⁴² He said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You^(A) have set free a man I had determined should die.^[a](B) Therefore it is your life for his life,^(C) your people for his people.’”

³¹ Now the king of Aram^(A) had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king^(B) of Israel.” ³² When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, “Surely this is the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him, but when Jehoshaphat cried out, ³³ the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel and stopped pursuing him.

³⁴ But someone drew his bow^(C) at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” ³⁵ All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died. ³⁶ As the sun was setting, a cry spread through the army: “Every man to his town. Every man to his land!”^(D)

³⁷ So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there.

³³ But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the breastplate and the scale armor. The king told the chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” ³⁴ All day long the battle raged, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. Then at sunset he died.^(A)

³⁹ As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, “Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, ‘Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life for his life,^(A) or you must pay a talent^[a] of silver.’

¹² “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael.

“Because I know the harm^(A) you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash^(B) their little children^(C) to the ground, and rip open^(D) their pregnant women.”

Famine in Besieged Samaria

²⁴ Some time later, Ben-Hadad^(A) king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege^(B) to Samaria.

³⁴ “I will return the cities^(A) my father took from your father,” Ben-Hadad^(B) offered. “You may set up your own market areas^(C) in Damascus,^(D) as my father did in Samaria.”

Ahab said, “On the basis of a treaty^(E) I will set you free.” So he made a treaty with him, and let him go.

⁹ But Saul and the army spared^(A) Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves^[a] and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

¹⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ¹¹ “I regret^(B) that I have made Saul king, because he has turned^(C) away from me and has not carried out my instructions.”^(D) Samuel was angry,^(E) and he cried out to the Lord all that night.