1st Kings 22:7-53

⁷Forsooth Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here any other prophet of the Lord, that we ask by him?

⁸And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, One man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, is left, by whom we may ask the Lord; but I hate him, for he prophesieth not good to me, but evil. To whom Jehoshaphat said, King, speak thou not so.

⁹Therefore the king of Israel called some chamberlain, and said to him, Haste thou to bring Micaiah, the son of Imlah.

¹⁰Forsooth the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat, each in his throne, clothed with king’s ornament, in the large house beside the door, or wicket, of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied in the sight of them.

¹¹Also Zedekiah, the son of Chena-anah, made to himself horns of iron, and said, The Lord God saith these things, With these thou shalt scatter Syria, till thou do away it.

¹²And all the prophets prophesied in like manner, and said, Ascend thou or Go up into Ramoth of Gilead, and go thou with prosperity; and the Lord shall betake thine enemies into the hand of the king.

¹³Soothly the messenger, that went to call Micaiah, spake to him, and said, Lo! the words of the prophets with one mouth preach goods or good things to the king; therefore thy word be like them, and speak thou goods.

¹⁴To whom Micaiah said, The Lord liveth, for whatever thing the Lord shall say to me, I shall speak this.

¹⁵Therefore he came to the king. And the king said to him, Micaiah, owe we go into Ramoth of Gilead to fight, either cease? To which king he answered, Ascend thou or Go up, and go in prosperity; and the Lord shall betake it into the hand of the king.

¹⁶Forsooth the king said to him, Again and again I conjure or adjure thee, that thou speak not to me, no but that that is sooth in the name of the Lord.

¹⁷And he said, I saw all Israel scattered in the hills, as sheep not having a shepherd; and the Lord said, These have no lord, each man turn again into his house in peace.

¹⁸Therefore the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Whether I said not to thee, that he prophesieth not good to me, but evermore evil?

¹⁹Soothly that Micaiah added, and said, Therefore hear thou the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and I saw all the host of heaven standing nigh to him, on the right side and on the left side.

²⁰And the Lord said, Who shall deceive Ahab, king of Israel, that he ascend or go up, and fall in Ramoth of Gilead? And one said such words, and another in another manner.

²¹Soothly a spirit went out, and went before the Lord, and said, I shall deceive him.

²²To whom the Lord spake, In what thing? And he said, I shall go out, and I shall be a spirit of leasing in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Thou shalt deceive him, and shalt have the mastery; go thou out, and do so.

²³Now therefore, lo! the Lord gave a spirit of leasing in the mouth of all prophets that be here; and the Lord spake evil against thee.

²⁴Forsooth Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, nighed, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Whether the Spirit of the Lord forsook me, and spake to thee?

²⁵And Micaiah said, Thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into a closet within a bed-closet, that thou be hid.

²⁶And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and dwell he at Amon, the prince of the city, and at Joash, the son of Amalek;

²⁷and say ye to them, The king saith these things, Send ye this man into prison, and sustain ye him with bread of tribulation, and with water of anguish, till I turn again in peace.

²⁸And Micaiah said, If thou shalt turn again in peace, the Lord spake not in me. And he said, Hear ye, all peoples.

²⁹Therefore the king of Israel ascended or went up, and Jehosh-aphat, king of Judah, into Ramoth of Gilead.

³⁰Therefore the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Take thou armours or arms, and enter thou into battle, and be thou clothed in thy clothes, that is, in the noble signs of the king. Certainly the king of Israel changed his clothing, and entered into battle.

³¹Soothly the king of Syria had commanded to the two and thirty princes of chariots, and said, Ye shall not fight against any man the less, either the more, but against the king of Israel only.

³²Therefore when the princes of chariots had seen Jehoshaphat, they supposed that he was king of Israel, and by fierceness made, they fought against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out, calling for God’s help, and declaring his banner;

³³and the princes of the chariots understood, that it was not the king of Israel, and they ceased from pursuing him.

³⁴Soothly some man bent a bow, and dressed an arrow into uncertain, and by hap he smote the king of Israel betwixt the lung and the stomach. And the king said to his charioteer, Turn thine hand, and cast me out of the host, for I am wounded grievously.

³⁵Therefore the battle was joined in that day, and the king of Israel stood in his chariot against men of Syria, and he was dead at eventide. Forsooth the blood of the wound floated or flowed down into the bottom of the chariot.

³⁶And a crier sounded in all the host, before that the sun went down, and said, Each man turn again into his city, and into his land.

³⁷Forsooth the king was dead, and was borne into Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.

³⁸And they washed his chariot in the cistern of Samaria, and dogs licked his blood, and they washed the armours, by the word of the Lord which he had spoken.

³⁹Soothly the residue of the words of Ahab, and all things which he did, and the house of ivory which he builded, and of all the cities which he builded, whether these be not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?

⁴⁰Therefore Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned for him.

⁴¹Forsooth Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign on Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.

⁴²Jehoshaphat was of five and thirty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned five and twenty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.

⁴³And he went in all the way of Asa, his father, and he bowed not aside from it; and he did that, that was rightful or right in the sight of the Lord. Nevertheless he did not away the high things, for yet the people made sacrifice, and burnt incense, in high places.

⁴⁴And Jehoshaphat had peace with the king of Israel.

⁴⁵Soothly the residue of the words of Jehoshaphat, and the works and battles, which he did, whether these be not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Judah?

⁴⁶But also he took away from the land the relics of the men turned into women’s conditions or womanish-made men, that were left in the days of Asa, his father.

⁴⁷Neither a king was ordained then in Edom; but a deputy, appointed by the king of Judah, ruled over it.

⁴⁸Forsooth king Jehoshaphat made ships in the sea, that should sail into Ophir for gold, and those or they might not go, for they were broken in Eziongeber.

⁴⁹Then Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, My servants go with thine in our ships. And Jehosh-aphat would not consent to that.

⁵⁰And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, his father; and Jehoram, his son, reigned for him.

⁵¹Forsooth Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, began to reign on Israel, in Samaria, in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and Ahaziah reigned on Israel two years.

⁵²And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went in the way of his father, and of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin.

⁵³And he served Baal, and worship-ped him, and wrathed the Lord God of Israel, by all things which his father had done.