1 Kings 22:13 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 13. And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Two kings, four hundred prophets, and Micaiah prepare for war.”

Read It With

1 Kings 22:1–14

Read 1 Kings 22:13 with 22:1–14. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Opens with three years of peace between Aram and Israel; records Micaiah's oath to speak only what the LORD says.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Within “Two kings, four hundred prophets, and Micaiah prepare for war,” 1 Kings 22:13 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 21:25–29 establishes this prior movement: Gives Ahab primary agency for unprecedented evil while also naming Jezebel's influence; delays dynastic disaster because Ahab humbled himself, without erasing Naboth's murder or the victims' claims. 1 Kings 22:1–14 escalates the unresolved conflict and its human cost; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.

Read 1 Kings 22:1–14 together

Why these verses belong together: Two kings, four hundred prophets, and Micaiah prepare for war is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 22:1–22:14.

Verse 1. And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel.

Verse 2. And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

Verse 3. And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?

Verse 4. And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.

Verse 5. And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.

Verse 6. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

Verse 7. And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?

Verse 8. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Verse 9. Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.

Verse 10. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

Verse 11. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.

Verse 12. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king’s hand.

Verse 14. And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.

Follow the Context

Opens with three years of peace between Aram and Israel
Records Micaiah's oath to speak only what the LORD says

What This Verse Is Not Saying

1 Kings 22:13 does not permit the wording “And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The unit does not authorize lying, coercive obedience tests, imprisonment of dissenters, lethal prophetic imitation, or certainty beyond what the narrated word, sign, and outcome establish.

What Remains True

Truthful witness may confront power without making every messenger, method, or claimed revelation morally infallible. This unit tests that truth through opens with three years of peace between Aram and Israel; records Micaiah's oath to speak only what the LORD says. In 1 Kings 22:13, the concrete line “And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.

How It Can Shape Life

The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of….” Protect dissent, test claims against text and evidence, disclose uncertainty and pressure, and never use prophetic status to bypass safety, consent, or accountable process. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: Opens with three years of peace between Aram and Israel; records Micaiah's oath to speak only what the LORD says.

Teach It Back

In 70–220 words, explain 1 Kings 22:13's role in 22:1–14. Paraphrase “And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context does not authorize.

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Continue in Context

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Read 1 Kings 22:1–14 — Two kings, four hundred prophets, and Micaiah prepare for war

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: 1 Kings 22:1–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 22:1–14

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.

Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 625–627, translation and translator notes for 22:1–14

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record