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¹ And they cotinued three yeres without warre betweene Syria & Israel.² And in the third yere dyd Iehosaphat the king of Iuda come downe to the king of Israel.³ (And the king of Israel sayde vnto his seruauntes: Know ye not that Ramoth [in] Gilead is ours, and we sit still, and take it not out of the hande of the king of Syria?)⁴ And he sayde vnto Iehosaphat: Wilt thou come with me to battayle against Ramoth [in] Gilead? And Iehosaphat sayde vnto the king of Israel: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses.⁵ And Iehosaphat sayde vnto the king of Israel: Aske counsel I pray thee at the worde of the Lorde to day.⁶ And then the king of Israel gathered the prophetes together, vpon a foure hundred men, & sayde vnto them: Shall I go against Ramoth [in] Gilead to battayle, or shall I let it alone? And they sayde, Go vp: for the Lorde shall deliuer it into the handes of the king.⁷ And Iehosaphat sayd: Is there here neuer a prophete of the Lord more, that we might inquire of him?⁸ And the king of Israel sayde vnto Iehosaphat: There is yet one man (Michea the sonne of Iimla) by whom we may aske counsell of the Lorde: But I hate him, for he doth not prophecie good vnto me, but euyll. And Iehosaphat sayde: Let not the king say so.⁹ Then the king of Israel called a chamberlayne, & sayde: Fet Michea the sonne of Iimla hyther at once.¹⁰ And the king of Israel, and Iehosaphat the king of Iuda, sate eyther in his seate, and their apparell on them, in a voyde place besyde the entring in of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophetes prophecied before them.¹¹ And Zedekia the sonne of Chanaana made hornes of iron, and sayde, thus sayth the Lord: With these [hornes] shalt thou pushe the Syrians, vntill thou haue made an ende of them.¹² And all the prophetes prophecied euen so, saying: Go vp to Ramoth [in] Gilead, and prosper: for the Lorde shall deliuer it into the kinges hande.¹³ And the messenger that was gone to cal Michea, spake vnto him, saying: Beholde, the wordes of ye prophetes speake good vnto the king with one mouth: Let thy worde therefore I pray thee, be lyke the worde of euery one of them, to speake that whiche is good.¹⁴ And Michea sayde: As the Lorde lyueth, whatsoeuer the Lord sayth vnto me, that will I speake.

¹⁵ And so he came to the king, & the king sayd vnto him: Michea, ought we to go against Ramoth [in] Gilead to battayle, or to be stil? He aunswered to him: Go, and prosper, the Lorde shall deliuer it into the hande of the king.¹⁶ And the king sayde vnto him: So and so many times do I charge thee that thou tell me nothing but that whiche is true, in the name of the Lorde.¹⁷ He sayd: I saw all them of Israel scattered vpon the hilles, as sheepe that haue not a sheephearde. And the Lorde sayde: These haue no maister, let euery man returne to his house in peace.¹⁸ (And the king of Israel sayde vnto Iehosaphat: Dyd I not tell thee, that he woulde prophecie no good vnto me, but euyll?)¹⁹ And he sayd againe: Heare thou therefore the word of the Lorde. I sawe the Lord sit on his seate, and all the hoast of heauen stoode about him on his right hande and on his left.²⁰ And the Lorde sayde: Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go and fall at Ramoth [in] Gilead? And one sayde on this maner, and another on that.²¹ And there came foorth a certayne spirite, and stoode before the Lorde, and sayde: I will persuade him. And the Lorde sayde vnto him: Wherwith?²² And he sayde: I will go out, and be a false spirite in the mouth of all his prophetes. He sayde, Thou shalt persuade him and preuayle: Go foorth then, & do euen so.²³ Nowe therefore beholde the Lorde hath put a lying spirite in the mouth of all these thy prophetes, and the Lorde hath spoken euyll towarde thee.²⁴ But Zedekia the sonne of Chanaana went to & smote Michea on the cheke, and sayde: When went the spirite of the Lorde from me, to speake vnto thee?²⁵ And Michea sayde: Behold, thou shalt see in that day when thou shalt go from chamber to chamber to hyde thee.²⁶ And the king of Israel sayde: Take Michea and cary him vnto Amon the gouerner of the citie, and vnto Ioas the kinges sonne,²⁷ And say: Thus sayeth ye king: Put this felow in the prison house, and feede him with bread of affliction, and with water of trouble, vntill I returne in peace.²⁸ And Michea sayde: If thou returne in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he sayde: Hearken ye people euery one of you.

