I forbear?’ and they say, ‘Go up, and the Lord doth give [it] into the hand of the king.’ 7And Jehoshaphat saith, ‘Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, and we seek by him?’ 8And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, ‘Yet — one man to seek Jehovah by him, and I have hated him, for he doth not prophesy concerning me good, but evil — Micaiah son of Imlah;’ and Jehoshaphat saith, ‘Let not the king say so.’ 9And the king of Israel calleth unto a certain eunuch, and saith, ‘Hasten Micaiah son of Imlah.’ 10And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah are sitting, each on his throne, clothed with garments, in a threshing-floor, at the opening of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets are prophesying before them. 11And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah maketh for himself horns of iron, and saith, ‘Thus said Jehovah, By these thou dost push the Aramaeans till they are consumed;’ 12and all the prophets are prophesying so, saying, ‘Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper, and Jehovah hath given [it] into the hand of the king.’

Micaiah Prophesies against Ahab

(2 Chronicles 18:12-27)

13And the messenger who hath gone to call Micaiah hath spoken unto him, saying, ‘Lo, I pray thee, the words of the prophets, with one mouth, [are] good towards the king; let it be, I pray thee, thy word as the word of one of them — and thou hast spoken good.’ 14And Micaiah saith, ‘Jehovah liveth; surely that which Jehovah saith unto me — it I speak.’

15And he cometh in unto the king, and the king saith unto him, ‘Micaiah, do we go unto Ramoth-Gilead, to battle, or do we forbear?’ and he saith unto him, ‘Go up, and prosper, and Jehovah hath given [it] into the hand of the king.’ 16And the king saith unto him, ‘How many times am I adjuring thee that thou speak nothing unto me but truth in the name of Jehovah?’

17And he saith, ‘I have seen all Israel scattered on the hills as sheep that have no shepherd, and Jehovah saith, These have no master; they turn back each to his house in peace.’

18And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, ‘Have I not said unto thee, He doth not prophesy of me good, but evil?’

19And he saith, ‘Therefore, hear a word of Jehovah; I have seen Jehovah sitting on His throne, and all the host of the heavens standing by Him, on His right and on His left; 20and Jehovah saith, Who doth entice Ahab, and he doth go up and fall in Ramoth-Gilead? and this one saith thus, and that one is saying thus. 21‘And the spirit goeth out, and standeth before Jehovah, and saith, I — I do entice him; and Jehovah saith unto him, By what? 22and he saith, I go out, and have been a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets; and He saith, Thou dost entice, and also thou art able; go out and do so. 23And now, lo, Jehovah hath put a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and Jehovah hath spoken concerning thee — evil.’

24And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah draweth nigh, and smiteth Micaiah on the cheek, and saith, ‘Where [is] this — he hath passed over — the Spirit of Jehovah — from me to speak with thee?’ 25And Micaiah saith, ‘Lo, thou art seeing on that day, when thou goest in to the innermost chamber to be hidden.’ 26And the king of Israel saith, ‘Take Micaiah, and turn him back unto Amon head of the city, and unto Joash son of the king, 27and thou hast said, Thus said the king, Place ye this one in the house of restraint, and cause him to eat bread of oppression, and water of oppression, till my coming in peace.’ 28And Micaiah saith, ‘If thou at all return in peace — Jehovah hath not spoken by me;’ and he saith, ‘Hear, O peoples, all of them.’

Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead

(2 Chronicles 18:28-34)

29And the king of Israel goeth up, and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, to Ramoth-Gilead. 30And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat to disguise himself, and to go into battle, ‘And thou, put on thy garments.’ And the king of Israel disguiseth himself, and goeth into battle. 31And the king of Aram commanded the heads of the charioteers whom he hath — thirty and two — saying, ‘Ye do not fight with small or with great, but with the king of Israel by himself.’ 32And it cometh to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing Jehoshaphat, that they said, ‘He [is] only the king of Israel;’ and they turn aside to him to fight, and Jehoshaphat crieth out, 33and it cometh to pass, at the heads of the charioteers seeing that he [is] not the king of Israel, that they turn back from after him.

34And a man hath drawn with a bow, in his simplicity, and smiteth the king of Israel between the joinings and the coat of mail, and he saith to his charioteer, ‘Turn thy hand, and take me out from the camp, for I have become sick.’ 35And the battle increaseth on that day, and the king hath been caused to stand in the chariot, over-against Aram, and he dieth in the evening, and the blood of the wound runneth out unto the midst of the chariot, 36and he causeth the cry to pass over through the camp, at the going in of the sun, saying, ‘Each unto his city, and each unto his land.’

37And the king dieth, and cometh into Samaria, and they bury the king in Samaria; 38and [one] rinseth the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs lick his blood — when the armour they had washed — according to the word of Jehovah that He spake. 39And the rest of the matters of Ahab, and all that he did, and the house of ivory that he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? 40And Ahab lieth with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigneth in his stead.

Jehoshaphat's Good Reign in Judah

(2 Chronicles 19:4-11; 2 Chronicles 20:31-34)

41And Jehoshaphat son of Asa hath reigned over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel, 42Jehoshaphat [is] a son of thirty and five years in his reigning, and twenty and five years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 43And he walketh in all the way of Asa his father, he hath not turned aside from it, to do that which [is] right in the eyes of Jehovah; only the high places have not turned aside, yet are the people sacrificing and making perfume in high places. 44And Jehoshaphat maketh peace with the king of Israel;

45and the rest of the matters of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he got, and with which he fought, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 46And the remnant of the whoremongers who were left in the days of Asa his father he took away out of the land;

47and there is no king in Edom; he set up a king. 48Jehoshaphat made ships at Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, and they went not, for the ships were broken in Ezion-Geber. 49Then said Ahaziah son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, ‘Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships;’ and Jehoshaphat was not willing. 50And Jehoshaphat lieth with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigneth in his stead.

Ahaziah's Evil Reign in Israel

(1 Samuel 1:1-8; 2 Kings 1:1-16; Psalm 113:1-9)

51Ahaziah son of Ahab hath reigned over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigneth over Israel two years, 52and doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and walketh in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin, 53and serveth the Baal, and boweth himself to it, and provoketh Jehovah, God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.