1 Kings 22:29-40

New Catholic Bible

²⁹ Ahab’s Death. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead. ³⁰ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will go into battle disguised, but you go into battle dressed in your robes.” So the king of Israel went into battle disguised.

³¹ Now the king of Aram had commanded the captains of his thirty-two chariots, “Do not fight with the small nor the great; save yourselves for the king of Israel.” ³² When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “This is certainly the king of Israel.” They turned to attack him, but when Jehoshaphat cried out, ³³ the captains of the chariots realized that it was not the king of Israel. They turned away from pursuing him.

³⁴ But someone drew his bow, and by chance he hit the king of Israel in the joints of his armor. He said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”^{[a] 35} As the battle grew more savage that day, they propped the king up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound dripped onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.

³⁶ As the sun was setting, there was a cry that spread through the army: “Everyone to his own city, everyone to his own land.” ³⁷ And so the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸ Someone washed out the chariot at the pool in Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood while the prostitutes were bathing. This fulfilled what the word of the Lord had said.

³⁹ Are not the rest of the deeds of Ahab and all that he did, the ivory house and all of the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁴⁰ Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.