²⁹ And so the king of Israel, and Iehosaphat the king of Iuda, went vp to Ramoth [in] Gilead.³⁰ And the king of Israel sayde vnto Iehosaphat: I wil chaunge my apparell, and will enter into the battel, but put thou on thyne apparell. And the king of Israel chaunged him selfe, and went to battell.³¹ But the king of Syria commaunded the thirtie and two captaynes that had rule ouer his charettes, saying: Fight neither with small nor great, saue onely against the king of Israel.³² And when the captaynes of the charets saw Iehosaphat, they sayd: Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned to fight against him: And Iehosaphat cryed.³³ And so it came to passe, that when the captaynes of the charettes sawe that he was not the king of Israel, they turned backe from him.³⁴ And a certayne man drewe a bowe ignorantly, & smote the king of Israel betweene the ribbes and his harnesse: Wherfore he sayd vnto the driuer of his charettes, Turne thy hand, and cary me out of the hoast, for I am hurt.³⁵ (And the battel encreased that day: and the king stoode still in his charet against the Syrians) and died at euen: And the blood ran out of the wounde into the middes of the charet.³⁶ And ther wet a proclamation throughout the hoast about the goyng downe of the sunne, saying: Euery man to his citie, and to his owne countrey.³⁷ So the king died, and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria.³⁸ And one washed the charet in the poole of Samaria, & the dogges licked vp his blood: and they washed his armour, according vnto the worde of the Lorde whiche he spake.³⁹ The rest of the wordes that concerne Ahab and all that he did, and the iuorie house whiche he made, and all the cities that he buylded, are they not written in the booke of the cronicles of the kinges of Israel?⁴⁰ And so Ahab slept with his fathers, & Ahazia his sonne raigned in his steade.

⁴¹ Iehosaphat the sonne of Asa began to raigne vpon Iuda in the fourth yere of Ahab king of Israel.⁴² And Iehosaphat was thirtie and fiue yeres old when he began to raigne, and raigned twentie and fiue yeres in Hierusalem: His mothers name was Azuba the daughter of Silhi.⁴³ And he walked in all the wayes of Asa his father, and bowed not therefrom, but dyd that whiche was right in the eyes of the Lorde: Neuerthelesse the high places were not taken out of the way: for the people offred and burnt incense yet in the high places.⁴⁴ And Iehosaphat made peace with the king of Israel.⁴⁵ The rest of the wordes that concerne Iehosaphat, & the might that he vsed, & howe he warred, are they not written in the booke of the cronicles of the kinges of Iuda?⁴⁶ And the remnaunt of the stewes of the males which remayned in the dayes of his father Asa, he put cleane out of the lande.⁴⁷ There was then no king in Edom, the deputie was king.⁴⁸ And Iehosaphat made shippes in the sea, to come through Tharsis to Ophir for golde, but they went not: for the shippes brake at Ezion Gaber.⁴⁹ Then sayd Ahazia the sonne of Ahab vnto Iehosaphat: Let my seruautes go with thy seruauntes in the shippes. But Iehosaphat woulde not.⁵⁰ And Iehosaphat dyd sleepe with his fathers, & was buried with his fathers in the citie of Dauid his father: And Iehoram his sonne raigned in his steade.⁵¹ Ahazia the sonne of Ahab began to raigne ouer Israel in Samaria the seuenteenth yere of Iehosaphat king of Iuda, & raigned two yeres ouer Israel.⁵² But he did euyl in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, & in the way of his mother, & in the way of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat, whiche made Israel to synne.⁵³ For he serued Baal, & worshipped him, and prouoked the Lorde God of Israel vnto wrath, according vnto all that his father had done.