3. King Ahab of Israel asked King Jehoshaphat of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth-gilead?” He replied, “I am as you are and my people as your people, and we will be with you in battle.”
4. Jehoshaphat then said to the king of Israel, “Please, let us seek, today, the word of Adonai.”
5. So the king of Israel assembled the prophets—400 men—and asked them, “Should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I hold off?” They answered, “Go up, for God will give it into the king’s hand!”
6. But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there another prophet of Adonai here of whom we should inquire?”
7. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of Adonai—but I hate him, because he has never prophesied anything good about me but always evil. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” But Jehoshaphat said, “May the king never say such a thing.”
8. So the king of Israel called an official and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly!”
9. Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah, wearing their robes, were sitting on their thrones on the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria with all the prophets prophesying before them.
10. Zedekiah son of Henaanah made for himself iron horns and declared, “Thus says Adonai, ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are exterminated!’”
11. All the other prophets were prophesying similarly, saying “March against Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for Adonai will give it into the hand of the king.”
12. Now the messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, “Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable to the king. So please let your word be like one of them and speak favorably.”
13. But Micaiah replied, “As Adonai lives, what my God says that is what I will say.”
14. When he came to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I hold off?” He replied, “March and be victorious! They will be given into your hand!”
15. But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the Name of Adonai?”
16. So he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and Adonai said, ‘These have no master—let each man return home in shalom.”
17. So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies good about me, only evil?”