19. Micaiah replied:Listen to this! I also saw the Lord seated on his throne with every creature in heaven gathered around him.
20. The Lord asked, “Who can trick Ahab and make him go to Ramoth where he will be killed?”They talked about it for a while,
21. then finally a spirit came forward and said to the Lord, “I can trick Ahab.”“How?” the Lord asked.
22. “I'll make Ahab's prophets lie to him.”“Good!” the Lord replied. “Now go and do it.”
23. This is exactly what has happened, Ahab. The Lord made all your prophets lie to you, and he knows you will soon be destroyed.
24. Zedekiah walked up to Micaiah and slapped him on the face. Then he asked, “Do you really think the Lord would speak to you and not to me?”
25. Micaiah answered, “You'll find out on the day you have to hide in the back room of some house.”
26. Ahab shouted, “Arrest Micaiah! Take him to Prince Joash and Governor Amon of Samaria.
27. Tell them to put him in prison and to give him nothing but bread and water until I come back safely.”
28. Micaiah said, “If you do come back, I was wrong about what the Lord wanted me to say.” Then he told the crowd, “Don't forget what I said!”
29. Ahab and Jehoshaphat led their armies to Ramoth in Gilead.
30. Before they went into battle, Ahab said, “Jehoshaphat, I'll disguise myself, but you wear your royal robe.” Then Ahab disguised himself and went into battle.
31. The king of Syria had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders to attack only Ahab.
32. So when they saw Jehoshaphat in his robe, they thought he was Ahab and started to attack him. But when Jehoshaphat shouted out to them,
33. they realized he wasn't Ahab, and they left him alone.
34. However, during the fighting a soldier shot an arrow without even aiming, and it hit Ahab where two pieces of his armour joined. He shouted to his chariot driver, “I've been hit! Get me out of here!”
35. The fighting lasted all day, with Ahab propped up in his chariot so he could see the Syrian troops. He bled so much that the bottom of the chariot was covered with blood, and by evening he was dead.
36. As the sun was going down, someone in Israel's army shouted to the others, “Retreat! Go back home!”