1 Reyes 20

Ben-hadad besieges Samaria

¹Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered his whole army. Thirty-two kings were with him, along with horses and chariots. He marched up, laid siege to Samaria, and attacked it. ²He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, ³and said to him, “Ben-hadad says this: ‘Your silver and your gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine as well.’”^{a 4}The king of Israel answered, “It is as you say, my lord the king. I am yours, with all that I have.” ⁵The messengers came back and said, “Ben-hadad says this: ‘I sent you word that you must hand over to me your silver and gold, your wives and your children, ⁶but about this time tomorrow I will send my officials to you, and they will search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will lay their hands on everything you value and carry it off.’”^{b 7}Then the king of Israel called in all the elders of the land and told them, “Look and see how this man is out to do us harm! He sent to me for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I did not refuse him.” ⁸All the elders and all the people told him, “Do not listen to him, and do not give in.” ⁹So he told Ben-hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king, ‘I will do everything you demanded of your servant the first time, but this I cannot do.’” The messengers left and took the answer back to Ben-hadad. ¹⁰Then Ben-hadad sent him this message: “May the gods deal with me ever so severely if Samaria’s dust is enough to give a handful to each of the troops who follow me!” ¹¹The king of Israel answered, “Tell him: ‘The man buckling his armor on should not brag like the man unbuckling it.’” ¹²Ben-hadad heard this reply while he and the kings were drinking in their shelters. He said to his officials, “Take your positions!” So they took up positions against the city.^{c 13}Just then a prophet came up to Ahab king of Israel and said, “The LORD says this: ‘Do you see this whole huge army? I am handing it over to you today, and then you will know that I am the LORD.’” ¹⁴Ahab asked, “By whom?” He answered, “The LORD says this: ‘By the young men of the provincial officials.’” Ahab asked, “Who will start the battle?” He answered, “You will.” ¹⁵So Ahab mustered the young men of the provincial officials, 232 of them. After them he mustered all the troops, all the Israelites, 7,000 in all. ¹⁶They marched out at noon, while Ben-hadad was getting drunk in the shelters with the thirty-two kings who were his allies. ¹⁷The young men of the provincial officials went out first. Ben-hadad sent out scouts, and they reported to him, “Men are coming out of Samaria.” ¹⁸He said, “If they have come out to make peace, take them alive. If they have come out to fight, take them alive.” ¹⁹So these went out from the city: the young men of the provincial officials, and the army behind them. ²⁰Each of them struck down his man. The Arameans fled, and Israel chased them, but Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with some horsemen. ²¹The king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots, and inflicted a heavy defeat on the Arameans. ²²Then the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go and build up your strength. Think carefully about what you must do, because in the spring the king of Aram will march against you.”

Israel defeats Aram at Aphek

²³Meanwhile the officials of the king of Aram advised him, “Their gods are gods of the hills, and so they were too strong for us. But let us fight them on the plain, and we will certainly be stronger than they are.^{d 24}And do this: remove each of the kings from his post, and put governors in their place. ²⁵Then raise an army for yourself like the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot, and let us fight them on the plain. We will certainly be stronger than they are.” He took their advice and did so.

²⁶In the spring Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and marched up to Aphek to fight against Israel. ²⁷The Israelites were mustered and given supplies, and they went out to meet them. The Israelites camped facing them like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the whole land. ²⁸Then the man of God came to the king of Israel and said, “The LORD says this: ‘Because the Arameans have said that the LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will hand this whole huge army over to you, and you will know that I am the LORD.’” ²⁹For seven days the two armies camped opposite each other. On the seventh day the battle was joined, and the Israelites struck down 100,000 Aramean foot soldiers in a single day. ³⁰The rest fled into the town of Aphek, and the wall fell on 27,000 of the men who were left. Ben-hadad also fled into the town and hid in an inner room.

³¹His officials said to him, “Listen, we have heard that the kings of Israel’s royal house are kings who show faithful love. Let us tie sackcloth around our waists and put ropes on our heads, and go out to Israel’s king. Perhaps he will spare your life.” ³²So they tied sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads, came before the king of Israel, and told him, “Your servant Ben-hadad pleads, ‘Please spare my life.’” Ahab replied, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” ³³The men took this as a good sign and quickly seized on his word, saying, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad!” He said, “Go and bring him.” When Ben-hadad came out to him, Ahab had him come up into his chariot.^{e 34}Ben-hadad said to him, “I will give back the cities my father took from your father, and you may set up your own market streets in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” Ahab said, “On the terms of a treaty I will set you free.” So he made a treaty with him and let him go.

A prophet condemns Ahab

³⁵By the word of the LORD one of the company of prophets said to his companion, “Please strike me.” But the man would not strike him. ³⁶So he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the LORD, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.” And when he had left him, a lion found him and killed him. ³⁷He found another man and said to him, “Please strike me.” This man struck him and left him wounded. ³⁸Then the prophet went and waited for the king by the road. He disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. ³⁹As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, “Your servant went out into the thick of the battle, and suddenly a man turned aside and brought me a prisoner. He said, ‘Guard this man. If he is ever missing, it will be your life for his life, or else you must pay about 75 pounds of silver.’ ⁴⁰But while your servant was busy with this and that, the man was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “That is your sentence. You have pronounced it yourself.” ⁴¹Then the man quickly took the bandage off his eyes, and the king of Israel knew him for one of the prophets. ⁴²The prophet said to him, “The LORD says this: ‘Because you have let go the man I had devoted to destruction, your life will go for his life, and your people for his people.’” ⁴³The king of Israel set off for his palace, sullen and angry, and came to Samaria.