3. Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, “Will you come with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered, “You and I are as one, and your people and my people as well. We will be with you in the battle.”
4. Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Seek the word of the Lord at once.”
5. The king of Israel assembled the prophets, four hundred of them, and asked, “Shall we go to fight against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Attack. God will give it into the power of the king.”
6. But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the Lord here we might consult?”
7. The king of Israel answered, “There is one other man through whom we may consult the Lord; but I hate him, because he prophesies not good but always evil about me. He is Micaiah, son of Imlah.” Jeshoshaphat said, “Let not the king say that.”
8. So the king of Israel called an official, and said to him, “Get Micaiah, son of Imlah, at once.”
9. 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.
10. 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.”
11. The other prophets prophesied in the same vein, saying: “Attack Ramoth-gilead, and conquer! The Lord will give it into the power of the king.”
12. Meanwhile the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah said to him: “Look now, the words of the prophets are as one in speaking good for the king. Let your word be at one with theirs; speak a good word.”
13. Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, I shall speak whatever my God says.”
14. When he came to the king, the king said to him, “Micah, shall we go to fight at Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” He said, “Attack and conquer! They will be delivered into your power.”
15. 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?”
16. So Micaiah said:“I see all Israelscattered on the mountains,like sheep without a shepherd,And the Lord saying,These have no masters!Let each of them go back home in peace.”
17. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you, he does not prophesy good about me, but only evil?”