UST 1 KI Chapter 22

◄ 1 KI 22 ║ ═ ©

22 For the next three years, the kingdoms of Aram and Israel did not fight any wars against each other. 2 Then King Jehoshaphat, who ruled Judah, went to visit King Ahab, who ruled Israel. 3 While they were talking, Ahab said to his officials, “The city of Ramoth in the region of Gilead really belongs to us, but the Arameans are still occupying it. We ought to do something to recapture that city.” 4 Then Ahab turned toward Jehoshaphat and asked, “Will you lead your army and join me as I lead my army to fight to recapture Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied, “Yes, I will lead my army and join you as you lead your army. My soldiers and their horses will fight alongside your soldiers and their horses.”

5 Then Jehoshaphat added, “But we should first ask Yahweh whether we should attack Ramoth Gilead.” 6 So Ahab summoned his prophets. There were about 400 of them. He asked them, “Should I lead my army to fight to recapture Ramoth Gilead, or should I not do that?” They answered, “Yes, go and attack them, because God will enable your army to recapture the city so that it will belong to you again.” 7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there still a prophet of Yahweh here whom we could ask about this?” 8 King Ahab replied, “There is still one prophet whom we can ask to tell us what Yahweh says. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. But I hate him, because whenever he prophesies about me, he never says that anything good will happen to me. He always predicts that bad things will happen to me.” Jehoshaphat replied, “I do not feel that you should assume he will do that.” 9 So King Ahab told one of his officers to summon Micaiah immediately. 10 Ahab, the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were both wearing their royal robes. They were each sitting on thrones in an open square just inside one of the gates in the wall of Samaria. Many prophets were standing in front of them and speaking messages that they said were from God. 11 One of those prophets was Zedekiah son of Kenaanah. He used iron to make some horns like the horns that bulls have. Then he proclaimed to Ahab, “Here is a message for you from Yahweh. He says, ‘Your army will keep defeating the Arameans until you have completely destroyed them, just as a bull keeps goring another animal until it has killed it!’ ” 12 The other prophets who were there said the same thing. They told Ahab, “If you go and attack Ramoth Gilead, you will succeed in conquering it, because Yahweh will enable you to defeat its defenders!”

13 Meanwhile, the messenger who went to summon Micaiah told him, “Listen to me! All the other prophets are predicting that King Ahab will defeat the Arameans with his army. So be sure that you say the same thing and also predict that he will defeat them.” 14 But Micaiah replied, “I swear by Yahweh that I will tell Ahab exactly what Yahweh tells me to say.” 15 When Micaiah came to Ahab, Ahab asked him, “Micaiah, should I lead my army to fight to recapture Ramoth Gilead, or should I not do that?” Micaiah replied, “If you go and attack Ramoth Gilead, you will succeed in conquering it, because Yahweh will enable you to defeat its defenders.” 16 But King Ahab realized that Micaiah did not really mean what he was saying, so he told Micaiah, “I have told you many times that you must always speak truthfully when you say what Yahweh has revealed to you about me!” 17 So Micaiah said to him, “The truth is that in a vision I saw all the Israelite soldiers scattered on the hills, the way sheep scatter when they do not have a shepherd. And Yahweh said, ‘Their master is dead. So let them all stop fighting and go home.’ ” 18 Then Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I told you that he never says that anything good will happen to me. He always predicts that bad things will happen to me!” 19 Then Micaiah continued, saying, “Let me tell you what Yahweh showed to me! In a vision I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne. The angels of heaven were standing on both sides of him. 20 And Yahweh asked, ‘Who can persuade Ahab to lead his army to attack Ramoth Gilead so that he will die in battle there?’ Some said to do that in one way while others said to do it in a different way. 21 Finally a spirit came forward and told Yahweh, ‘I will deceive him!’ Yahweh asked him, ‘How will you do that?’ 22 The spirit replied, ‘I will go and inspire all of Ahab’s prophets to tell lies.’ Yahweh said, ‘You will be successful in getting them to tell lies. Go and do that!’ 23 So I am telling you that Yahweh has caused all of your prophets to lie to you. Yahweh has done that because he has decided that something terrible is going to happen to you.”

