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. So Micaiah said:“I see all Israelscattered 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. 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? 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. But Micaiah said, “If you return in safety, the Lord has not spoken through me.” (He also said, “Hear, O peoples, all of you.”)
29. The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead,