Jehoshaphat’s Alliance with Ahab
1There was22:1–9 2Ch 18:1–8 a lull of three years22:1 1Kg 20:1,26 without war between Aram and Israel.
2However, in the third year, King Jehoshaphat22:2 1Kg 15:24 of Judah went to visit the king of Israel.22:2 2Ch 18:2
Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”22:4 2Kg 3:7
5But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “First, please ask what the Lord’s will is.”22:5 1Sm 23:1–5; Jms 4:15
They replied, “March up, and the Lord will hand it over to the king.”22:6 1Kg 13:18
“The king shouldn’t say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.
9So the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Hurry and get Micaiah son of Imlah!”
10Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah,22:10–12 2Ch 18:9–11 clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor22:10 Jdg 6:37 at the entrance to the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them.
11Then Zedekiah22:11 1Kg 22:24 son of Chenaanah made iron horns22:11 Dt 33:17; Zch 1:18–21 and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.’”
Micaiah’s Message of Defeat
13The messenger22:13–28 2Ch 18:12–27 who went to call Micaiah instructed him, “Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.”
15So he went to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain?”
Micaiah told him, “March up and succeed. The Lord will hand it over to the king.”
16But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord?”
17So Micaiah said:
I saw all Israel scattered on the hills
like sheep without a shepherd.22:17 Nm 27:16–17; Mt 9:36; Mk 6:34
And the Lord said,
“They have no master;
let everyone return home in peace.”22:17 1Kg 22:35–36
18So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster?”
21“Then a spirit came forward, stood in the Lord’s presence, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
22“The Lord asked him, ‘How?’
“He said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit22:22 Jdg 9:23; 1Sm 16:14; Jr 20:7; Ezk 14:9 in the mouth of all his prophets.’
“Then he said, ‘You will certainly entice him and prevail.22:22 2Th 2:11 Go and do that.’
23“You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you.”
Ahab’s Death
29Then22:29–33 2Ch 18:28–32 the king of Israel and Judah’s King Jehoshaphat went up to Ramoth-gilead.22:29 1Kg 22:4
32When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they shouted, “He must be the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out.
33When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.
34But a man drew his bow22:34 2Kg 9:24 without taking special aim and struck the king of Israel through the joints of his armor. So he said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle,22:34 LXX; MT reads camp for I am badly wounded!” 22:34 2Ch 35:23
35The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died that evening,22:34–35 1Kg 22:17,28; 2Ch 18:33–34 and blood from his wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.
36Then the cry rang out in the army as the sun set, declaring:
Each man to his own city,
Judah’s King Jehoshaphat
41Jehoshaphat22:41 2Ch 20:31 son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Israel’s King Ahab.
42Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king; he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
43He walked in all the ways of his father Asa;22:43 1Kg 15:11 he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away;22:43 LXX, Syr, Vg read he did not remove the high places the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.22:43 1Kg 15:14
45The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, along with the might he exercised and how he waged war, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.22:45 1Kg 15:23; 2Ch 20:34
46He eradicated from the land the rest of the male cult prostitutes who were left from the days of his father Asa.22:46 1Kg 15:12
48Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish22:48 1Kg 10:22 to go to Ophir22:48 1Kg 9:28 for gold, but they did not go because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.22:48 1Kg 9:26
Israel’s King Ahaziah
51Ahaziah22:51 1Kg 22:40 son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria22:51 1Kg 16:24 in the seventeenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat,22:51 1Kg 22:41–50 and he reigned over Israel two years.
52He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.22:52 1Kg 15:26 He walked in the ways of his father,22:52 1Kg 21:25–26 in the ways of his mother,22:52 1Kg 16:31; 18:4; 21:25 and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.22:52 1Kg 12:28–33
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