Ahab’s Wars with Syria
1 Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together. There were 32 kings with him with horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria and fought against it. 2 He sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and said to him, “Ben Hadad says, 3 ‘Your silver and your gold are mine. Your wives also and your children, the best of them are mine.’ ”
4 The king of Israel answered, “It is just as you say, my lord, O king. I am yours and all that I have.”
5 The messengers came back and said, “Ben Hadad says, ‘I sent this message to you: You shall deliver to me, your silver and your gold and your wives and your children, 6 but I will send my servants to you this time tomorrow, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants. Whatever is pleasing in your eyes, they will put it in their hand and take it away.’ ”
7 Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, “Please notice how this man seeks mischief, for he sent to me for my wives and for my children and for my silver and for my gold, and I didn’t deny him.”
8 All the elders and all the people said to him, “Don’t listen and don’t consent.”
9 Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you sent for your servant to do the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’ ”
The messengers departed and brought him back the message. 10 Ben Hadad sent to him and said, “The gods do so to me and more also, if there is enough dust of Samaria left to fill the hands of all the people who follow me.”
11 The king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Let not the one who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.’ ”
12 When Ben Hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, he said to his servants, “Prepare to attack!” They prepared to attack the city.
Ahab Defeats Ben-Hadad
13 Suddenly a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, “The Lord says, ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Hear this. I will deliver it into your hand today. Then you will know that I am God.’ ”
14 Ahab said, “By whom?”
He said, “The Lord says, ‘By the young men of the rulers of the provinces.’ ”
Then he said, “Who shall begin the battle?”
He answered, “You.”
15 Then he mustered the young men among the rulers of the provinces, and they were 232. After them, he mustered all the people, all the Israelites, that being 7,000.
16 They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the 32 kings who helped him. 17 The young men among the rulers of the provinces went out first, and Ben Hadad sent scouts out and they told him, “Men are coming out from Samaria.”
18 He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive, or if they have come out for war, take them alive.”
19 So these went out of the city: the young men of the rulers of the provinces and the army which followed them. 20 They each killed his opponent. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. 21 The king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots and killed the Syrians in a great slaughter.
22 The prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself. Mark down and plan what to do, for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.”
23 The servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their god is a god of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we. But let’s fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. 24 Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place. 25 Muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. We will fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they are.”
He listened to their voice, and did so.
Another War with Ben-Hadad
26 At the same time the following year, Ben Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. 27 The Israelites were mustered and given provisions, and went against them. The Israelites encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats, but the Syrians filled the country. 28 A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel and said, “The Lord says, ‘Because the Syrians have said: The Lord is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,’ therefore I will deliver all of this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
29 They encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was, that on the seventh day the battle began, and the Israelites killed 100,000 footmen of the Syrians in one day. 30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city, and the wall fell on 27,000 men who were left. Ben Hadad fled and came into the city, into an inner room.
Ahab Spares Ben-Hadad
31 His servants said to him, “See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our bodies and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he will save your life.”
32 So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ”
He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
33 Now the men took this as a good sign and were quick to take it up from him, and they said, “Your brother Ben Hadad.”
Then he said, “Go, bring him.”
Then Ben Hadad came out to him, and Ahab had him to come up into the chariot. 34 Ben Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father, I will restore. You shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.”
“I will release you, with this covenant,” said Ahab. So he made a covenant with him and let him go.
A Prophet Reproves Ahab
35 A certain man among the sons of the prophets said to his companion by the word of the Lord, “Please strike me!”
The man refused to strike him. 36 Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, hear this, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.” As soon as he had departed from him, a lion found him and killed him.
37 Then he found another man, and said, “Please strike me.”
The man struck him and wounded him. 38 So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. 39 As the king passed by, he cried to the king, and he said, “Your servant went out into the middle of the battle, and a man came over and brought a man to me, and said, ‘Guard this man! If by any means he is missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay 75 pounds of silver.’ 40 As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.”
The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be. You yourself have decided it.”
41 He hurried and took the headband away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets. 42 He said to him, “The Lord says, ‘Because you have let slip from your hand the man whom I had appointed for destruction, therefore your life will take the place of his life, and your people take the place of his people.’ ”
43 The king of Israel went to his house sullen and angry and came to Samaria.