1 Kings 22

Wycliffe Bible

22 Therefore three years passed without battle betwixt Syria and Israel.

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

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

⁴ And 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 (I am ready when thou art/What is mine is yours); my people and thy people be one; and my knights and thy knights be one.

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

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

⁷ Forsooth Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here any (other) prophet of the Lord, that we (may) ask by him?

⁸ And 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. (And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is one man left, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we can ask the Lord; but I hate him, for he never prophesieth good things for me, but only evil. To whom Jehoshaphat said, O king, do not thou say such things!)

⁹ Therefore the king of Israel called some chamberlain, and said to him, Haste thou to bring Micaiah, [the] son of Imlah.

¹⁰ Forsooth 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. (And so the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, each sat on their throne, clothed with king’s adornment, at the entrance to the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.)

¹¹ Also Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, 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. (And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made iron horns for himself, and said, The Lord God saith these things, With these horns thou shalt scatter Syria, until thou do it away.)

¹² And all [the] prophets prophesied in like manner, and said, Ascend thou into Ramoth of Gilead, and go thou with prosperity; and the Lord shall betake thine enemies in(to) the hand of the king.

¹³ Soothly the messenger, that went to call Micaiah, spake to him, and said, Lo! the words of the prophets with one mouth preach goods to the king; therefore thy word be like them, and speak thou goods. (And the messenger who went to call Micaiah, spoke to him, and said, Lo! the words of the prophets preach with one mouth good things for the king; and so let thy word/s be like them, and say thou what is good.)

¹⁴ To whom Micaiah said, (As) The Lord liveth, for whatever thing the Lord shall say to me, I shall speak this.

¹⁵ Therefore he came to the king. And the king said to him, Micaiah, ought we (to) go into Ramoth of Gilead to fight, either cease (we)? To which king he answered, Ascend thou, and go in prosperity; and the Lord shall betake it into the hand of the king.

¹⁶ Forsooth the king said to him, Again and again I conjure thee (Again and again I adjure thee), that thou speak not to me, no but that that is sooth in the name of the Lord.

¹⁷ And 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 (and the Lord said, They have no lord, so let each one now return to his house in peace).

¹⁸ Therefore the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Whether I said not to thee, that he prophesieth not good to me, but ever[more] evil? (And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not say to thee, that he never prophesieth good for me, but always evil?)

¹⁹ Soothly 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.

²⁰ And the Lord said, Who shall deceive Ahab, king of Israel, that he ascend, and fall in Ramoth of Gilead? And one said such words, and another in another manner.

²¹ Soothly a spirit went out, and went before the Lord, and said, I shall deceive him.

²² To 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 I shall be a lying spirit 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.

²³ Now therefore, lo! the Lord gave a spirit of leasing in the mouth of all (these) prophets that be here; and the Lord spake evil against thee. (And so now, lo! the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of thine that be here; and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee.)

²⁴ Forsooth 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?

²⁵ And Micaiah said, Thou shalt see in that day (Thou shalt see on that day), when thou shalt go into a closet within (a) closet, (so) that thou be hid.

²⁶ And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and dwell he at Amon, [the] prince of the city, and at Joash, the son of Amalek; (And the king of Israel said, Take hold of Micaiah, and deliver him to Amon, the ruler of the city, and Joash, the son of Ahab;)

²⁷ and 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 (until I safely return).

²⁸ And Micaiah said, If thou shalt turn again in peace, the Lord spake not in me (If thou shalt safely return, then the Lord hath not spoken by me). And he said, Hear ye, all peoples.

²⁹ Therefore the king of Israel ascended, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, into Ramoth of Gilead. (And so the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth of Gilead.)

³⁰ Therefore the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Take thou armours, 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. (And so the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Take thou up thy arms, or thy weapons, and enter thou into the battle, and be thou clothed in thy clothes, that is, in the noble signs of the king. But the king of Israel changed his own clothes, and only then entered into the battle.)

³¹ Soothly 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. (And the king of Syria had commanded to the thirty-two leaders of his chariots, and said, Ye shall not fight against any lesser man, or against any greater man, but only against the king of Israel.)

³² Therefore when the princes of (the) chariots had seen Jehoshaphat, they supposed that he was (the) king of Israel, and by fierceness made, they fought against him. And Jehoshaphat cried [out], calling (for) God’s help, and declaring his banner;

³³ and the princes of [the] chariots understood, that it was not the king of Israel, and they ceased from (pursuing) him.

³⁴ Soothly some man bent a bow, and directed 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 (And the king said to his charioteer, Turn thy hand, and take me out of the battle, for I am grievously wounded).

³⁵ Therefore [the] battle was joined in that day, and the king of Israel stood in his chariot against (the) men of Syria, and he was dead at eventide. Forsooth the blood of the wound floated down into the bottom of the chariot. (And so the battle was joined on that day, and the king of Israel stood in his chariot facing the Syrians, and then he died that evening. And the blood from his wound flowed down into the bottom of his chariot.)

³⁶ And 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 (Each man return to his own city, and to his own land).

³⁷ Forsooth the king was dead, and was borne into Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.

³⁸ And 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. (And they washed his chariot at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and they washed his arms, or his weapons/and the whores washed themselves in it, according to the word which the Lord had spoken.)

³⁹ Soothly 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 (and the ivory house and all the cities which he built), whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

⁴⁰ Therefore Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned for him. (And so Ahab died, and his son Ahaziah reigned for him.)

⁴¹ Forsooth Jehoshaphat, [the] son of Asa, began to reign on Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.

⁴² Jehoshaphat 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.

⁴³ And he went in all the way of Asa, his father, and [he] bowed not [aside] from it; and he did that, that was rightful 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. (And he went in all the ways of his father Asa, and he turned not aside from them; and he did what was right before the Lord. But he did not do away the hill shrines, for yet the people offered sacrifices, and burned incense, at the hill shrines.)

⁴⁴ And Jehoshaphat had peace with the king of Israel.

⁴⁵ Soothly the residue of [the] words of Jehoshaphat, and the works and (the) battles, which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

⁴⁶ But also he took away from the land the relics of [the] men turned into women’s conditions, that (were) left in the days of Asa, his father. (And he also did away from the land the male and female whores, who served at the hill shrines, who were still there from the days of his father Asa.)

⁴⁷ Neither a king was ordained then in Edom (And there was not a king then in Edom, that is, Idumea); (but a deputy, appointed by the king of Judah, ruled over it).

⁴⁸ Forsooth king Jehoshaphat made ships in the sea, that should sail into Ophir for gold, and those might not go, for they were broken in Eziongeber. (And King Jehoshaphat made ships of the sea, to sail to Ophir for gold, but they never arrived there, for they were wrecked at Eziongeber.)

⁴⁹ Then Ahaziah, [the] son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, My servants (shall) go with thine in (our) ships. And Jehoshaphat would not (But Jehoshaphat would not consent to that).

⁵⁰ And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, his (fore)father; and Jehoram^[a], his son, reigned for him.

⁵¹ Forsooth 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.

⁵² And 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.

⁵³ And he served Baal, and worshipped him, and wrathed the Lord God of Israel, by all things which his father had done. (And he served Baal, and worshipped him, and stirred the Lord God of Israel to anger, by doing all the evil things which his father had done.)