First Kings 20:15-37

¹⁵Then Ahab mustered the young officers who served the governors of the districts. They numbered 232. After them he mustered all the soldiers, all the army of Israel; seven thousand in number.

¹⁶They went out at noon. Ben Hadad had been drinking himself drunk in his tent, he and the thirty-two lesser kings who were supporting him.

¹⁷The young officers who served the governors of the districts went forward first. Then Ben Hadad was informed by scouts that he had sent out, “Men are coming out from Samaria.”

¹⁸Ben Hadad said, “Whether they have come out for peace or war, take them alive.”

¹⁹So the young officers who served the governors of the districts went out of the city and the army followed them.

²⁰Each man killed his opponent. The Arameans fled and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Aram escaped on a horse along with some horsemen.

²¹Then the king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots, and killed the Arameans in a great slaughter.

²²So the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and understand and plan what you are doing, because at the return of the year the king of Aram will come up against you again.”

²³The servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their god is a god of the hills. That is why they were stronger than we were. But now let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they are.

²⁴So you must do this: Remove all the kings from their positions of authority and replace them with military commanders.

²⁵Raise up an army like the army you lost—horse for horse and chariot for chariot—so we can fight them in the plain. Then surely we will be stronger than they are.” So Ben Hadad listened to their advice and did what they advised.

²⁶After the beginning of the new year, Ben Hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

²⁷The people of Israel were mustered and supplied to fight against them. The people of Israel camped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Arameans filled the countryside.

²⁸Then a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel and said, “Yahweh says: 'Because the Arameans have said that Yahweh is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys, I will place this great army into your hand, and you will know that I am Yahweh.'”

²⁹So the armies camped opposite each other for seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle started. The people of Israel killed 100,000 Aramean footmen in one day.

³⁰The rest fled to Aphek, into the city, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner room.

³¹Ben Hadad's servants said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

³²So they put sackcloth on their waists and ropes around their heads and then went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben Hadad said, 'Please let me live.'” Ahab said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

³³Now the men were listening for any sign from Ahab, so they quickly answered him, “Yes, your brother Ben Hadad is alive.” Then Ahab said, “Go and bring him.” Then Ben Hadad came to him, and Ahab had him come up into his chariot.

³⁴Ben Hadad said to Ahab, “I will restore to you the cities that my father took from your father, and you may make markets for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” Ahab replied, “I will let you go with this covenant.” So Ahab made a covenant with him and then let him go.

³⁵A certain man, one of the sons of the prophets, said to one of his fellow prophets by the word of Yahweh, “Please hit me.” But the man refused to hit him.

³⁶Then the prophet said to his fellow prophet, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, as soon as you leave me, a lion will kill you.” As soon as that man had left him, a lion came upon him and killed him.

³⁷Then the prophet found another man and said, “Please hit me.” So the man hit him and wounded him.