2 Chronicles 6:34

6:34 “When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, ¹  and they direct their prayers to you toward this chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, ² 

2 Chronicles 18:5

18:5 So the king of Israel assembled 400 prophets and asked them, “Should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” ³  They said, “Attack! God ⁴  will hand it over to the king.”

2 Chronicles 18:14

18:14 Micaiah ⁵  came before the king and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” He answered him, “Attack! You will succeed; they will be handed over to you.” ⁶ 

2 Chronicles 22:5

22:5 He followed their advice and joined Ahab’s son King Joram ⁷  of Israel in a battle against King Hazael of Syria ⁸  at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram.

2 Chronicles 25:13

25:13 Now the troops Amaziah had dismissed and had not allowed to fight in the battle ⁹  raided ¹⁰  the cities of Judah from Samaria ¹¹  to Beth Horon. They killed ¹²  3,000 people and carried off a large amount of plunder.

¹ tn Heb “When your people go out for battle against their enemies in the way which you send them.”

² tn Heb “toward this city which you have chosen and the house which I built for your name.”

³ tn Heb “Should we go against Ramoth Gilead for war or should I refrain?”

⁴ tn Though Jehoshaphat had requested an oracle from “the Lord” (יְהוָה, yÿhvah, “Yahweh”), the Israelite prophets stop short of actually using this name and substitute the title הָאֱלֹהִים (ha’elohim, “the God”). This ambiguity may explain in part Jehoshaphat’s hesitancy and caution (vv. 7-8). He seems to doubt that the 400 are genuine prophets of the Lord.

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Micaiah) has been specified in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

⁶ sn One does not expect Micaiah, having just vowed to speak only what the Lord tells him, to agree with the other prophets and give the king an inaccurate prophecy. Micaiah’s actions became understandable later, when we discover that the Lord desires to deceive the king and lead him to his demise. The Lord even dispatches a lying spirit to deceive Ahab’s prophets. Micaiah can lie to the king because he realizes this lie is from the Lord. It is important to note that in v. 13 Micaiah only vows to speak the word of his God; he does not necessarily say he will tell the truth. In this case the Lord’s word is deliberately deceptive. Only when the king adjures him to tell the truth (v. 15), does Micaiah do so.

⁷ sn Jehoram and Joram are alternate spellings of the Israelite king’s name (also in vv. 6-7). The shorter form is used in these verse to avoid confusion with King Jehoram of Judah, father of Azariah.

⁸ tn Heb “Aram” (also in v. 6).

⁹ tn Heb “had sent back from going with him to the battle.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “stripped.”

¹¹ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

¹² tn Heb “struck down.”