¹They dwelled three years without war between Aram and Israel.

²It was in the third year that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

³The king of Israel said to his servants: Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we are hushed, not taking it from the hand of the king of Aram?

⁴He said to Jehoshaphat: Will you go with me to war at Ramoth-gilead? Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel: I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.

⁵Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel: Please inquire today for the word of Yahweh.

⁶The king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them: Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to war, or shall I cease? They said: Go up, and the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

⁷Jehoshaphat said: Is there not still a prophet of Yahweh here, that we may inquire of him?

⁸The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: There is still one man through whom to consult Yahweh, but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good about me, but evil — Micaiah son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat said: Let the king not say so.

⁹The king of Israel called one official and said: Bring quickly Micaiah son of Imlah.

¹⁰The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, clothed in garments, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before their faces.

¹¹Zedekiah son of Kenaanah made himself horns of iron, and said: Thus says Yahweh: With these you will gore Aram, until you have finished them off.

¹²And all the prophets were prophesying so, saying: Go up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, and Yahweh will give it into the hand of the king.

¹³And the messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah spoke to him, saying: Look now, the words of the prophets are, with one mouth, good for the king; please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak good.

¹⁴Micaiah said: As Yahweh lives, surely what Yahweh will say to me, that I will speak.

¹⁵He came to the king, and the king said to him: Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to war, or shall we cease? He said to him: Go up and succeed, and Yahweh will give it into the hand of the king.

¹⁶The king said to him: How many times must I make you swear, that you will speak nothing to me but truth in the name of Yahweh?

¹⁷He said: I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like a flock that has no shepherd; and Yahweh said: These have no lords; let each man return to his house in wholeness.

¹⁸The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: Did I not say to you, he will not prophesy good about me, but evil?

¹⁹He said: Therefore hear the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the host of the skies standing beside him, on his right and on his left.

²⁰Yahweh said: Who will entice Ahab, so that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said this way, and another was saying that way.

²¹The breath went forth and stood before the face of Yahweh, and said: I will entice him.

²²Yahweh said to him: By what? He said: I will go out and be a breath of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets. He said: You will deceive, and also you will prevail; go out and do so.

²³And now, behold, Yahweh has put a breath of falsehood in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and Yahweh has spoken evil against you.

²⁴Zedekiah son of Kenaanah drew near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said: Where, then, did the breath of Yahweh pass from me to speak with you?

²⁵Micaiah said: Look, you are about to see, on that day when you go into one chamber after another to hide yourself.

²⁶The king of Israel said: Take Micaiah and bring him back to Amon the official of the city, and to Joash the king's son.

²⁷And you shall say: Thus says the king: Put this one in the house of confinement, and feed him bread of distress and water of distress until I come in wholeness.

²⁸Micaiah said: If you indeed return in wholeness, Yahweh has not spoken by me. And he said: Listen, peoples, all of you.

²⁹The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.

³⁰The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: I will disguise myself and go into the battle, and you, put on your garments. And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.

³¹Now the king of Aram had commanded the officials of the chariotry that were his, thirty-two, saying: Do not fight with small or great, but only with the king of Israel alone.

³²When the officials of the chariotry saw Jehoshaphat, they said: Surely he is the king of Israel. And they turned aside against him to fight, and Jehoshaphat cried out.

³³When the officials of the chariotry saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from following him.

³⁴Now a man drew his bow in his innocence and struck the king of Israel between the joints and the coat of mail. He said to his charioteer: Turn your hand and take me out from the camp, for I am wounded.

³⁵The battle went up on that day, and the king was kept standing in the chariot opposite Aram, and he died in the evening; and the blood of the wound poured out into the bosom of the chariot.

³⁶A ringing cry passed through the camp as the sun went in, saying: Each man to his city, each man to his land.

³⁷The king died and came to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria.

³⁸They rinsed off the chariot at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs lapped up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed, according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.

³⁹As for the rest of the words 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 in the scroll of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

⁴⁰Ahab lay down with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son became king in his place.

⁴¹Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

⁴²Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Azubah, daughter of Shilhi.

⁴³He walked in all the way of Asa his father; he did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of Yahweh. Only the high places were not removed; the people were still sacrificing and making sacrifices smoke at the high places.

⁴⁴Jehoshaphat became friendly with the king of Israel.

⁴⁵As for the rest of the words of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he performed, and how he fought: are they not written in the scroll of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

⁴⁶And the rest of the male temple prostitutes who remained in the days of Asa his father, he burned out of the land.

⁴⁷There was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king.

⁴⁸Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber.

⁴⁹Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat: Let my slaves go with your slaves in the ships. But Jehoshaphat was not willing.

⁵⁰Jehoshaphat lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Jehoram his son became king in his place.

⁵¹Ahaziah son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.

⁵²He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and walked 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.

⁵³He served the Baal and bowed down to him, and provoked Yahweh the God of Israel to anger, in everything that his father had done.