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Prophetic Condemnation. Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Seek the word of the Lord at once.” 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.”[a] But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the Lord here we might consult?” 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.” 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 (A)Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made himself two horns of iron[b] 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 [c]So Micaiah said:

“I see all Israel
    scattered 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 [d]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?[e] 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? 22 He answered, ‘I will go forth and become a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord replied: You shall succeed in deceiving him. Go forth and do this. 23 So now, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; the Lord himself has decreed evil against you.”

24 Thereupon Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, came up and struck Micaiah on the cheek, saying, “Has the spirit of the Lord, then, left me to speak with you?” 25 Micaiah said, “You shall find out on the day you go into an inner room to hide.” 26 The king of Israel then said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon, prefect of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son, 27 and say, ‘This is the king’s order: Put this man in prison and feed him scanty rations of bread and water until I come back in safety.’” 28 (B)But Micaiah said, “If you return in safety, the Lord has not spoken through me.” (He also said, “Hear, O peoples, all of you.”)[f]

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Footnotes

  1. 22:6 Though Ahab is clearly intended to understand the oracle as prophesying his success, the prophets’ words are ambiguous. “The lord” (not “the Lord,” i.e., the proper name of Israel’s God) who will give victory is unidentified, as is the king to whom it will be given.
  2. 22:11 The “two” horns probably symbolize the coalition of two kings, Ahab and Jehoshaphat.
  3. 22:17 Micaiah’s oracle uses the common ancient metaphor of “shepherd” for the king. It means that the Israelite forces will be left leaderless because the king (or perhaps both kings: the word “master” could be singular or plural in Hebrew) will die in battle.
  4. 22:19–23 Since Ahab’s intention to attack Ramoth-gilead is unshaken, Micaiah reveals God’s plan to trick Ahab to his death, and thus virtually dares Ahab to walk into the trap with his eyes open. The work of the “lying spirit” explains the ambiguities of the prophets’ original oracle in v. 6. Prophets “stand in the council of the Lord” and are privy to its deliberations; cf. Jer 23:22.
  5. 22:20 Fall on Ramoth-gilead: lit., “heights of Gilead”; even the Lord’s words are double-meaning. God wants Ahab to “fall on” (that is, attack) Ramoth-gilead so that he will “fall on” (that is, die on) Ramoth-gilead.
  6. 22:28 The last words of the verse are a scribal gloss attributing to Micaiah, son of Imlah, the opening words of the book of a different Micaiah (Micah), the prophet of Moresheth, the sixth of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament canon.