Victory over Ben-hadad

20 Now King Ben-hadad^(A) of Aram assembled his entire army. Thirty-two kings,^(B) along with horses and chariots, were with him. He marched up, besieged Samaria,^(C) and fought against it. ² He sent messengers into the city to King Ahab of Israel and said to him, ‘This is what Ben-hadad says: ³ “Your silver and your gold are mine! And your best wives and children are mine as well! ” ’^(D)

⁴ Then the king of Israel answered, ‘Just as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with all that I have.’

⁵ The messengers then returned and said, ‘This is what Ben-hadad says: “I have sent messengers to you, saying, ‘You are to give me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children.’ ⁶ But at this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you,^[a](E) and they will search your palace and your servants’ houses. They will lay their hands on and take away whatever is precious to you.” ’

⁷ Then the king of Israel called for all the elders of the land and said, ‘Recognise^[b] that this one is only looking for trouble,^(F) for he demanded my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, and I didn’t turn him down.’

⁸ All the elders and all the people said to him, ‘Don’t listen or agree.’

⁹ So he said to Ben-hadad’s messengers, ‘Say to my lord the king, “Everything you demanded of your servant the first time, I will do, but this thing I cannot do.” ’ So the messengers left and took word back to him.

¹⁰ Then Ben-hadad sent messengers to him and said, ‘May the gods punish me and do so severely^(G) if Samaria’s dust^(H) amounts to a handful for each of the people who follow me.’

¹¹ The king of Israel answered, ‘Say this: “Don’t let the one who puts on his armour boast^(I) like the one who takes it off.” ’

¹² When Ben-hadad heard this response, while he and the kings were drinking^(J) in their quarters,^[c] he said to his servants, ‘Take your positions.’ So they took their positions against the city.

¹³ A prophet approached King Ahab of Israel and said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Do you see this whole huge army? Watch, I am handing it over to you today so that you may know that I am the Lord.” ’^(K)

¹⁴ Ahab asked, ‘By whom? ’

And the prophet said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “By the young men of the provincial leaders.” ’

Then he asked, ‘Who is to start the battle? ’^(L)

He said, ‘You.’

¹⁵ So Ahab mobilised the young men of the provincial leaders, and there were 232. After them he mobilised all the Israelite troops: 7,000.^{(M) 16} They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the thirty-two kings^(N) who were helping him were getting drunk in their quarters. ¹⁷ The young men of the provincial leaders marched out first. Then Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, saying, ‘Men are marching out of Samaria.’^(O)

¹⁸ So he said, ‘If they have marched out in peace,^(P) take them alive, and if they have marched out for battle, take them alive.’

¹⁹ The young men of the provincial leaders and the army behind them marched out from the city, ²⁰ and each one struck down his opponent.^(Q) So the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them,^(R) but King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on a horse with the cavalry. ²¹ Then the king of Israel marched out and attacked the cavalry and the chariots. He inflicted a severe slaughter on Aram.

²² The prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, ‘Go and strengthen yourself, then consider carefully^[d] what you should do, for in the spring^(S) the king of Aram will attack you.’

²³ Now the king of Aram’s servants said to him, ‘Their gods are gods of the hill country.^(T) That’s why they were stronger than we were. Instead, we should fight with them on the plain; then we will certainly be stronger than they are. ²⁴ Also do this: remove each king from his position and appoint captains in their place. ²⁵ Raise another army for yourself like the army you lost – horse for horse, chariot for chariot – and let’s fight with them on the plain; and we will certainly be stronger than they are.’ The king listened to them and did it.

²⁶ In the spring, Ben-hadad mobilised the Arameans and went up to Aphek^(U) to battle Israel. ²⁷ The Israelites mobilised, gathered supplies, and went to fight them. The Israelites camped in front of them like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the landscape.^(V)

²⁸ Then the man of God^(W) approached and said to the king of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Because the Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,’^(X) I will hand over all this whole huge army to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’^(Y)

²⁹ They camped opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day,^(Z) the battle took place, and the Israelites struck down the Arameans – one hundred thousand foot soldiers in one day. ³⁰ The ones who remained fled into the city of Aphek, and the wall fell on those twenty-seven thousand remaining men.

Ben-hadad also fled and went into an inner room^(AA) in the city. ³¹ His servants said to him, ‘Consider this: we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. So let’s put sackcloth round our waists^(AB) and ropes round our heads, and let’s go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.’

³² So they dressed with sackcloth round their waists and ropes round their heads, went to the king of Israel, and said, ‘Your servant Ben-hadad says, “Please spare my life.” ’

So he said, ‘Is he still alive? He is my brother.’

³³ Now the men were looking for a sign of hope, so they quickly picked up on this^[e] and responded, ‘Yes, it is your brother Ben-hadad.’

Then he said, ‘Go and bring him.’

So Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab brought him up into the chariot. ³⁴ Then Ben-hadad said to him, ‘I restore to you the cities that my father took from your father,^(AC) and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, like my father set up in Samaria.’^(AD)

Ahab responded, ‘On the basis of this treaty, I release you.’ So he made a treaty with him and released him.

Ahab Rebuked by the Lord

³⁵ One of the sons of the prophets^(AE) said to his fellow prophet by the word of the Lord, ‘Strike me! ’ But the man refused to strike him.

³⁶ He told him, ‘Because you did not listen to the Lord, mark my words: When you leave me, a lion will kill you.’^(AF) When he left him, a lion attacked and killed him.

³⁷ The prophet found another man and said to him, ‘Strike me! ’ So the man struck him, inflicting a wound. ³⁸ Then the prophet went and waited for the king on the road. He disguised^(AG) himself with a bandage over his eyes. ³⁹ As the king was passing by, he cried out to the king and said, ‘Your servant marched out into the middle of the battle. Suddenly, a man turned aside and brought someone to me and said, “Guard this man! If he is ever missing, it will be your life in place of his life,^(AH) or you will weigh out thirty-five kilograms^[f] of silver.” ⁴⁰ But while your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared.’

The king of Israel said to him, ‘That will be your sentence; you yourself have decided it.’^(AI)

⁴¹ He quickly removed the bandage from his eyes. The king of Israel recognised that he was one of the prophets. ⁴² The prophet said to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Because you released from your hand the man I had set apart for destruction,^(AJ) it will be your life in place of his life and your people in place of his people.” ’ ⁴³ The king of Israel left for home resentful and angry,^(AK) and he entered Samaria.