24 Then Zedekiah walked over to Micaiah and slapped him on his face. He said, “You have said something outrageous! Yahweh’s Spirit has not left me in order to speak to you!” 25 Micaiah replied, “You will find out for yourself to which of us Yahweh’s Spirit has truly spoken on the day when you hide in the back room of a house!” 26 King Ahab commanded his soldiers, “Seize Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of this city, and to my son Joash. 27 Tell them that I am commanding them to put this man in prison and give him only a little food to eat and a little water to drink each day until I return safely from the battle.” 28 Micaiah replied, “If you actually return safely, it will be clear that I was not speaking a message from Yahweh” Then he said to all those who were standing there, “All of you, pay attention to what I have told King Ahab!”

29 So King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah led their armies to attack Ramoth Gilead. 30 King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “When I lead my army into battle, I will wear different clothes so that no one will recognize that I am the king of Israel. But you should wear your royal robes.” So Ahab put on different clothes, and they both led their armies into the battle. 31 The king of Aram had told the 32 men who commanded his chariot forces, “Find the king of Israel and pursue and kill only him. Do not pursue anyone else.” 32 So when the commanders of the Aramean chariot forces saw Jehoshaphat wearing his royal robes, they shouted, “There is the king of Israel!” They started chasing him to attack him. But when Jehoshaphat shouted out, 33 they realized that he was not the king of Israel. So they stopped pursuing him. 34 But one Aramean soldier shot an arrow at the Israelite soldiers without aiming at anyone in particular. The arrow struck Ahab where the parts of his armor joined together and so it went through the armor and into his body. Ahab told the driver of his chariot, “This arrow has wounded me! So turn the chariot around and get me out of the midst of the fighting!” 35 The Israelites and Arameans fought desperately throughout that day. Ahab’s soldiers helped him keep standing up in his chariot facing the Aramean troops. The blood from his wound ran down onto the floor of the chariot. At the end of the day, he died. 36 Just as the sun was setting, the Israelite troops began shouting to each other, “Since the king has died, we should stop fighting and all return home!”

37 After King Ahab died, his soldiers brought his body back to Samaria and buried it there. 38 They washed his chariot at the pool in Samaria, the same pool where the prostitutes of the city bathed. Dogs came and licked up the king’s blood, just as Yahweh had said would happen. 39 The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Ahab did. It describes how he had his workers build a palace for him and decorate it with much ivory. It also describes the cities that he had his workers build. 40 When Ahab died, his son Ahaziah became the next king.

41 Earlier, when Ahab had been ruling in Israel for four years, Jehoshaphat son of Asa started to rule Judah. 42 Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he started to rule, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 25 years. His mother was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. 43 Jehoshaphat was a good king, just as his father Asa had been. Throughout his life, he did things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were good to do. However, he did not order his servants to destroy the shrines for worship on the top of hills. So the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense at those shrines. 44 Jehoshaphat also made a peace treaty with the king of Israel.

45 The book in which the kings of Judah recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Jehoshaphat did. It describes the great things that he did and the victories that his troops won. 46 Jehoshaphat’s father Asa had ordered the male prostitutes to leave the kingdom of Judah, but some had not left. Jehoshaphat forced all the remaining ones to leave. 47 At that time, Edom did not have a king. A deputy whom Jehoshaphat appointed ruled the Edomites. 48 Jehoshaphat had his workers build at Ezion Geber a fleet of ships that were able to sail out on the sea. He wanted them to sail to Ophir to get gold. But a storm wrecked them there, so the ships never sailed to Ophir. 49 Then Ahaziah son of Ahab suggested to Jehoshaphat, “Allow my sailors to go in the ships with your sailors,” but Jehoshaphat refused. 50 When Jehoshaphat died, the Judeans buried him where they had buried his ancestors, in the part of Jerusalem that people called the City of David. His son Jehoram became the next king of Judah.

51 Earlier, Ahaziah son of Ahab had begun to rule Israel from the city of Samaria when Jehoshaphat had been ruling in Judah for 17 years. Ahaziah ruled Israel for two years. 52 Ahaziah did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. He did the same evil things that his father and mother had done. And he did the same evil things that Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam was the king who had led the Israelites to sin by worshiping idols. 53 Ahaziah worshiped Baal and even bowed down to an idol of Baal. That made Yahweh, the God whom the Israelites were supposed to worship, very angry. Ahaziah angered Yahweh just as much as his father Ahab had angered him.

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UST 1 KI Chapter 22

UST 1 KI Chapter 22