1. Now Joram the son of Ahab had become king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. He reigned twelve years
2. and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, yet not as his father or his mother, as he removed the stone pillars of Baal that his father had made.
3. But he did cling to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin, and he did not depart from it.
4. Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he used to deliver to the king of Israel a hundred thousand male lambs and a hundred thousand wool rams.
5. It happened that when Ahab died, Mesha king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
6. So King Joram went out on that day from Samaria, and he mustered all of Israel.
7. He went and sent a message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab for the battle?” And he said, “I will go up. I am like you; my people are like your people; my horses are like your horses.”
8. Then he said, “Which way shall we go up?” And he answered, “By way of the wilderness of Edom.”