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1 RoisChapitre 20

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Ben-hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Thirty-two kings were with him, along with horses and chariots. He marched up, laid siege to Samaria, and attacked it.
He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel with this word:
"This is what Ben-hadad says: Your silver and your gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine."
The king of Israel answered, "As you say, my lord the king: I am yours, and all that I have."
The messengers came back and said, "This is what Ben-hadad says: I sent you word that you must hand over your silver and gold, your wives and your children.
But about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they will search your house and the houses of your servants. Whatever is precious in your eyes they will seize and carry off.
Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, "See for yourselves how this man is bent on trouble. He sent to me for my wives and children, my silver and gold, and I did not refuse him."
All the elders and all the people said to him, "Do not listen to him; do not give in."
So he said to Ben-hadad's messengers, "Tell my lord the king: Everything you demanded of your servant the first time I will do, but this I cannot do." The messengers left and brought back his reply.
Then Ben-hadad sent word to him: "May the gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria will supply a handful for each of the troops who follow me."
The king of Israel answered, "Tell him: The one who straps on his armor should not boast like the one who takes it off."
Ben-hadad heard this message while he and the kings were drinking in their shelters, and he ordered his men, "Take your positions!" So they took up positions against the city.
Meanwhile a prophet came up to Ahab king of Israel and said, "This is what the LORD says: Do you see this vast horde? Today I am giving it into your hand, and you will know that I am the LORD."
"By whom?" Ahab asked. He answered, "This is what the LORD says: By the young officers of the provincial commanders." "And who will begin the battle?" he asked. "You will," he replied.
So Ahab mustered the young officers of the provincial commanders—two hundred and thirty-two of them—and after them he mustered all the troops, all the Israelites: seven thousand.
They marched out at noon, while Ben-hadad and the thirty-two kings allied with him were in their shelters, drinking themselves drunk.
The young officers of the provincial commanders went out first. Ben-hadad had sent out scouts, and they reported to him, "Men are coming out of Samaria."
He said, "If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if they have come out for war, take them alive."
The young officers of the provincial commanders marched out of the city with the army behind them,
and each one struck down his man. The Arameans fled, with Israel in pursuit, but Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with some of his cavalry.
Then the king of Israel advanced and struck down the horses and chariots, inflicting a heavy defeat on Aram.
Afterward the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, "Go, strengthen your position and consider carefully what you must do, for in the spring the king of Aram will march against you again."
Meanwhile the officials of the king of Aram said to him, "Their gods are gods of the hills; that is why they were too strong for us. But if we fight them on level ground, we will surely be stronger than they are.
Do this: remove each of the kings from his command and replace them with governors.
Then raise an army like the one you lost—horse for horse and chariot for chariot—so we can fight Israel on level ground. Surely then we will be stronger than they are." He listened to their advice and did so.
In the spring Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and marched up to Aphek to fight against Israel.
The Israelites were mustered and provisioned, and they went out to meet them. The Israelites camped opposite them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside.
The man of God came and said to the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says: Because the Arameans have said, 'The LORD is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys,' I will give this vast horde into your hand, and you will all know that I am the LORD."
For seven days they camped facing each other, and on the seventh day the battle was joined. The Israelites struck down a hundred thousand Aramean foot soldiers in one day.
The rest fled to the city of Aphek, and the wall collapsed on twenty-seven thousand of them. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.
His officials said to him, "Look, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us go to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life."
So they put on sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, went to the king of Israel, and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad says: Please let me live." The king answered, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."
The men took this as a good omen and quickly seized on his word: "Yes, your brother Ben-hadad!" "Go and bring him," the king said. When Ben-hadad came out, Ahab had him come up into his chariot.
Ben-hadad said, "I will return the cities my father took from your father, and you may set up your own market districts in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." Ahab said, "On the basis of a treaty I will let you go." So he made a treaty with him and let him go.
By the word of the LORD one of the company of the prophets said to his companion, "Strike me, please." But the man refused.
So the prophet said, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, the moment you leave me a lion will kill you." And when the man went off, a lion found him and killed him.
The prophet found another man and said, "Strike me, please." So the man struck him and wounded him.
Then the prophet went and stood by the road waiting for the king, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.
As the king passed by, he called out to him: "Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and a man turned aside and brought me a prisoner and said, 'Guard this man. If he goes missing, your life will be given for his life, or you will pay a talent of silver.'
But while your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared." "That is your sentence," the king of Israel said. "You have pronounced it yourself."
Then the prophet quickly pulled the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.
He said to the king, "This is what the LORD says: Because you set free from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, your life shall stand in place of his life, and your people in place of his people."
Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went home to Samaria.
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