The Aramean Attack Is Thwarted

⁸ Once when the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he took counsel with his officers. He said, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.”

⁵ Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, ⁶ ‘Let us go up against Judah and terrify it^[a] and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it’; ⁷ therefore thus says the Lord God:

Ben-hadad’s Siege of Samaria

²⁴ Some time later King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army; he marched against Samaria and laid siege to it.^(A)

³¹ Now the king of Aram had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with no one small or great but only with the king of Israel.”^(A)

³⁴ Ben-hadad^[a] said to him, “I will restore the towns that my father took from your father, and you may establish bazaars for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” The king of Israel responded,^[b] “I will let you go on those terms.” So he made a treaty with him and let him go.^(A)

The Arameans Are Defeated

²³ The servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills, so they were stronger than we, but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.^(A)