¹⁴ So Joab and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him.

⁵ Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel ^(A)gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, ^(B)by a covenant of salt? ⁶ Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and ^(C)rebelled against his lord. ⁷ Then ^(D)worthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was ^(E)young and inexperienced and could not withstand them. ⁸ And now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam ^(F)made for you as gods. ^9 (G)Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, ^(H)so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of ^(I)things that are not gods? ¹⁰ But as for us, the Lord is our ^(J)God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their duties. ^11 (K)And they burn to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the ^(L)showbread in order on the pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps ^(M)to burn every evening; for we keep the command of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him. ¹² Now look, God Himself is with us as our ^(N)head, ^(O)and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!”

¹³ But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. ¹⁴ And when Judah looked around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and they ^(P)cried out to the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. ¹⁵ Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God ^(Q)struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.

²⁸ Then a ^(A)man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore ^(B)I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ ” ²⁹ And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day. ³⁰ But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; then a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left.

And Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber.

¹⁹ Then these young leaders of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them. ²⁰ And each one killed his man; so the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them; and Ben-Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the cavalry. ²¹ Then the king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.

¹³ Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, ^(A)I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”