The First Book of the Kings

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 20 -

Ben Hadad, the king of Aram, gathered all his army, and he brought thirty-two lesser kings to join him with their armies and horses and chariots. They marched to the city of Samaria, the capital of Israel, and surrounded it and prepared to attack it.

Ben Hadad sent messengers into the city to King Ahab, and they said this to him: “This is what King Ben Hadad says:

‘You must give to me all your silver and gold, your good-looking wives and strongest children.’”

The king of Israel replied to them, “Tell this to King Ben Hadad, ‘I agree to do what you requested. You can have me and everything that I own.’”

The messengers told that to Ben Hadad, and he sent them back with another message: “I sent a message to you saying that you must give me all your silver and gold and your wives and your children.

But in addition to that, about this time tomorrow, I will send some of my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials, and to bring to me everything that they see is valuable.”

King Ahab summoned all the leaders of Israel, and said to them, “You can see for yourselves that this man is trying to cause much trouble. He sent me a message insisting that I must give him my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I agreed to do that.”

The leaders and all the other people said to him, “Do not pay any attention to him! Do not do what he is requesting!”

So Ahab said to Ben Hadad’s messengers, “Tell the king that I agree to give him the things that he first requested, but I do not agree to allow his officials to take anything that they want from my palace and from the houses of my officials.” So the messengers reported that to King Ben Hadad, and they returned with another message from Ben Hadad.

In that message he said, “We will destroy your city completely, with the result that there will not be enough ashes left for each of my soldiers to have one handful! I hope that the gods will strike me dead if we do not do that!”

King Ahab replied to the messengers, “Tell King Ben Hadad this: No one wins a battle before he fights it, so do not boast before you should.”

Ben Hadad heard that message while he and the other rulers were drinking wine in their temporary shelters. He told his men to prepare to attack the city. So his men did that.

Ahab Defeats Ben-hadad

At that moment, a prophet came to King Ahab and said to him, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Do not be at all afraid of the large enemy army that you see! I will enable your army to defeat them today, and you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who has done it.’”

Ahab asked, “What group of our army will defeat them?” The prophet replied, “The young soldiers whom the district governors command will do it.” The king asked, “Who should lead the attack?” The prophet replied, “You should!”

So Ahab gathered the young soldiers who were commanded by the district governors. There were 232 of those men. Then he also summoned all the Israelite army. There were only seven thousand soldiers.

They started to attack at noon, while Ben Hadad and the other rulers were getting drunk in their temporary shelters.

The young soldiers advanced first. Some scouts who had been sent out by Ben Hadad reported to him, “There are men coming out of Samaria”!

He said, “It does not matter whether they are coming to fight against us or to request for peace. Capture them, but do not kill them!”

The young Israelite soldiers went out of the city to attack the Aramean army, and the other soldiers in the Israelite army followed them.

Each Israelite soldier killed an Aramean soldier. The rest of the Aramean army then ran away, and the Israelite soldiers pursued them. But King Ben Hadad escaped riding his horse, along with some other men riding horses.

Then the king of Israel went out of the city; he and his soldiers captured all the other Aramean horses and chariots, and also killed a large number of Aramean soldiers.

Then that same prophet went to King Ahab and said to him, “Go back and prepare your soldiers, and think carefully about what will be necessary for you to do, because the king of Aram will attack with his army again in the springtime of next year.”

After the Aramean army was defeated, Ben Hadad’s officials said to him, “The gods that the Israelites worship are gods who live in the hills. Samaria is built on a hill, and that is why their soldiers were able to defeat us. But if we fight against them in the plains, we certainly will be able to defeat them.

So, this is what you should do: You must remove the thirty-two kings who are leading your troops and replace them with army commanders.

Then gather an army like the army that was defeated. Gather an army that has as many horses and chariots as the first army had. Then we will fight the Israelites in the plains, and we will surely defeat them.” Ben Hadad agreed with them, and he did what they suggested.

Another War with Ben-hadad

In the spring of the following year, he gathered his soldiers and marched with them to the city of Aphek east of the Sea of Galilee, to fight against the Israelite army.

The Israelite army was also gathered together, and they were given the things that they needed for the battle. Then they marched out and formed two groups facing the Aramean army. Their army was very small. They resembled two small flocks of goats, whereas the Aramean army was very large and spread all over the countryside.

A prophet came to King Ahab and said to him, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘The Arameans say that I am a god who lives in the hills, and that I am not a god who lives in the valleys. So I will show that they are wrong by enabling your men to defeat this huge army in the valley, and you will know that I, Yahweh, have done it.’”

The two armies stayed in their tents for seven days, in groups that faced each other. Then, on the seventh day, they started fighting. The Israelite army killed 100,000 Aramean soldiers.

