1 Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his whole army. With him were thirty-two kings with horses and chariots; he marched up, laid siege to Samaria and attacked it.
2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel to tell him, "This is what Ben-hadad says:
3 'Your silver and gold belong to me, and the best of your wives and children belong to me.'"
4 The king of Israel replied, "It is as you say, my lord the king: I am yours, along with everything I have."
5 The messengers returned and said, "This is what Ben-hadad says: 'I sent you word to hand over to me your silver and gold, your wives and your children.
6 Well, tomorrow at this time I will send my servants to you, and they will go through your house and your servants' houses. Whatever is precious in your eyes they will take in hand and carry away.'"
7 The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, "Take note and see how this man is looking for trouble. He sent to me for my wives and children, my silver and gold, and I did not hold them back from him."
8 All the elders and all the people told him, "Do not listen to him; do not agree."
9 So he told Ben-hadad's messengers, "Say to my lord the king, 'Everything you demanded of your servant the first time I will do, but this demand I cannot meet.'" The messengers left and took back the reply.
10 Then Ben-hadad sent him word: "May the gods do so to me and more, if there is enough dust in Samaria for every one of my followers to have a handful!"
11 The king of Israel answered, "Tell him: 'The one who straps on his armor should not boast like the one who takes it off.'"
12 Ben-hadad heard this reply while he and the kings were drinking in their shelters. He told his servants, "Get into position!" And they took up positions against the city.
13 Just then a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Do you see this whole vast army? Today I am handing it over to you, and you will know that I am the LORD.'"
14 "By whom?" asked Ahab. He answered, "This is what the LORD says: 'By the young men serving the district governors.'" "Who will start the fight?" he asked. "You will," he answered.
15 So Ahab mustered the young men serving the district governors, two hundred and thirty-two of them. After them he mustered the whole army, all the children of Israel, seven thousand.
16 They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad was getting drunk in the shelters with the thirty-two kings who were his allies.
17 The young men serving the district governors went out first. Ben-hadad had sent out men, who reported to him, "Men are marching out of Samaria."
18 He said, "Whether they have come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they have come out for battle, take them alive."
19 These, then, marched out of the city: the young men serving the district governors, and the army behind them.
20 Each one struck down his man. The Syrians fled with Israel in pursuit, but Ben-hadad king of Syria got away on horseback with some horsemen.
21 The king of Israel marched out, struck down the horses and chariots, and inflicted a heavy defeat on the Syrians.
22 The prophet then came to the king of Israel and told him, "Go, build up your strength and think carefully about what to do, for in the spring the king of Syria will march against you."
23 Meanwhile the servants of the king of Syria told him, "Their gods are mountain gods; that is why they overpowered us. But if we fight them on the level ground, we will surely overpower them.
24 Here is what to do: remove the kings, each one from his command, and put governors in their place.
25 Then raise an army for yourself like the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot, and let us fight them on the level ground. We will surely overpower them." He took their advice and acted on it.
26 In the spring Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and marched up to Aphek to fight Israel.
27 The children of Israel were mustered and supplied, and they marched out to face them. The children of Israel camped opposite them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians covered the land.
28 A man of God approached the king of Israel and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because the Syrians have said, "The LORD is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys," I will hand this whole vast army over to you, and you will know that I am the LORD.'"
29 For seven days they camped facing each other, and on the seventh day the battle began. The children of Israel struck down a hundred thousand Syrian foot soldiers in a single day.
30 The rest fled to Aphek, into the city, and the wall collapsed on twenty-seven thousand of the men who remained. Ben-hadad also fled into the city and hid in an inner room.
31 His servants told him, "We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he will spare your life."
32 So with sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads they came to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad says, 'Please spare my life.'" He said, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."
33 The men were watching for a sign; they quickly seized on his word and said, "Your brother Ben-hadad!" "Go and get him," he said. When Ben-hadad came out to him, he had him get up into his chariot.
34 Ben-hadad told him, "I will give back the towns my father took from your father, and you may set up markets for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria." Ahab said, "On these terms I will release you." So he made a covenant with him and released him.
35 By the word of the LORD a man from the sons of the prophets told his companion, "Strike me!" But the man refused to strike him.
36 So he told him, "Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you." When he left him, a lion came upon him and killed him.
37 He found another man and said, "Strike me!" The man struck him hard and wounded him.
38 Then the prophet went and waited for the king beside the road, disguised with a bandage over his eyes.
39 As the king went by, he called out to the king, "Your servant went out into the thick of the battle, and a man came over to me with a prisoner and said, 'Guard this man. If he goes missing, it will be your life for his life, or else you will pay a talent of silver.'
40 While your servant was busy with one thing and another, the man disappeared." The king of Israel told him, "That is your sentence; you have pronounced it yourself."
41 At once he pulled the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.
42 He told the king, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because you released from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, it will be your life for his life and your people for his people.'"
43 The king of Israel went home sullen and angry and came into Samaria.