1Therefore three years passed with-out battle betwixt Syria and Israel.

2And in the third year Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went down to the king of Israel.

3And the king of Israel said to his servants, Know ye not, that Ramoth of Gilead is ours, and we be negligent to not take it back from the hand of the king of Syria?

4And he said to Jehoshaphat, Whether thou shalt come with me to fight in Ramoth of Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, As I am, so and thou; my people and thy people be one; and my knights and thy knights be one.

5And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I pray thee, ask thou today the word of the Lord.

6Therefore the king of Israel gathered together [the] prophets, about four hundred men, and he said to them, Owe I to go into Ramoth of Gilead to fight, either owe I to rest? Which answered, Go thou up, and the Lord shall give it into the hand of the king.

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 ever[more] 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 ¹³, 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.