6. The king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred of them, and asked, “Shall I go to fight against Ramoth-gilead or shall I refrain?” They said, “Attack. The Lord will give it into the power of the king.”
7. But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the Lord here we might consult?”
8. The king of Israel answered, “There is one other man through whom we might consult the Lord; but I hate him because he prophesies not good but evil about me. He is Micaiah, son of Imlah.” Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say that.”
9. So the king of Israel called an official and said to him, “Get Micaiah, son of Imlah, at once.”
10. The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, were seated, each on his throne, clothed in their robes of state in the square at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them.
11. Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made himself two horns of iron and said, “The Lord says, With these you shall gore Aram until you have destroyed them.”
12. The other prophets prophesied in a similar vein, saying: “Attack Ramoth-gilead and conquer! The Lord will give it into the power of the king.”
13. Meanwhile, the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah said to him, “Look now, the prophets are unanimously predicting good for the king. Let your word be the same as any of theirs; speak a good word.”
14. Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, I shall speak whatever the Lord tells me.”
15. When he came to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to fight at Ramoth-gilead, or shall we refrain?” He said, “Attack and conquer! The Lord will give it into the power of the king.”
16. But the king answered him, “How many times must I adjure you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”
17. So Micaiah said:“I see all Israelscattered on the mountains,like sheep without a shepherd,And the Lord saying,These have no master!Let each of them go back home in peace.”
18. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you, he does not prophesy good about me, but only evil?”
19. Micaiah continued: “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his throne, with the whole host of heaven standing to his right and to his left.
20. The Lord asked: Who will deceive Ahab, so that he will go up and fall on Ramoth-gilead? And one said this, another that,
21. until this spirit came forth and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will deceive him.’ The Lord asked: How?