Translation
and say, ‘Thus says the king, Put this one in the prison of the house and feed him bread of affliction and water of affliction until I enter [the city] whole.
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
and say, ‘This is what the king says, Put this man in the prison that is in your house, and give him just enough provisions to keep him alive, but in miserable condition. Keep him that way until I return from battle healthy and whole as proof that he was wrong. Then I will make a decision about how to punish him.’ ”
Footnotes
1
The word used here is usually rendered “peace”, which is accurate, but peace meant wholeness, wellbeing. Therefore, something like “whole” fits the context better than in peace.
WAS MICAIAH IN PRISON OR NOT?
It appears that the prophet Micaiah had been in some type of custody under Amon, and that is why they could call him quickly without having to go looking for him. The mention of Joash does not give us enough information to know how he was connected to the king, but the word “son” indicates there was some type of connection. I think the name was mentioned as one more indication that these people were pretending to follow the One True God, but they were not.
The injunction of verse 27 to put Micaiah in prison seems to go beyond what was happening to him before. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume he had already been in some lower level of custody. Previously, the king did not like or trust this prophet so he was keeping an eye on him in some way. Now he was furious and wanted to punish the prophet severely but the final decision on how to do that would have to wait till after they all had proof that the prophet had been wrong, and Ahab’s prophets had been right.