¹³ For he says:

² and in the presence of his associates^(A) and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble^(B)—burned as they are?”

³ Tobiah^(C) the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”^(D)

⁴ Hear us, our God, for we are despised.^(E) Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not cover up their guilt^(F) or blot out their sins from your sight,^(G) for they have thrown insults in the face of^[a] the builders.

¹⁸ He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if they have come out for war, take them alive.”

¹⁰ Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust^(A) remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful.”

⁴⁴ “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds^(A) and the wild animals!^(B)”

⁴² He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome,^(A) and he despised^(B) him.