The other Aramean soldiers ran away into Aphek. Then the wall of the city collapsed and killed twenty-seven thousand more Aramean soldiers. Ben Hadad also escaped into the city and hid in the back room of a house.

Ahab Spares Ben-hadad

His officials went to him and said, “We have heard a report that the Israelites act mercifully. So allow us to go to the king of Israel, wearing course sacks around our waists and ropes on our heads to indicate that we will be his slaves. Perhaps if we do that, he will allow you to remain alive.”

The king permitted them to do that, so they wrapped coarse sacks around their waists and put ropes on their heads, and they went to the king of Israel and said to him, “Ben Hadad, who greatly respects you, says, ‘Please do not kill me.’” Ahab replied, “Is he still alive? He is like a brother to me!”

Ben Hadad’s officials were trying to find out if Ahab would act mercifully, and when Ahab said “brother,” they were optimistic. So they replied, “Yes, he is like your brother!” Ahab said, “Go and bring him to me.” So they went and brought Ben Hadad to him. When Ben Hadad arrived, Ahab told him to get in the chariot and sit with him.

Ben Hadad said to him, “I will give back to you the towns that my father’s army took from your father. And I will allow you to set up market areas for your merchants in Damascus my capital, just as my father did in Samaria your capital.” Ahab replied, “Because you agree to do that, I will not execute you.” So Ahab made an agreement with Ben Hadad, and allowed him to go home.

A Prophet Reproves Ahab

Then Yahweh spoke to a member of an association of prophets and told him to request a fellow prophet to strike him. But that man refused to do it.

So the prophet said to him, “Because you refused to obey what Yahweh told you to do, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me.” And as soon as he left that prophet, a lion suddenly met him and killed him.

Then the prophet found another prophet, and said to him, “Strike me!” So that man hit him very hard and injured him.

Then the prophet put a large bandage over his face so that no one would recognize him. Then he went and stood alongside the road, waiting for the king to come by.

When the king passed by, the prophet cried out to him, saying “Your Majesty, after I was wounded while I was fighting in a battle, a soldier brought to me one of our enemies who he had captured, and said to me, ‘Guard this man! If he escapes, you must pay me thirty-three kilograms of silver; if you do not pay that, you will be executed!’

But while I was busy doing other things, the man escaped!” The king of Israel said to him, “That is your problem! You yourself have said that you deserve to be punished.”

The prophet immediately took off the bandage, and the king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets.

The prophet said to him, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You have allowed that man Ben Hadad to escape after I commanded you to be sure to execute him! Since you did not do that, you will be killed instead. And your army will be destroyed because you allowed some of his army to escape!’”

The king went back home to Samaria, very angry and depressed.

Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, with horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.

He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, “Ben Hadad says,

‘Your silver and your gold are mine. Your wives also and your children, even the best, are mine.’”

The king of Israel answered, “It is according to your saying, my lord, O king. I am yours, and all that I have.”

The messengers came again and said, “Ben Hadad says, ‘I sent indeed to you, saying, “You shall deliver me your silver, your gold, your wives, and your children;

but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants. Whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hand, and take it away.”’”

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.”

All the elders and all the people said to him, “Don’t listen, and don’t consent.”

Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’” The messengers departed and brought him back the message.

Ben Hadad sent to him, and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will be enough for handfuls for all the people who follow me.”

The king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Don’t let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.’”

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!” So they prepared to attack the city.

Ahab Defeats Ben-hadad

Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, “The LORD says, ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

Ahab said, “By whom?” He said, “The LORD says, ‘By the young men of the princes of the provinces.’” Then he said, “Who shall begin the battle?” He answered, “You.”

Then he mustered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two. After them, he mustered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him.

The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out from Samaria.”

He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.”

So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them.

They each killed his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen.

The king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.

The prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and plan what you must do, for at the return of the year, the king of Syria will come up against you.”

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.

Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place.

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

At the return of the year, Ben Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

The children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and went against them. The children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of young goats, but the Syrians filled the country.

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 this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’”

They encamped opposite each other for seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand footmen of the Syrians in one day.

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

Ahab Spares Ben-hadad

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.”

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.”

Now the men observed diligently and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, “Your brother Ben Hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

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”, said Ahab, “will let you go with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

A Prophet Reproves Ahab

A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by the LORD’s word, “Please strike me!” The man refused to strike him.

Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the LORD’s voice, behold, 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.

Then he found another man, and said, “Please strike me.” The man struck him and wounded him.

So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes.

As the king passed by, he cried to the king, and he said, “Your servant went out into the middle of the battle; and behold, 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 a talent

(a)

of silver.’

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.”

He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets.

He said to him, “The LORD says, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life will take the place of his life, and your people take the place of his people.’”

The king of Israel went to his house sullen and angry, and came to Samaria.

Footnotes

(a)20:39 A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds