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18
The prophet Micaiah warned King Ahab of Israel
1 Jehoshaphat became very wealthy and was greatly honored. But then he arranged for one of his family to marry someone from the family of King Ahab of Israel. 2 Several years later, he went down from Jerusalem to Samaria to visit Ahab. Ahab welcomed him and the people who had come with him by slaughtering many sheep and cattle for a feast. 3 Then he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you and your army go with my army to attack Ramoth city in the Gilead region?” Jehoshaphat replied, “My soldiers and I will go to the battle when you tell us to go.” 4 Then he added, “But we should ask Yahweh first, to find out what he wants us to do.”
5 So the king of Israel gathered all his 400 prophets and asked them, “Should we go to attack the people of Ramoth city, or should we not do that?”
They replied, “Yes, go and attack them because God will enable your army to defeat them.”
6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of Yahweh here whom we can ask?”
7 The king of Israel replied, “There is still one man here, whom we can ask to find out what Yahweh wants, his name is Micaiah, the son of Imlah. But I hate him because he never says that anything good about me. He always predicts that bad things will happen to me.”
Jehoshaphat replied, “King Ahab, you should not say that!”
8 So the king of Israel told one of his officials to summon Micaiah immediately.
9 The king of Israel and the king of Judah were sitting there on their thrones, wearing their royal robes. They were at the place where people threshed grain, near the gate of Samaria city. All of Ahab's prophets were standing in front of them, predicting what was going to happen.
10 One of them whose name was Zedekiah, the son of Kenaanah, had made from iron something that resembled the horns of a bull. He proclaimed to Ahab, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘With horns like these, your army will keep attacking the army of Syria like a bull attacks another animal, until you completely destroy them.’ ” 11 All the other prophets of Ahab agreed. They said, “Yes! If you attack Ramoth city in the Gilead region, you will be successful, because Yahweh will enable you to defeat them.”
12 The messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Listen to me! All the other prophets are unitedly predicting that the king will be successful in the battle. So be sure to agree with them and say that the king's army will be successful!”
13 But Micaiah said, “As surely as Yahweh lives, I will tell the king only what Yahweh tells me to say.”
14 When Micaiah arrived, the king of Israel asked him, “Should we go to attack Ramoth, or not?”
Micaiah replied, “Sure, go! Yahweh will enable your army to defeat them!”
15 But King Ahab realized that Micaiah was lying, so he said to Micaiah, “I have told you many times that you must always tell only the truth when you say what Yahweh has revealed to you!”
16 Then Micaiah replied, “ The truth is that in a vision I saw all the troops of Israel scattered on the mountains. They seemed to be like sheep that did not have a shepherd. And Yahweh said, ‘Their master has been killed. So tell them all to go home peacefully.’ ”
17 Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I told you that he never predicts that anything good will happen to me! He always predicts that bad things will happen to me.”
18 But Micaiah continued, saying, “Listen to what Yahweh showed to me! In a vision I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, with all the armies of heaven standing around him, on his right side and on his left side. 19 And Yahweh said, ‘Who can persuade Ahab, the king of Israel, to go to fight against the people of Ramoth, in order that he may be killed there?’
Some suggested one thing, and others suggested something else.
20 Finally one spirit, having received a message from Satan, came to Yahweh and said, ‘I can do it!’
Yahweh asked him, ‘How will you do it?’
21 The spirit replied, ‘I will go and inspire all of Ahab's prophets to tell lies.’ Yahweh said, ‘You will be successful; go and do it!’
22 So now I tell you that Yahweh has caused your prophets to lie to you. Yahweh has decided that something terrible will happen to you.”
23 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah walked over to Micaiah and slapped him on his face. He said, “Do you think that Yahweh's Spirit left me in order to speak to you?”
24 Micaiah replied, “You will find out for yourself to which of us Yahweh's Spirit has truly spoken on the day when you go into a room of some house to hide from the Syrian soldiers!”
25 King Ahab commanded his soldiers, “Seize Micaiah and take him to Amon, the governor of this city, and to my son Joash. 26 Tell them that I have commanded that they should put this man in prison and give him only bread and water. Do not give him anything else to eat until I return safely from the battle!”
27 Micaiah replied, “If you return safely, it will be clear that it was not Yahweh who told me what to say to you!” Then he said to all those who were standing there, “Do not forget what I have said to King Ahab!”
Ahab died in the battle at Ramoth-Gilead
28 So the king of Israel and the king of Judah led their armies to Ramoth, in the Gilead region. 29 King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I will put on different clothes, in order that no one will recognize that I am the king. But you should wear your royal robe.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they both went into the battle.
30 The King of Syria told his soldiers who were driving the chariots, “Attack only the king of Israel!” 31 So when the soldiers who were driving the Syrian chariots saw Jehoshaphat wearing the royal robes, they thought “He must be the king of Israel!” 32 So they turned to attack him. But when Jehoshaphat cried out, Yahweh helped him, and they realized that he was not the king of Israel. And God caused them to stop pursuing him.
33 But one Syrian soldier shot an arrow at Ahab, without knowing that it was Ahab. The arrow struck Ahab between the places where the parts of his armor joined together. Ahab told the driver of his chariot, “Turn the chariot around and take me out of here! I have been severely wounded!” 34 The battle continued all that day. Ahab was sitting propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrian soldiers. And late in the afternoon, when the sun was setting, he died.

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© 2008-2016 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.