1 Kings 20:13-30

New American Standard Bible

Ahab Victorious

¹³ Now behold, a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, ^(A)I am going to hand them over to you today, and ^(B)you shall know that I am the Lord.’” ¹⁴ But Ahab said, “By whom?” So he said, “The Lord says this: ‘By the young men of the leaders of the provinces.’” Then he said, “Who will begin the battle?” And he said, “You will.” ¹⁵ So he mustered the young men of the leaders of the provinces, and there were 232; and after them he mustered all the people, all the sons of Israel: seven thousand.

¹⁶ They went out at noon, while ^(C)Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the ^[a]temporary shelters ^[b]with the thirty-two kings who were helping him. ¹⁷ The young men of the leaders of the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, saying, “Men have come out from Samaria.” ^18 (D)Then he said, “If they have come out ^[c]for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive as well.”

¹⁹ So these men went out from the city, the young men of the leaders of the provinces, and the army which followed them. ²⁰ And they ^[d]killed, each one, his man; and the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them, and Ben-hadad the king of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen. ²¹ The king of Israel also went out and struck the horses and chariots, and ^[e]killed the Arameans in a great slaughter.

²² Then ^(E)the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, show yourself courageous and be aware and see what you have to do; for ^(F)at ^[f]the turn of the year the king of Aram will march against you.”

²³ Now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “^(G)Their gods are gods of the mountains; for that reason they were stronger than we. But let us fight them in the plain, and we will certainly be stronger than they. ²⁴ Carry out this ^[g]plan: remove the kings, each from his place, and put governors in their place, ²⁵ and ^[h]muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and we will certainly be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so.

Another Aramean War

²⁶ So ^(H)at ^[i]the turn of the year Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to ^(I)Aphek to fight against Israel. ²⁷ And the sons of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went to meet them; and the sons of Israel camped opposite them like two little flocks of goats, ^(J)while the Arameans filled the country. ²⁸ Then ^(K)a man of God approached and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Since the Arameans have said, “^(L)The Lord is a god of mountains, but He is not a god of valleys,” therefore ^(M)I will hand over to you all this great multitude, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’” ²⁹ So they camped, one opposite the other, for seven days. And on the seventh day the battle was joined, and the sons of Israel ^[j]killed of the Arameans a hundred thousand foot soldiers in a single day. ³⁰ But the rest fled to ^(N)Aphek into the city, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. And Ben-hadad fled and came into the city, going from one ^(O)inner room to another.