Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Tell the music leader to use flutes.

This is a song that David wrote.

Pray about your enemies^[a]

Ben-Hadad attacks Samaria

20 Ben-Hadad was the king of Syria.^[a] He got all his army together. 32 other kings with their horses and chariots joined with him. He went to attack the city of Samaria. He put his army all around it and then he attacked it. ² He sent men to take a message to Ahab, the king of Israel, who was in the city. ³ The message said: ‘This message is from King Ben-Hadad. He says, “Your silver and your gold now belong to me. Your best wives and your strongest children will also be mine.” ’

⁴ The king of Israel replied, ‘My master, the king, I agree with what you have said. I, and everything that I have, belongs to you.’

⁵ Ben-Hadad's men then took another message to Ahab. They said to him, ‘This is what Ben-Hadad says: “I already told you that you must give me your silver, your gold, your wives and your children. ⁶ At this time tomorrow, I will send my officers to look for things in your palace. They will also look in the houses of your officers. They will take away everything that is valuable.” ’

⁷ Then King Ahab told all the leaders of Israel to come to him. He said to them, ‘See what this man is doing! He wants to cause trouble! He asked me to give him my wives, my children, my silver and my gold. And I did not refuse to do it.’ ⁸ The leaders and the people answered King Ahab, ‘Do not listen to that man. Do not agree to do what he is asking for.’

⁹ So King Ahab said to the men who brought the messages from King Ben-Hadad, ‘Say this to my master, the king of Syria: “I agree to do everything that you asked for the first time. But I will not let you take the other things that you want.” ’

So the men took Ahab's answer back to Ben-Hadad. ¹⁰ Then Ben-Hadad sent men with another message to Ahab. He said, ‘I promise that my soldiers will completely destroy Samaria! There will be nothing left! There will not even be enough dirt to fill the hands of each of my soldiers. I pray that the gods will punish me very much if that does not happen!’ ¹¹ The king of Israel replied, ‘Tell King Ben-Hadad, “Do not boast when you are preparing for a battle. Wait until the battle has finished and you know that you have won.” ’

¹² When Ben-Hadad received Ahab's message, he and the other kings were drinking wine in their tents. Ben-Hadad told his officers, ‘Prepare to attack!’ So they prepared to attack the city of Samaria.

The Lord rescues Israel

¹³ Then a prophet came to Ahab, the king of Israel. He said, ‘The Lord says this to you: “Look at Ben-Hadad's great army! Today I will put them under your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’ ¹⁴ King Ahab asked, ‘But who will fight this battle?’ The prophet answered, ‘This is what the Lord says: “The young soldiers who are under the authority of each region's officer will do it.” ’ Then Ahab asked, ‘Who will lead them into the battle?’ The prophet answered, ‘You will do that.’

¹⁵ So Ahab brought together the young soldiers of each region. There were 232 of them. Then he brought together the whole Israelite army. There were 7,000 of them.

¹⁶ The soldiers marched out of Samaria at noon. Ben-Hadad and the 32 other kings were still drinking in their tents. They were drunk. ¹⁷ The young soldiers of each region's officers went in front of the Israelite army.

Ben-Hadad had sent men out to watch the Israelites. They told him, ‘Men are marching out from Samaria.’ ¹⁸ Ben-Hadad commanded, ‘If they are coming to make peace with me, catch them alive. If they have come out to fight a battle, do the same thing.’

¹⁹ The Israelites marched out of the city as the young soldiers led the whole army. ²⁰ Each of the Israelite soldiers killed one of the enemy's soldiers. Then the Syrian soldiers ran away as the Israelites chased them. Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, rode away on his horse and he escaped. Some of his soldiers who rode on horses went with him. ²¹ Then the king of Israel came out of the city and he attacked the Syrian horses and chariots. He destroyed them and he won the battle against the Syrian army.

²² After the battle, the prophet came to the king of Israel again. He said to him, ‘Now go and make your army strong. Decide what you need to do. Do this, because next spring the king of Syria will attack you again.’

Do not turn away from God

4 You fight and quarrel among yourselves. Do you know why that happens? It is because of the troubles in your thoughts. You want to do bad things that you think will make you happy. ² You want to have something for yourself, but you do not get what you want. You even kill other people. You try to take things that are not yours. But you cannot get them. So you fight and you quarrel with each other. But you do not have these things because you do not ask God for them. ³ Even when you do ask God, you do not receive anything. That is because you ask for the wrong reason. You just want to use these things to make yourselves happy.

⁴ You are turning away from God, like a woman who is not faithful to her husband. You choose to be friends with people who are against God. So you yourselves become enemies of God. You should know that! ⁵ The Bible says, ‘God has caused his Spirit to live in us. He wants very much to keep us for himself.’ Do you think that is not true? ⁶ But God will be very kind to us and he will help us. That is why the Bible says, ‘God is against those people who think that they are important. But he is kind to people who do not feel important.’ ⁷ So obey God's authority. Be strong against the Devil and he will run away from you.