Ben-hadad Attacks Samaria

1Now Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered together all his forces, and thirty-two kings with him, and horse and chariot. And he went up and laid siege against Samaria and made war against it. 2And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, to the city, 3and he said to him, “Thus says Ben-hadad:† ‘Your silver and your gold are mine, and your wives and loveliest children are mine.’”

4And the king of Israel answered and said, “According to your word, My lord, the king, unto you are I and all that I have.”

5And the messengers returned and said, “Thus speaks Ben-hadad, saying: ‘Surely I have sent to you, saying: Your silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children, you shall deliver to me. 6But about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants, and it will come to pass that whatever is desirable in your eyes, they will put it in their hands and take it.’”

7And the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, “Know, please, and see that this one seeks evil, for he sent to me for my wives and my children and my silver and my gold, and I did not withhold from him.”

8And all the elders and all the people said to him, “Do not listen and do not consent.”

9And he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you sent for to your servant the first time, I will do; and this thing I cannot do.’”

And the messengers departed, and brought back to him word.

10And Ben-hadad sent to him and said, “Thus may the gods do to me, and thus more, if the dust of Samaria is left for handfuls for all the people who are at my feet.”

11And the king of Israel answered and said, “Declare: ‘Let not him who is girding boast as him who is loosing.’”

12And it came to pass at the hearing of this word—and he was drinking, he and the kings, in the booths—† that he said to his servants, “Set yourselves.” And they set themselves against the city.

Ahab Defeats Ben-hadad

13And behold, one prophet approached unto Ahab king of Israel and said, “Thus says YHWH: ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am YHWH.’”

14And Ahab said, “By whom?”

And he said, “Thus says YHWH: ‘By the young men of the commanders of the provinces.’”

And he said, “Who will direct the battle?”

And he answered, “You.”

15And he mustered by the young men of the commanders of the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two, and after them he mustered all the people, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand.

16And they went out at noon while Ben-hadad was getting drunk at the command post—he and the kings, thirty-two kings helping him. 17And the young men of the commanders of the provinces went out first.

And Ben-hadad sent out, and they reported to him, saying, “Men are coming out of Samaria.”

18And he said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive. And if they have come out for war, take them alive.”

19And these went out of the city—the young men of the commanders of the provinces—and the army that was after them. 20And they struck down each man his man, and Aram fled. And Israel pursued them, and Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen.

21And the king of Israel went out and attacked the horse and the chariot, and he struck among the Aramaeans a great slaughter.

22And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself and take note, and see what you should do. For at the return of the year† the king of Aram will come up against you.”

23And the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills; upon thus they were stronger than we. But if we fight against them in the plain, will we not surely be stronger than they? 24And do this thing: Dismiss the kings, each from his place, and set governors in their places, 25and you shall muster to you an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. And we will fight against them in the plain. Will we not surely be stronger than they?”

And he listened to their voice and did so.

Another War with Ben-hadad

26And it was at the return of the year, and Ben-hadad mustered the Aramaeans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. 27And the sons of Israel were mustered and were sustained, and they went against them.

And the sons of Israel encamped before them like two small flocks of goats, and the Aramaeans filled the countryside.

28And came a man of God and spoke to the king of Israel and said, “Thus says YHWH: ‘Because that the Aramaeans have said that YHWH is God of the hills, and He is not God of the valleys, therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you⁺ shall know that I am YHWH.’”

29And encamped these opposite these for seven days. And it came to pass on the seventh day that the battle drew near. And the sons of Israel struck down the Arameans—a hundred thousand foot soldiers in one day.

30And the rest fled to Aphek into the city, and a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. And Ben-hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber.

Ahab Spares Ben-hadad

31And his servants said to him, “Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel, that they are merciful kings. Let us put, please, sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and we will go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

32And they wore sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, and they came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please let my soul live.’”

And he said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

33And the men were watching closely, and they quickly grasped it from him and said, “Your brother Ben-hadad.”

And he said, “Go, bring him.”

And Ben-hadad came out to him, and he had him come up into the chariot.

34And he said to him, “The cities that my father took from your father, I will restore, and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus as my father set up in Samaria.

And I will send you away by the covenant.†” And he made with him a covenant and sent him away.

A Prophet Reproves Ahab

35And a man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor by the word of YHWH, “Strike me, please.”

And the man refused to strike him.

36And he said to him, “Because that you have not obeyed the voice of YHWH, surely as soon as you depart from me, a lion will strike you.”

And he left him, and a lion found him and struck him.

37And he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.”

And the man struck him, striking and wounding. 38And the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and he disguised himself with the covering over his eyes.

39And it came to pass, as the king was passing by, that he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and there a man came over and brought to me a man, and he said, ‘Guard this man. If he goes missing for any reason, then your life will be in place of his life, or else a talent of silver† you must weigh out.’ 40And it came to pass that your servant working here and there, and he was not there.”

And the king of Israel said to him, “So is your judgment; you have determined.”

41And he hurried and turned aside the covering from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was one of the prophets.

42And he said to him, “Thus says YHWH, ‘Because you have sent away a man I had devoted to destruction,† out of the hand your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.’”

43And the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and angry, and he came to Samaria.

Footnotes:

3 Some texts break verse 2 and begin verse 3 at this point.
12 Or in Succoth; also in verse 16
22 That is, in the spring of the year; similarly in verse 26
34 Or treaty; twice in this verse.
39 A talent is approximately 75.4 pounds or 34.2 kilograms of silver.
42 Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons to YHWH, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.