³The king of Israel had spoken to his officials. He had said, “Don’t you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us? And we aren’t even doing anything to take it back from the king of Aram.”

⁴So Ahab asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “Yes. I’ll go with you. My men will go with you. My horses will also go with you.” ⁵Jehoshaphat continued, “First ask the Lord for advice.”

⁶So the king of Israel brought about 400 prophets together. He asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth Gilead? Or should I stay here?”

“Go,” they answered. “The Lord will hand it over to you.”

⁷But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord here? If there is, ask him what we should do.”

⁸The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat. He said, “There is still one other man we can go to. We can ask the Lord for advice through him. But I hate him. He never prophesies anything good about me. He only prophesies bad things. His name is Micaiah. He’s the son of Imlah.”

“You shouldn’t say bad things about him,” Jehoshaphat replied.

⁹So the king of Israel called for one of his officials. He told him, “Bring Micaiah, the son of Imlah, at once.”

¹⁰The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were wearing their royal robes. They were sitting on their thrones at the threshing floor. It was near the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All of the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

¹¹Zedekiah was the son of Kenaanah. Zedekiah had made horns out of iron. They looked like animal horns. He announced, “The Lord says, ‘With these horns you will drive back the men of Aram until they are destroyed.’ ”

¹²All of the other prophets were prophesying the same thing. “Attack Ramoth Gilead,” they said. “Win the battle over it. The Lord will hand it over to you.”

¹³A messenger went to get Micaiah. He said to him, “Look. The other prophets agree. All of them are saying the king will have success. So agree with them. Say the same thing they do.”

¹⁴But Micaiah said, “You can be sure that the Lord lives. And you can be just as sure that I can only tell the king what the Lord tells me to say.”

¹⁵When Micaiah arrived, the king spoke to him. He asked, “Should we go to war against Ramoth Gilead? Or should I stay here?”

“Attack,” he answered. “You will win. The Lord will hand Ramoth Gilead over to you.”

¹⁶The king said to him, “I’ve made you promise to tell the truth many times before. So don’t tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord.”

¹⁷Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all of the people of Israel scattered on the hills. They were like sheep that didn’t have a shepherd. The Lord said, ‘These people do not have a master. Let each of them go home in peace.’ ”

¹⁸The king of Israel spoke to Jehoshaphat. He said, “Didn’t I tell you he never prophesies anything good about me? He only prophesies bad things.”

¹⁹Micaiah continued, “Listen to the Lord’s message. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne. Some of the angels of heaven were standing at his right side. The others were standing at his left side. So all of them were standing around him. ²⁰The Lord said, ‘Who will try to get Ahab to attack Ramoth Gilead? I want him to die there.’

“One angel suggested one thing. Another suggested something else. ²¹Finally, a spirit came forward and stood in front of the Lord. The spirit said, ‘I’ll try to get Ahab to do it.’

²²“ ‘How?’ the Lord asked.

“The spirit said, ‘I’ll go out and put lies in the mouths of all of his prophets.’

“ ‘You will have success in getting Ahab to attack Ramoth Gilead,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

²³“So the Lord has put lies in the mouths of all of your prophets. He has said that great harm will come to you.”

²⁴Then Zedekiah, the son of Kenaanah, went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. “So you think the spirit that was sent by the Lord went away from me to speak to you, do you?” he asked. “Which way did he go?”

²⁵Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inside room to save your life.”

²⁶Then the king of Israel gave an order. He said, “Take Micaiah away. Send him back to Amon. Amon is the ruler of the city of Samaria. And send him back to Joash. Joash is a member of the royal court. ²⁷Tell him, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in prison. Don’t give him anything but bread and water until I return safely.” ’ ”

²⁸Micaiah announced, “Do you really think you will return safely? If you do, the Lord hasn’t spoken through me.” He continued, “All of you people, remember what I’ve said!”

Ahab Is Killed at Ramoth Gilead

²⁹So the king of Israel went up to Ramoth Gilead. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went there too.

³⁰The king of Israel spoke to Jehoshaphat. He said, “I’ll go into battle wearing different clothes. Then people won’t recognize me. But you wear your royal robes.”

So the king of Israel put on different clothes. Then he went into battle.

³¹The king of Aram had given an order to his 32 chariot commanders. He had said, “Fight only against the king of Israel. Don’t fight against anyone else.”

³²The chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat. They thought, “That has to be the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him. But Jehoshaphat cried out. ³³Then the commanders saw he wasn’t the king of Israel after all. So they stopped chasing him.

³⁴But someone shot an arrow without taking aim. The arrow hit the king of Israel between the parts of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, “Turn the chariot around. Get me out of this battle. I’ve been wounded.” ³⁵All day long the battle continued. The king kept himself standing up by leaning against the inside of his chariot. He kept his face toward the men of Aram. The blood from his wound ran down onto the floor of the chariot. That evening he died.

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